Drawing Arcadia Gardens, Sheffield.

“Woodland, Late Spring, Arcadia Gardens, Sheffield” Original pastel on paper

Garden Drawing En Plein Air.

During 2023/24 I’ve been making drawing trips to Arcadia Gardens in Sheffield in order to capture the changes taking place in the annual life cycle of this unique experimental garden.

Arcadia Garden is a private garden owned by Doug Baker and Charlotte Liu, both landscape designers; chartered Landscape architect and studio tutor at the University of Sheffield Department of Landscape Architecture. Their extraordinary garden has been a project for the last 8 years ever since they bought a barren, over grazed pony field on a north facing hillside overlooking the Rivelin Valley in North West Sheffield.

Doug and Charlotte have won several awards and Arcadia Garden has featured recently on the BBC Gardeners World programme. I was lucky enough to be invited in!

In spring 2023 I was introduced to the garden by Charlotte.

Having only known the garden previously through Charlotte’s beautiful photography on Instagram I now discovered the ambition and creativity behind the project which underlies the beguiling shots that had prompted me to make contact and jump in the car with my drawing equipment!

Charlotte gave me a tour of the different plant habitats they have created in the garden varying from Woodland and Woodland Edge to Meadow, Dry Garden and Damp Meadow and explained a little about the work they are undertaking here experimenting with different plant communities to find combinations that will work together in their specialist, perennial planting schemes.

My first drawings focussed on the Woodland and Woodland Edge areas where fresh green shoots were bursting forth, full of life and potential. My goal was to capture the verdant spring growth amongst the Silver Birch trees and the connections and contrasts between the plants in the garden.

Early Irises and Persicara created splashes of spring colour. As I drew the layers of richness and complexity of the environment revealed itself to me. The longer I looked the more I appreciated every plant and diverse combination in this varied community.

I’ll be developing these drawings into a collection of paintings this year, if you’d like to receive notifications, updates and exhibitions directly to your inbox join my mailing list HERE!

“June 1st Arcadia Garden , Woodland” Pastel on paper

Future blogs will share more insights into later drawing visits to Arcadia Gardens through the seasons; in the meantime I invite you to view my limited edition prints from these original drawings HERE!

For information about Arcadia Landscape Design follow on Instagram or visit their website HERE!

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