Tuesday 11 August 2009

SCARECROWS AT TRUNCH

In England we have a tradition of opening gardens to the public to raise funds for charity and also in East Anglia there seems to be a tradition of scarecrow festivals. Do you have these made from old clothes stuffed with straw in fields in your country? Smacks of Wizard of Oz!! This is all leading to me asking whether you remember I was preparing paintings for the forthcoming Church Roof Fund Sculpure Trail and Art Exhibition in the village of Trunch ( I already posted the two pieces I did of the church in Trunch village). I went along to the village to their combined Open Garden with Scarecrows event in July to get inspiration for two further paintings.

I fell in love with all the amazingly created scarecrows in the beautiful gardens, from which I chose two to create ink and watercolour paintings. Well, at long last here they are. Lots of fun to paint. I simplified the background gardens a little and adjusted the compositions slightly. The crows might look funny, but I copied the fact that they had been made with plastic drinks bottles!!!


Sleeping on the job with crows
Lady Scarecrow having tea in the garden
Weren't they clever ideas? Afraid I can't remember which gardens either of them were in or the people who created them, but I hope they come to the exhibition in the Rectory Gardens (paintings in a marquee) this coming weekend and see how they inspired me.

9 comments:

Vicki Greene said...

Joan, these scarecrows are so creative I can see why you had to paint them. This would be a wonderful little series. Great job.

debwardart said...

We have scarecrows in some of the small home gardens around here - but none as clever as these! We do get some in the fall that include pumpkins in some bizarre (and somewhat lewd) positions!

cathyswatercolors said...

Hi Joan, How sweet these little scarecrows are. We have a similar event in the autumn,never thought of painting it. Love it.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Glad you all enjoyed my scarecrows. It was hard to pick which ones to paint they were all so clever. The one's I did'nt choose included Jesus in a fishing boat on the hill by the church, a JCP animated arm turned into a crow's head, a Derby & Joan couple seated outside the pub, a cricketer on a deckchair with a notice saying 'rain stopped play' - I could go on.
Thanks for your lovely comments.

Sandy Maudlin said...

I love how you can PLAY with art and be so creative. You're an inspiration.

RH Carpenter said...

I love scarecrows and these are delightful! Can't choose which one I like best, though - but it does look like that old boy has been tippling a bit on the job! ha ha Wonderful work, Joan, thanks for sharing :)

Robyn Sinclair said...

Such charming pictures, Joan. It's a great series.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

Thanks Rhonda and Robyn - glad you liked my whacky pieces.

"JeanneG" said...

Very cute subjects. I hope you do more of them.