Shelter Backstep V
Shelter Backstep V
Shelter Backstep V

Shelter Backstep V

Vendor
Helen Evans
Regular price
$450.00
Sale price
$450.00
Quantity must be 1 or more

40x40x4cm acrylic on hand-built panel, hanging wire attached, signed on the front.
Shelter Backstep are the next part of my Shelter series.
The Shelter series has been developed from drawings I made from life in my garden from mid-February to mid-May 2022. I drew every day for 100 days in ink in a sketchbook. The summer of 2022 was very wet due to a second La Nina in the Pacific Ocean. I had to shelter most days on our back veranda or under a beach umbrella. I would sit low to the ground so that the paper didn't get splashed, I'm sure I looked like a life-sized artistic garden gnome.
I have always had plants in pots. When we lived in rental properties and moved frequently it meant I could take my garden with me. Since settling in Cedar Creek we have worked tirelessly on a very large garden, but I still tend to my plants, in many pots, in the house yard.
When we extended our old and small worker's cottage I wanted wide steps at the back of the house ( which is confusingly where the front door is) so that I could display my plants in pots on them. I spent much of my summer drawing project on the back veranda looking down on the steps, sheltering from yet another downpour and I drew the plants and pots many times.
I originally called this series "Shelter Pots" but then realised that might cause some confusion. My husband was raised in Bermuda and calls pans ( for cooking) pots. All part of that common language divide between North Americans and the British. I highly recommend Bill Bryson's " Mother Tongue". It's all about the root of the English language and the mistakes we make when speaking  to each other on the other continent.