My favorite garden guide... Fionna G

  This is the garden club.....

 

 And this is the garden,
 It's a wild and crazy cottage garden.

Here are a few of the creatures that dwell here...it's a very busy place

  and here is the garden guide,

You remember our garden guide, don't you? 
 Fionna Goosefeathers
Here:
http://hopalonghollowgazette.blogspot.com/2010/06/up-garden-paths.html

What would a Hopalong Hollowscaping Garden Book be without Fionna?

And Here:
http://hopalonghollowgazette.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-gardens-in-august-with-fionna.html

The lovely and knowledgeable Fionna Goosefeathers is giving a tour to one of the many garden clubs that visit her each Spring to learn the secrets of her lush and lovely cottage garden.
AND Here:
  http://hopalonghollowgazette.blogspot.com/2012/05/waddling-round-in-hollow-with-fiona.html

When I first drew her on this page, something seemed very wrong...

 I realized her neck was too fat and too short. Therefore, I had to erase everything from beneath her the chin down to her waist, and start over.
I do a lot of erasing.
Remember this: draw light till you get it right.

That's better... that's a goose neck.

 Everyone loves a cottage garden, at least we hope they do, and these little gardeners are no exception.

  I find it interesting to draw a garden, there is so much going on in the "background" the little spaces behind the leaves and blooms, so many shadows and values with bits and pieces.

 However, I find it very tricky to PAINT a floral background.  I am sure those who often paint flowers in watercolor have special methods and techniques for applying color to what is BEHIND those flowers, but I often feel quite lost when I am ready to paint  a garden piece like this.

The artwork in this picture  is difficult to "see" without the color.
I will add a few more insects... I have some fine models here.

Can you believe it??!! Aren't these super?

 I will tuck their images in the background, amid flowers and leaves,
for what is a garden without the smallest of creatures?

 I put the rhinoceros beetles in the foreground, just for Diane in N.C., a lover of fascinating insects.

 I first painted Fionna Goosefeathers for another book,here....

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and Here:

http://hopalonghollowgazette.blogspot.com/2013/02/mona-lisa-of-goose-kind-part-2.html
Have a happy day!

Mona Lisa of the Goose-kind part 2

  By Fionna Goosefeathers the 2nd.... ( super model)

  Dear Diary, The day I have been waiting for has finally arrived,, yes, the day that I,  Fionna Goosefeather II become immortalized in living Color!  The Mistress summoned me into her chambers and told me that in 2 days hence, I was to come to the studio to have my portrait completed! Months ago, she did my drawings and I've been waiting with bated fish breath for the day when she would paint me in all my technicolor glory... or was that watercolor glory??

 Wanting to look my best, I immediately made an appointment with the  hen hairdressers  at  
"Le Chic Chicken Salon"

  The hen ladies shampooed my feathers in chamomile and lavender,  fluffed up my tail to a perky puff and used a specially scented Pomade to slick my wing feathers smooth as... well, feathers.They slathered it on and it smelled a LOT like crayfish to me, but they said it was all the rage.  Then, they buffed my bill  to a lovely orange sheen and spent 2 hours giving my webbytoes a pedicure!

 They kept complaining "Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!.. what is theese green  between your toes!" I can't help it if the moss stains my webby toes... and I told those hoity-toity  gals so.! They think they are SO special , but I know those French accents are affected!  I happen to know that ALL three of those so-called "French Hens" were hatched, right here in Tennessee.... in the barn... in a wooden crate. Besides, I think they are just jealous because I am a super-model.

 Dear Diary, I arrived 2 hours ahead of schedule, and the Mistress directed me to put on my bonny bodice, blouse and skirt. I laced my corset extra tight, but I never did acquire a proper waistline.  Next I was told to adorn myself in the jewelry, ( straight out of  the vault!) 
 
 "You look just perfect Fionna, says she.... but what is that horrid fishy odor.?..."
 I self-consciously shuffled my feet and sniffed my feathers...darn those double-crossing French Hens!

 Dear Diary,  The Mistress had some of her paints at the  ready, she said these were for my feathers and face.. I was so very excited... I had to remember what she told me when last I posed... "Be as Still as Mona Lisa"
 
 
 Dear Diary, It really paid off having my bill buffed, the Mistress oohed and ahhed over the rich orange colors. She claimed vehemently that the only things in the world that SHOULD be orange are Pumpkins, Oranges, Autumn leaves, a Harvest moon and a Goose's Bill!

I think she forgot to mention goosey toes....

"Lets start with your beautiful blue eyes." ( Hamish says my  eyes are the color of bluefish scales in the moonlight... isn't he romantic? ).  But the Mistress said " Fionna, your eyes are the color of Blue Lobelia, just lovely, my dear! Well, she IS the artist, so I will take her word on it.

My eyes got blue...

and then BLUER

until they were the color of Blue Lobelia...

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     And my bill and tooties were the color of a Harvest Moon!

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  Next I donned my famous bonnet. It HAS been worn by dollies and cats;  BUT it was meant for Fionna Goosefeathers! "What colors shall we paint it Fionna Dear??? It is a wee bit bland in it's original shades, don't you think?"

I was about to suggest orange, but I bit my tongue as I remembered her feelings on THAT subject.
"Lets go with pastels!" she exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts; just in time.

  

   Who would have though that purple and pink would go so very well with a pumpkin colored beak?

Dear Diary, the Mistress must value my opinion a great deal. "Tell me Fionna, dear, what color is your favorite for a bodice?" I had to wrack my tiny bird-brain on that one, but then I reminded myself, 'Self, you ARE the official garden guide here in the Hollow, and SELF, you DO know the colors of all the flowers.....Forget-me-Not" blue!'  I honked... rather loudly, much to my embarrassment.

"Excellent!" said she.  And, feeling flushed with satisfaction, I blurted out,' With  tiny pink flowers!!' and then,
  'Mistress, Mistress, May I have a dotted swiss blouse to match my hat.... AND a pink skirt??? And a crisp white Petticoat too???' I could just imagine the feminine beauty of it all.

  I began to wiggle and waggle out of excitement... oh dear, I am afraid I was not at all "still", like Mona Lisa.
Nevertheless, Mistress gave me all that my heart desired... she is such a softie.

 Suddenly, I began humming 'I feel pretty, oh so Pretty... I feel', "Be still Fionna, we are nearly finished!"

Dear Diary, after 7 days of modeling my portraits are complete! The Mistress was so pleased with the outcome she said I could keep the dress! I can hardly wait to waddle past the "Le Chic Chicken Salon" in my stunning duds, in full view of those 3 "French Hens"... so-called.  
 In the meantime, I think I will just take a quiet stroll down the Blue Lobelia path....."

" I feel pretty, Oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gay... and I  pity, any girl who isn't me today!"

 Dear Diary, I almost forgot to tell you... The Mistress was so pleased with me, she said that I . Fionna Goosefeathers, should have a book of my own! Just think, the "Autobiography of a Goose Gal.".. or "Confessions of a Fish lover" or  "Love stories from the Pond" featuring Fionna Goosefeathers and her dreamy love-boat Hamish... I can hardly wait.

Waddling round in the Hollow with Fionna Goosefeathers II

"Greetings and a heck of a hearty HONK, HONK, HONK! Tis I, Fionna Goosefeathers II, giddy with anticipation as I prepare to take you on my first Hopalong Hollow tour.

 Following in the webby feetsteps of my predecessor, the dearly departed Fionna Goosefeathers the First, I am now, OFFICIAL tour guide in the Hollow.  Won't you Puh-leese follow me?

 Let us meander past the roses and chives along the brick paths, ( my, my, the mistress is certainly NOT a brick layer, will you look at these lumpy paths??!) 

  But, says she, ' "If it's good enough for Colonial Williamsburg, it's good enough for me" ',Whatever that means.

 "A professional garden lady spoke disdainfully about Knockout Roses, so the Mistress planted even MORE of them, and surrounded them with wild flowers, she's stubborn. We think that garden lady would not like the wildflowers either and consider them "weeds". But we like them.

"Notice the strawberry beds. Normally,  those pesky PEABODY boys would have poked holes in the fruits and taken the best of the best, BUT I got up extra early this morning to pick a basket of fruits, JUST for us!  Please help yourself...oh, uh, excuse me, that extra large plump one on the top.. that is mine.... but you can have ANY of the others.

 "Speaking of the peabody boys, let me just tell you, ever since they grew those garish tail-feathers they have been unbearable! Strutting here, strutting there, walking the ridgepole of the potting shed to show off those tails  to  full advantage. Personally, I think those colors rather gouache... and prefer the subtle greys and tans and whites of... of... well, goosefeathers.

 LIKE HAMISH, MY DREAMY DREAMBOAT..... ahhhhhhh!

"Oh dear, speak of the devil and the devil appears! Here they come, hurry, hurry,

 before they see us and start following us about!"

  

Just slip silently past the stone lady..

"I don't know who she is, she never says a word, just stands there with her apron open.

She sort of gives me the creeps... but the Mistress sees her everyday from her kitchen window and tells the Lord of the Manor, " I just love that girl!"

" Here you will see the Mistress's attempt to protect her new lavender plants from marauding chicken cultivators  Silly Mistress, does she really think putting her plants behind bars will protect them from crazed chicken gardeners?

 

  HAH! not a chance, just look at what they did to her little moss garden she planted last week!

"Bits and pieces of mosses scattered all about, hither and thither, simply ruined! Why, if it were my moss garden, I would ring those chickens scrawny necks, indeed I would!"

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 As we wander up the hill I ask you to observe the strange creatures who dwell here. Each and every night, I thank my lucky stars and the fireflies above that I was  born a goose and not one of these!

S-H-E-E-P

 Can you imagine it?

80 degree heat and wearing an arctic parka?  It's a good thing the Mistress is handy with her kitchen shears. She clips and clips and snips away like a whirling dervish!

  But it takes her hours and hours.

and most of the debris is simply waste material, oh so very icky.

  Save for a little pile of soft fluff.

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" When Mistress has finished the job,

 she looks  and smells just like a barn rat!

 That's what I call love...

 How one can love a sheep is beyond my goosey understanding..Harrumph!

 Sheep never bathe... unlike we feathered folk who are quite particular about our toilette.

Bathing is especially enjoyable in the Mistress frog pond... ooops, I shouldn't have mentioned that , well, we only ate a FEW of those frogs. Now, you won't breathe a word of  that, will you?

We splash  with regularity at least 25 times a day!

after playing in the mud.

 " Now, I would be remiss if I did not take you to Mistress pride and joy, the potting shed garden.

"No, No, NO!

  That is the BEFORE picture, when those SHEEP people had to live in that old shack!

That's more like it..

"Oodles and oodles of flowers and plants. It's also a handy place to lay eggs,

if you know what I mean.

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  "Oh I have so much more to show you, but seeing as this is my first time as tour guide, and I have worked up quite an appetite, what say we  give it a rest and mosey on over to the creek bank for a few crawdad canapes??

 and pink lemonade? "

 Thank you Fionna Goosefeathers II, Now, what's this about my frog pond??!