The Garden Curator

Garden designer | Landscape designer | Landscape illustrator

Commissions

The process of creating commissioned works is a personal one.

The result is a unique artwork that evolves through through sharing and discussion.

"It is such a privilege to work with someone to create an artwork that reflects their story, special moments and memories.   Plants and nature weave through many histories and narratives, stir nostalgia and invoke times and places. An artwork that reflects these is emotive and has a depth that is such a pleasure to share."

Colleen Southwell signature

To enquire about commissions, discuss your ideas and needs, please contact Colleen here.

Waratah for Nikky
Waratah for Nikky
Amaranthine
Amaranthine
20180829_151029
20181106_183609
  • More blue...dutch irises are glowing in the garden now, here with the lime green buds of the Snowball tree (Viburnum opulus), Phlomis and clipped Tucreum in the background. Pop over to the wonderful @gardenclinicclub too, to see a photo of them taken at last week's visit by @rossgardentours - thanks for posting Graham, Sandra and Linda! Next to shine are the Siberian irises, my favourite of them all. They are budding now and about to burst, their flowers simpler and smaller than their more frilly friends, but abundant and so so lovely. Needless to say I will post pics when they arrive in all their glory! . . . #irises #blueflowers #blue #springgardens #floweringnow #countrygardens #countryliving
  • Did you thread daisy chains as a child? When we gather special childhood recollections of time spent in a garden, my guess is that the things we remember most fondly have little to do with the slick design of the space, or perfect symmetry of the hedges. Though these "bones" have a place, it's the sensory pleasures and the way we engage with the life within the garden that stay with us, and ignite our love for nature. My work for "Rekindled" explores these memories - making daisy chains, foraging for mushrooms, collecting bugs, picking posies. Each work also includes tiny snippets of vintage textiles, a reference to the making women of my family and the way their creative stories have influenced my own path. Rekindled @saint_cloche upstairs in McDonald Street Paddington, begins on 18th October. I will be exhibiting and reminiscing alongside the talented trio of @ingridbowenart @samantha_mackie and @janegerrish, with the official opening drinks at 2pm on Saturday 19th October. You are welcome to join us!
  • It's all about the blue in the garden this week, and the bees are beside themselves with droning excitement, swarming around the blues (and the viburnums) like groupies at a gig....though much less obnoxious. The hive is filling rapidly, and the honey pot will soon be too! Honey is the garden in a jar, love that thought. Evidently bees can't see red, but they detect blues and violets easily. They have good taste..these colours are delicious in the garden and they go with every colour imaginable. They lift pale pinks, contrast beautifully with yellow and orange, and are a stunning pairing with white and green ( whoever said "blue and green should not be seen without a colour inbetween" was bonkers). I love them too with the rich cerise flowers also smiling at present - the dierama, loropetalum and abundant crabapples. Best of all, the late blues, summer salvias with the bronze of ornamental grasses, golden paddocks beyond and stormy summer skies. Bliss! . . . #gottheblues #blueday #blueflowers #springgarden #bees #beesinthegarden #countrygardens #slowgardening #blue #beefriendlygardening #thesharedgarden #gardenhabitat #thegardencurator
  • Another piece off to our Rekindled show at Saint Cloche Upstairs. Only 10 days until the show kicks off with @ingridbowenart @janegerrish and @samantha_mackie at @saint_cloche upstairs gallery in McDonald Street, Paddington Sydney. Part of the @sydneycraftweek program - so many great things going on! Pop by on Saturday 19th October for our artists chat with Robert Gerrish at 1pm, and official opening drinks from 2 - 4pm.
  • ...and just like that, it's verandah season! One of the great pleasures of the warmer months, cups of tea, lazy lunches and evening drinks always taste better on a verandah. The cottage verandah is currently draped in wisteria, a pretty frame to the evening light across the hills, behaving for now, rambunctious through summer but so worth it! Thinking about it, every home I have lived in has had a verandah, as central to home as the kitchen, the heart of the home in summer. A convivial gathering place, a spot to put your feet up or to entertain. A place to kick off works boots and hang hats, the preferred dozing spot for the dogs. The verandah collects pots of herbs and baskets of eggs, gardening gloves, school bags and cricket bats. It also collects spider webs and sills of dust - the birds clean up the spiders, and the dust is a badge of country life, so in fact more a blessing than a curse. 😊
  • Two weeks from today, I will be in Sydney for the opening of Rekindled @saint_cloche Upstairs. Exhibiting alongside the talent of @ingridbowenart @samantha_mackie and @janegerrish at this beautiful gallery in Paddington, Sydney, is such a thrill. Little tin studio in a country garden one day, gorgeous gallery in the big city the next...thankyou Jane, Ingrid, Sam and Kitty, can't wait! Rekindled opens on Friday 18 October, with official opening drinks at 2pm Saturday 19 October. We will also be doing an artist chat with author, podcaster and founder of the legendary Flying Solo business network, Robert Gerrish, at 1pm Saturday. It's all go - time to shed the garden boots and put on some good shoes!
  • It was such a treat to welcome the Ross Garden Tours group yesterday, a bus load of lovely garden loving people, chatting about gardens and art and sharing tea and delicious things. Thankyou @sandra_ross_gardener @rossgardentours and @noblegardentours for including us in your incredible itinerary, and to my gorgeous aunt Rob @partake5 (the high-tea queen), fabulous mum and dad and my beautiful boy @_charlie____s for your sheep wrangling, gate opening and all-round gorgeousness. What a beautiful bunch! Safe travels all ❤