The Garden Curator

Garden designer | Landscape designer | Landscape illustrator

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pause…look…see…

 

Conceived by artist, horticulturist and garden designer

Colleen Southwell, The Garden Curator is a creative celebration of all things found, inspired by and cultivated in the garden.

Blue Leaf illustration by Colleen Southwell

"Contemporary life has us on a quest seeking elusive contentment in manufactured perfection. My work challenges this pursuit, inviting the onlooker to slow, look closely, engage the imagination and connect with the cycle of life around us, whether it be in our own backyard or the great wide open. In doing so we rediscover perfection in its purest form - emerging buds, the veins of a leaf, the wings of an insect.

As an artist and garden maker, my creative process requires me to do just that. The more my work develops, the more I find myself marvelling over the smallest details.  The daily walk through the paddocks has become a study in plant forms and insects and the garden provides endless inspiration. Even the “imperfections” are beautiful when observed closely and with an open mind.

Only through slow and mindful attention to detail can I create.  The fragility of my work requires a gentle and respectful hand – the fragility of our environment requires the same.

Pause, look, see. What a lovely relief from these crazy days!"

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Colleen Southwell
  • I've loved @countrystylemag since day one, so it's super exciting to open the latest issue and find my clan in our little corner of the world within the pages! There are so many lovely stories of creative people in this art issue, such a great thrill to be included among them. Thankyou to the beautiful, warm and generous hearted @skye_manson for your words, the fabulous @brigidarnottphotography for your artful photography of my garden during the height of the drought and your skilful wrangling of our camera loving dogs, and of course to editor Victoria Carey and her team @countrystylemag for bringing it to fruition. I look forward to adding another 30 years to my existing 30 year collection of your fabulous magazine. xox
  • Something a little different, soon to fly off to my exhibition, The Shadow of Wings @sukihugh_gallery in Bungendore NSW from 21 March to 26 April. Not long now! ...more in stories😊
  • The front gate. The view through the windscreen arriving home from early morning runs to kids sport training today, there are benefits to rising early!
  • Just a glimpse, all will be revealed. Nearly ready for The Shadow of Wings @sukihugh_gallery ....just 4 weeks away and the countdown is on!
  • Old, tired, tattered.  Words that may conjure a sad picture, though the things to which they are applied are often the most beautiful. I picked up three aged metal trunks from @thebowermillthorpe recently, unable to resist their timeworn patina and imagined history.  These bruised and grazed vessels aren’t simply objects, they are the holders of stories.  Whose hands rested on them? What did they enclose? Where did they travel? In the garden too, time is the greatest ingredient. Sometimes it races, at others it lingers, though always more akin to a long meander than a sprint and best enjoyed when soaking up the scenery along the way.  Just like aged roses, often lovelier than their younger selves, age gives permission to relax, billow and mellow. Time…just…is. With it comes a richness that cannot be manufactured, the reward for patience and slow observation. The next Garden Curator newsletter is evolving, slowly, and after a particularly busy period it is a reflection upon time, “slow” garden and art making.  You are welcome to wander and pause with us, just amble on over to the link via my bio to sign up for the next letter.  It’ll arrive in a week or so, unfortunately not via snail mail, rather into your email inbox. See you there.☺
  • Such a thrill to find out last night that I've made it onto the @beautifulbizarremagazine list of the top 100 paper artists on insta! The list includes extraordinary artists from across the world, so to be among them is a wonderful surprise, so unexpected and humbling! Huge thanks to the magazine❤.
  • There's been little action in the vege patch this summer, though I managed a batch of pickled beetroot, and the table is supplied with good old fashioned zucchini slice (the one that appears in most community group cook books and on ram sale or school fundraiser catering tables). I have kept the perennials going, the asparagus and rhubarb, and potatoes have continued to multiply nestled under thick blankets of hay - I haven't got around to planting new ones for years, they just keep rolling on from one year to the next in successive generations. Harvesting them is like a mixed bag of lollies, an odd bunch and you never know what will be in the bag. The blotchy cream and pink King Edwards are our favourite. Delicious and worth seeking out. The last few carrots and dill have exploded in seedy umbels, and the basil is bolting too. I must get onto a stash of pesto for the freezer, perfect for quick dinners on winter nights late home. I'm keen to find and plant more perennial vegetables in the patch, the cut and come again things that keep rolling on for a full year and more with little fuss. Any suggestions on those you've had success with?