Rampant front garden and a Samurai's garden

from w
I am still mainly housebound as the back pain subsides a bit, so I did a sketch based on a random selection of plants in the front garden - cribbly pen of a chaotic garden. Also in the last two days I've read a book entitled 'The Samurai's Garden' and I have confused thoughts about it as some people highly recommended it. I found the theme interesting but the writer could have done much more - show the twenty year old young Chinese man in a Japanese village during wartime as being at odds with the community, show his tuberculous symptoms more, have less bowing politely and eating. The characters are interesting but there could have been so much more tension. I don't think the voice of a young man rang true. Of course the garden theme, the detail, calm, simplicity was lovely but a lifestyle of continually raking and changing stones around is just so different from the chaos and surprises of a chaotic garden.


I added some coloured pencil to the sketch, and also one based on plants in the back garden, then made negatives of them. Becomes a bizarre crazy garden then. Perhaps I need a Zen garden some day?