Cottagecore & nature life · 8 June 2026

Inspiration from my late spring cottage garden

Take a walk with me through my cottage garden in late spring. I'll show you the feast of flowers, scents and curiosities, and how they inspire my artwork.

It is late spring, and the garden is more alive than ever. Even more than the years before. Although I always wonder if the garden gets more mature and alive every year, or is it that I’m just paying more attention?

Pink roses in a cottage garden in late spring — These roses really steal the show with their bright colors.

The garden is full of scents and curiosities right now. The jasmine, the honeysuckle, the roses, the elderberry… They surprise me with hints of scent every time I walk through the garden. Sometimes overwhelming, sometimes subtle, sometimes seducing, sometimes sweet.

For me, a scent, a sound, or a sensation often invokes inspiration for a painting, rather than sight alone. A hint of scent can tell stories because it stores memories. Not only personal memories, but also memories of another place, a memory that is maybe a fantasy, or a feeling that just blew in, not clear where it comes from.

I want my artwork to tell stories. I love drawing and painting flowers and plants, but I love it even more when they tell you a story, when they spark the imagination, or when the artwork almost gives you an experience, as if you really are there.

Red poppy growing in a green cottage garden

While a flower on itself is not a story, it could tell a lot of stories. Like this red poppy in a sea of green, powerful, and brave. I didn’t create a painting around these ideas (yet), but I could!

Sketchbook with plantain seed head sketches looking like old men

I couldn't help but see funny little old men in these plantain seed heads. Plantain is a plant that’s so ordinary, so mundane, nobody pays attention to it. But when you do look, you suddenly can see all kinds of stuff!

Faelyn, watercolor artist, in her cottage garden next to the red currant bushes — Me eating red currants, although it would have been a better idea to wait a little longer until they were a bit sweeter...

Golden Retriever resting in a cottage garden in summer — My sweet Golden Retriever, Zelda, resting in the garden.

Beans growing up along the pergola — Beans growing along the pergola.

Curious about the worlds these observations grow into? You can visit my shop here or browse the gallery here.