What are allotments? And Why I Love Paintings them. Featuring A number of Artworks.

It's not been doing my videos in my paintings. This big, long list is developed, and I'm really pleased that finally, this subject matter has come to the top.

Painting allotments is something I've always done and always really enjoyed.

In the video I will also feature me painting this composting toilet in the allotment in my home village of Pilton.

What is an allotment?
An allotment is a sort of community garden where each person is allotted a certain amount of space where they can grow their own fruits, vegetables, and some flowers for non-commercial purposes.

So essentially that means growing food for you and your family, this tradition is very ancient here in the UK and goes right back to Anglo-Saxon times.


Community
In modern times, it could be argued our communities don't live on our streets anymore. They live on our phones. So, allotments, especially in a very big city could be that vital link to human contact that many of us need.

You get to meet people and there are some wonderful characters. Which is perfect for me because I get to observe, draw and paint them living their day to day lives.


The city allotment of Portsmouth
Part of the video features a very large allotment in Portsmouth, A very congested City though not here of course and this one has the advantage of being right by the sea and it was this sort of view that inspired this painting.

It features a group of allotmenteers carrying their Bounty to the allotment show in the hope of winning a prize. I don't know whether they did win a prize, though I did well because this painting at the Royal Academy summary exhibition in London.

I have painted the allotment in Pilton where I currently live as well. I wanted to get some close-up flowers and then stretch it through the hills, beyond to the very far trees to get a bit of scale. I did the painting very large. So here you can see lots of that fussy detail I so enjoy.

Pilton lovely place for an allotment and I confess it's the only place where I actually had an allotment myself. I was really looking forward to growing my own food. However, when it came down to it, I made an absolute hash of it. I would look away for two seconds, and then my crops would be replaced by weeds. In fact, the only thing I ever successfully grew were carrots and even them, I'm half convinced. They were planted there by the person it was there previously. So now I just stick to painting them.


In conclusion
Allotments fantastic places for growing good, healthy food. They're great for developing Communities. They're great for mental health and Brilliant for physical exercise especially for the older resident.

As long as these places still exist, I will keep painting them.