G is for Garden

        Mary Azarian has an entire alphabet book of wood blocks all on the topic of gardening, and another on farm life, which obviously also includes lots of gardening stuff.  (List of books here.)  Then there's my botanical alphabet poster consisting largely of garden plants and trees.  But I thought I'd try to celebrate summer with a garden-themed sampling
from a wider selection of the block printed alphabets I've been finding.  So here are some of the plants and animals, people and scenes that might be found in a garden.  A few of these prints come from gardens in winter, others from spring or fall rather than high summer, but they all make me think of the joy of getting out into the yard now, while the garden is at its most exuberant.

        New in my collection of alphabet books is another one I have not been able to enjoy in person but which, through the magic of the internet, I can at least see on-line.  This is An Alphabet by Walter Inglis Anderson, the star of my previous post.  Here's a Man working in the garden.

        Rather than keep listing all my other alphabet posts, I've added "ABC" to the list of labels in the sidebar.  Now you can always find the whole abecedarian collection if you're ever in need of the little dose of cheerful order that alphabet collections never fail to provide.

        Now, what are you doing in front of the computer?  For goodness sake, get out into the garden!

[Pictures: Garden, wood block print by Mary Azarian, from A Farmer's Alphabet, 1981;

     Greenhouse, wood block print with watercolor by Mary Azarian, from A Gardener's Alphabet, 2000;

     Grasshopper, wood block print by AEGN, from Amazing, Beguiling, Curious, 2010;

     Man, linoleum block print by Walter Inglis Anderson, from An Alphabet, 1930's (image from the Walter Anderson Shop, where you can see the entire alphabet);

     Butterflies, wood block print with multiple blocks by David Frampton, from My Beastie Book of ABC, 2002;

     Bird, wood block print by Antonio Frasconi, from Bestiary, 1965;

     Dandelion, rubber block print from Botanical Alphabet Poster by AEGN, 1997;

     Hare, wood block print with watercolor by Betsy Bowen, from Antler, Bear, Canoe, 1991;

     Picking, linoleum block print by Dione Verulam, c. 2010 (image from Dione Verulam's web site).]