EDM 112 "Draw Something Fresh"

I live by the seashore and in the summer months Mushrooms grow on the shore. As a child I would get such a thrill at going down to the shore and searching for the mushrooms. It is best to go after rain and then sunshine , the little white button mushrooms are growing and peeping through the grass. It doesn't matter how many times you have been searching for them it is always such a thrill to find them. Last year waS a bumper year and there were masses of them. Your going to laugh when I tell you that I don't actually like eating them. But I do like drawing them. This one was picked fresh from the shore and selected for its beautiful shape and lovely patterns with the frilly scales underneath . I just love them as a drawing subject. Of course as they perish fairly quickly I needed to draw it while it was fresh, to capture all the detail. It is drawn wiith HB pencil.

EDM 31 "Draw Something You Collect"

Well this one was easy for me , it had to be a leaf. I collect them nearly everyday, I definately look at them everyday . Yesterday I went for a walk by Coniston Lake and I collected some tiny leaves. They are beautifully shaped with colours which really are more like at Autumn time. We are having so much rain I fear autumn will arrive early.These little leaves had been blown about and had turned yellow and browns and just a bit of green here and there. I also found bits of blue and white china , going to draw them together for a picture.
Back to the leaf , Challenge EDM 31, as this is what I collect. This ia actually a Dock Leaf that has been eaten by beetles and left this gorgeous lace effect. I have used a new product by Derwent called Graphitint, like a pencil with colors. I really like them, used green and brown here. Love drawing the detail.
I have my eye on a Dock plant along the roadside, it is changing into some lovely colours and also been eaten by the beetles, great shapes appearing.
Hope you like this one. You should be able to click and get a larger image as some of you wanted to view my work closer.

My Dragonfly at My Exhibition.

My Exhibition is open and it is so wonderful to see my drawings in the beautiful gallery at Brantwood. I do feel so proud to have achieved this and I hope that all the people that visit the exhibition enjoy seeing my art work. It is such a wonderful setting on the edge of Coniston Lake in the Lake District. Brantwood is the former home of John Ruskin , follow my link to Brantwood to see this lovely place.
In the gallery there are two display cabinets and I have filled them with lots of my collections of natural finds...shells, seeds , insects and feathers. I have also displayed lots of my drawings, sketch book pages and art materials . This is, for me, an important part of the exhibition and shows actual objects that are in in my drawings. Everyone seems to love the cabinets, with all the interesting little specimens, such as the dragonfly which I found last year in the roadside . It had been hit by a car and was injured, it died shortly afterwards but I kept it in a jar and did some drawings of it.
My exhibition is on for five weeks , so if anyone comes to the English Lake District and to Coniston you can see it at Brantwood in the Severn Studio. It is called "Drawings from Nature". The Large Dragonfly drawing is displayed over the fireplace, this is the original drawing , which I use as my logo for everything. It is on the Posters for my Exhibition. So follow the Dragonfly. It is drawn using coloured inks, with both paint brushes and ink pens. This dragonfly was found in a court yard in Malta, where I made detailed sketches and then later made this large drawings . This is one of my set of art cards ,on my website.

Go for a Nature Walk EDM63 Draw what you find

This is what I do on a regular basis.As I live in the countryside everyday is a nature walk. I notice things as I'm walking ,and if I like the shape of something it more often than not finds its way home with me to draw.I noticed this delicate piece of fern ,as it is drying out and turning brown, it curls around. It is drawn in pencil. I like the shape, it is elegant and delicate, which is what I liked when I first saw it.

First EDM challenge 34 "Fallen Leaf"

I have just joined the Everyday Matters drawing group. I am posting a drawing which I already had and did earlier this year. It fits the EDM CHALLENGE 34 ,draw a fallen leaf.I love oak leaves and acorns and collect them everywhere I go when I see them. My pockets are always full of objects I see and collect to draw.This oak leaf was found on a frosty day in March and I loved both the shape and colours.I have used acrylic paints to capture the lovely yellow orche colours. It is starting to fall apart ,but the missing shapes add to the shape. Hope you like it.

My Feather Collection

I am lucky enough to live by the sea. The view from my bedroom window looks down across the sea shore. It is an estuary and has lots of wild birds and is actually a place of special scientific interest. When I go for a walk on the shore I am always finding feathers. I love the pure white swan feathers but my favourites are these brown and white striped ones. In the summer I can find so many, all diffrent sizes, tiny ones and much bigger ones. They are all different, the colours ,shapes and patterns. I like placing them in a line and then drawing them. It does take me a long time to do a drawing like this but I love the finished result.
I have so many different feathers, so many different colours and patterns and shapes. Some of them are drawn in pencil because I want to capture the lines and all the detail.I have used Derwent crayons to do this line of feathers.
Just the other day I spotted a tiny feather in the road and it had bright blue up one side. My husband said it was a Jays feather. He showed me a picture of a Jay and it has blue on its wings. What a great find , I must draw it in one of my pictures.
Hope you like my feather drawing. There is a similar drawing to this going to be in my exhibition . It starts two weeks tomorrow.I am going to put some of my feathers on display along with other natural objects which I have drawn.
I collect feathers when ever I see them. I usually wash them in soapy water and that way I know they are clean. Some people are allergic to feathers, not me, so do take care if you handle them.

Feathers

I have been really busy . Each day I focus on getting yet another task done and take great pleasure crossing it off my to do list. I have visited the picture framer on a regular basis and I am happy with the framed drawings. It is strange seeing my drawings framed and I try to image what they will all look lke up on the wall displayed together. Three weeks today and the exhibition will be open to the public. As this is my first ever exhibition I feel very excited . Then of course I hope other people enjoy it and like my drawings. I know I will feel a sense of achievement and proud of myself . This is a big step for me , a step into the unknown , sharing my work .

For those of you who followed my CL blog , you will know I love to collect and draw feathers . Saturday night , I am sat listening to the radio drawing feathers , my idea of relaxing.My feather drawing is done in Derwent coloured pencils and is two owl feathers. This will be in my exhibition.