Sunday 19 September 2010

Nature Walk



On Friday we had a really lovely sunny day and I went for a walk up through the lanes in my village. I love this time of year when the hedgerows are literally hanging with red berries. Also the blue berries of sloe, blackberries and elderberries. I collected little hanks of berries and ended up with a variety of the Autumn harvest.
The day was warm and sunny and just like me lots of wildlife were out and about enjoying the day. I saw sightings of dragonfly, beautiful speckled woodland butterflies, grasshoppers, Jays shouting high up in the trees and a little mouse. The acorns are green on the oak trees and after the stormy days the road was littered with the fallen ones. As I selected some acorns it was obvious many had already been in the hands of a squirrel as the insides were gone. The same with the hazel nuts, empty shells under the Hazel branches. Later we watched a grey squirrel running along the wall and off across the fields.
I arrived home with so many lovely finds. I knew the berries would soon be flagging and I needed to record them quickly. So all evening I sketched, the middle photograph shows my progress. On Saturday I continued to work quickly to try and record the different specimens using acrylic paints. So here is what I managed to complete, as the leaves are now dry and curling and the berries past their best. It makes a bright colourful double page entry in my book. Press for closer look. Hope you like it too.
Once again thank you for your comments and welcome to the new followers. Millyx

12 comments:

Acornmoon said...

I can see that you were in your element with all those berries. We saw a huge dragonfly today, strange as we were in Trafalger Square!

Pondside said...

It sounds like you went for your walk on just the right day for finding berries. If you were over here you'd be sketching by a fire, as the rain is driving down and the flowers have been blown off the branches. There will still be lots of berries for the birds,though........or for artists,if they are looking.

Susan Scheid (Raining Acorns) said...

Wonderful! So lovely to see your harvest from the hedgerows together with your beautiful renderings. A double treat!

Jill said...

Milly, what a lovely record of your walk, what a treasure your sketch book must be.

Carol said...

Your work is beautiful & inspiring!

Windsongs and Wordhoards said...

Your painting looks fantastic! I love the arrangement across the double page too. :)

Gretchen Bjornson ART said...

Found your blog via Irina's. I love your nature drawings....so real. What medium do you use? They are all so very realistic and delicate.

Frances said...

Milly, that double page of your beautiful work really does show nature's splendor at this time of the year.

The grace in your drawing is remarkable.

I also loved reading about your walk and the antics of squirrels. Those frisky little animals are so amusing in their approach to acorns, etc.

If I can find time today, I am going for a long-postponed walk in Central Park. Can you believe that two, yes two, tornadoes swept through our city last week? The effects were not so extreme in Manhattan as in the outer borought, but all the same...a bit too much nature on that afternoon!

xo

Posie said...

Beautiful Milly. We have an abundance of red berries just now, I have been busy collecting rosehips from the happy farmer's hedgerows. We don't have any squirrels living on our island, but the birds love the berries, Posie

martinealison said...

Très joli... Bel ensemble de rouges...

Dan said...

Just lovely Milly! I was reading today that there is a bumber harvest in the UK this autumn as a result of the cold winter and warm summer, so I would imagine there will be plenty of sketching and painting opportunities for you.
Dan
-x-

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Your drawings are so wonderful sigh :o)

I love red too and berries are my most favourite also. Beautiful bloggy

Carolyn