Rainy Days, drawing and sewing

butterfly and fern in acrylic ink

 We have had more than our fair share of rain here in Cumbria.  We didn't let it put us off going to see the Olympic torch, standing in the pouring rain everyone was soaked but the young man carrying the torch through Kendal looked very happy and it was a proud moment for him.  It was probably the wettest day ever, as last Friday put down a months rain in twenty four hours!

 During these wet days I have found some time to finally do a little sewing.  I wanted to make something useful with my hare fabric so I decided to make myself two tea towels.  I made them from natural linen and then added my lovely hare drawings in the corner.  The one sitting upright was stitched with linen thread with straight running stitches and I always love the textures it creates. You can also see my pincushion I made last year and stuffed with sheep wool I collected on the shore.  I am very happy with my handmade tea towels and enjoyed my sewing days.

You can buy this fabric with my hare drawings on it at "Peony and Sage" .

I am going to enjoy using my own handmade tea towels,  my hare drawings  look so nice.

                                  There is a link to the "Peony and Sage" website in my side bar.

I have been drawing another  butterfly I found.  It is a little damaged but then there is no wonder in this terrible weather we have been experiencing.  I put it with the piece of fern I picked which also was damaged and curling,  they just seemed to go together.   I used my acrylic inks and a paint brush and also my dip in pen for the sepia drawing of the underside of the butterfly.
I have been thinking about the swan and wondering if she is safe,  because I do have some lovely news to share.  I don't know if it is the same swan but we have a family,  two  parents and three beautiful young cygnets.  I hope they have found somewhere safe to shelter,  we had such a terrible thunder and lightening storm and heavy rain yesterday.  We saw them earlier in the week on a fine day as we took a walk on the shore.

I will leave you with this gorgeous photograph taken by my husband.  I hope you like the drawing and seeing my drawing and sewing together too.  Hope you all have a good weekend.
Thank you for the lovely comments.                                                                Millyx

Green Wings

Everywhere is very green and lush with all the rain we have had.  The tall cow parsley is shoulder height along the lanes and looking beautiful.  The fields are full of thick grass and filled with yellow buttercups and white dog daisies.  Many of the village hedgerows have been cut back as the fast growing wild flowers hang over the narrow roads and make them look even narrower and harder for cars to pass.  The verges  are home to many plants  and then when the space is needed they get cut down too.  I like to see all  the wild flowers and then the butterflies and insects are attracted to the colours and scents.  The honeysuckle and the Elderflower are both welcome sights as they are now flowering in the hedgerows.

I had been to see my sister and we wandered through her garden  I admired all her flowers which always attract beautiful butterflies.   She told me a dragonfly had flown into her conservatory on Sunday, she sees lots over the summer because of the pond and stream at the end of her garden.  Then I was given this butterfly which she had found dead in the conservatory,  as she knew I would draw it.  It is quite small and has  pale yellow and white wings with green  lines.  On the way home the wind was really picking up and it looked like a storm was heading our way.  The trees were catching the strong breeze and the little green sycamore wings were being blown off the branches.  I picked some up off the road,  and found I had collected a triple one.  So when I arrived home they ended up on my page together.... Green wings on the butterfly and green sycamore wings.

I drew the delicate butterfly in pencil first and then again a little larger to add the colours.  I painted it using a number 4 sable brush and  my acrylic inks with sap green, yellow ochre, and white to mix the colours.  I also used a little red with the sap green for the sycamore wings.

  I looked up the butterfly in Collins Butterfly Guide and it is a "Green veined white".  I hope to see lots more colourful butterflies during Summer in my sisters garden.  I will take my sketch book to show her the butterfly.   It is raining non stop here, everything will be growing and I guess it will be even greener and the grass even taller.

   I have visited a garden centre this week and bought some new plants,  two new peonies and some Lavenders,  and  geraniums for the pots at my door. I am going to be gardening when the rain stops and hopefully spend lots of summer days outside and sit and enjoy the views across the estuary.  Hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Thank you for the comments which I love to read.                                                        Millyx
  

A Celebration.

The Jubilee celebrations are now over.  In our village we had a Gala day on Monday and it was a glorious sunny day, we were so lucky as we are having lots of rain today.   I was invited to display some of my drawings as part of an exhibition of art by people who live in the village.  It was a lovely display representing children from the village school, an art group and anyone of any age who enjoys painting or drawing.  I decided to put lots of little drawings together on a large sheet to show lots of different subjects which I draw.

I added some pencil work, some using black ink  and several pieces of coloured work in crayon and paint.   It was a sample of the kind of  natural objects that I always choose to draw, things I find when I go for a walk around the village or on the shore.  There was also a glass covered display of my work showing the real items next to some of the drawings, such as shells, feathers and seeds.  It was interesting for me to see lots of my old work as I went through it  deciding which drawings to include.  I do draw the same things each year but they all look  different.  I had a spell of using mostly coloured pencils as in the feathers, then I painted with acrylic paints and now I seem to use acrylic inks.  My love of pencil drawings and black ink is also represented.  Well it is all very much  me, with feathers, red berries, shells, a moth, oak leaf and sycamore seeds...all  the things I  love to draw.  And also it shows how I like to use tags to draw on.

I hope you enjoy looking at the drawings too. The Gala was a great success, a bonfire and fireworks ended a lovely day.  I particularly was wowed by the fantastic Cake stall and chose four different cakes!  Hope you all enjoyed your celebrations and had a great weekend too what ever you were doing.
I have also been to see the new film " Snow White and the Huntsman",  which I really enjoyed from start to finish.  Some of the scenery was filmed in the Lake District and at one of the tarns,  it is a great film.
Thank you for the lovely comments.                                                              Millyx