Collecting feathers

 It was a bright sunny day and we went for a walk down to a local sandy beach a few miles from us.  It was another day to get outside and enjoy the sunshine, as the days are getting shorter and much cooler.
We parked the car and wandered along  the well worn footpath on top of the sand dunes to the beach. And I said, "please don't let me collect anything today".  He just laughed and then asked, "Why? "
Of course he knew the answer as he knows better than anyone about my collecting habits!   Moments later I am picking up a feather,  then I put it down and walked away. But I really wanted the feather, so I went back and stuck it into the sand and said if I still wanted it I would collect it on our way back.

 We had not gone too far and there was another lovely feather, and another and he kept laughing as I placed them standing up in the sand.  Or perhaps should I take them now in case they blew away or we miss  them on the way back?     I am trying to resist by convincing myself there is no need to take them as I still have acorns and leaves and blackberries and red berries and sycamore sitting at home with a promise of being drawn,  all freshly collected from recent walks.
The day was beautiful, the views wonderful and that feelings of  freedom with this vast expanse of  space stretching out before us,  which is why I love being anywhere on the shore.  We wandered along the sandy beach and I see so many things I want to draw and I just have to pick them up and I failed miserably on the no collecting rule.

                                                                               This was my bag,  a small bag I found in my pocket which I managed to  fill with feathers, beautiful feathers and  some shells and a piece of seaweed that I could not bear to leave.  The larger gull feathers all have  fascinating  white spots which will make great drawing subjects.  And  the brown and white feathers  belong to the curlews, too lovely to resist and a few pretty shells thrown in for good measure.

 This is the view of the estuary with our village is on the right in the distance.  It was such a quiet day with just a few other people out for a walk,  all this to share.  The little tidal river weaves its way  towards our shore but soon all of this sand  will be covered with water as the tide comes in.  Along the way I found the two mermaids purses and the big fat bubble of seed weed in the tide line and I knew they would be part of my drawing.

 I like all of the objects,  each one picked up from the beach on such a nice Sunday afternoon.  And on the way back my feathers were waiting for me.....well if it makes me happy...no harm done....as the old folk used to say.

 And while I collected feathers my husband collected some beautiful photographs of the old boats.

 And as for the clutter.... I managed to draw a blackberry or two.

 Hope you liked the picture and the feathers, something tells  me  there will be lots more feather drawings soon. Thank you to my husband for the photographs.
My drawings are here for others to share and enjoy, please do not take my drawings, respect my ownership.

Thank you for the comments and emails.  I really do appreciate your comments and thoughts and to all the lovely people who let me know how much they enjoy my blog.
 Many thanks to you all.       Milly x

MY Drawings from Nature

I was asked the other day why I blog.
 The answer was easy,  I started blogging to share my art work.   I feel very lucky to live in a beautiful place and it is the countryside and the natural surroundings which inspire me to draw.  As a teacher it was my job to teach and my own enthusiasm was something that motivated the children in our art lessons.  I often meet children I taught and it is always the art work they talk about, memories of lessons drawing fresh fish or making paper or  printing,  enjoyable art lessons that left a memory.   To be a teacher was to pass on skills and encourage others to use their own skills and talents.   I share my art work  on this  blog to do just that and from the lovely comments I am often told I have inspired others to draw.
I am happy to hear this.
BUT,   I am feeling very unhappy about the way other people feel they have a right to take my artwork.   I have seen lots of my drawings on Pinterest......none of it with any requests or permission from me.  One person asked me if she could use it,  I did give her permission but also asked her to take one or two,  my work is here to view.   She then chose not to use any.
I do get requests.   I  have been asked if it would be possible to use a piece of  my work to print on a shirt, (from someone who already taken  it as their facebook header),  several requests for a body tattoo.   Someone wanted it for a business card and company logo, once for  wedding stationary and I could go on...... For free,  mention a payment and all goes quiet.  I could go on.
One person who took my Fritillary drawing and put it on her pinterest, she did add a link back to here,  but did not bother to ask.   When I found her and went to her blog,  a textile student,  it was very interesting to read  "her work was not to used or taken or used " etc  by anyone,  which was written under every post.   I think that is called double standards,  use other peoples work but nobody touch mine.
Well this is MY drawing.  All of MY work which I spend a lot of time drawing,  it is here to inspire and not to be used freely,  not to be copied.
I think the word inspired is misunderstood by many people,  they should have written I copied this.
I do not have adverts on this blog,  nor do I  earn money by people visiting this blog.  BUT  I am rather fed up of other sites  using MY  name "Drawingsfromnatureblog"  as a means of directing and generating traffic  and income to their sites.
MY  ART WORK,   MY DRAWINGS,   MY COPYRIGHT. and   ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED .

For all the lovely people all over the world who visit my blog to see my drawings and share a love of nature, here is my latest drawing.   I have made some wonderful friends over the years and  have enjoyed being inspired by the many kind people and friendship and support.  I have comments and emails from school children  who enjoy my drawings and adults  who appreciate seeing  where I live and photographs of this beautiful area.  It is lovely to know it gives pleasure to others by sharing my drawings.

Last weekend we walked on a local beach a few miles from us.  It was a misty day and feeling cooler.  I walked along the tide line and of course had to collect some feathers.  A huge dragonfly flew past and I hoped we might find one.  The little rock outcrop is where we walked to, from here we could look into the estuary to our village in the distance, the slate quarry and moors.

I collected some feathers and shells and seaweed.  The fine sand was blowing and  I was glad I had sunglasses to protect my eyes.

The wind blowing the sand across the shore

 Plenty of sand here. And lots of treasures of feathers and sea weeds and shells and china.

We saw several woolly caterpillars.

And then, it went very cloudy, very dark. Time to leave.

We managed to get home just as it started to rain and rain and rain, lots of that lately.

The pencil drawing of the feather was a gulls feather I found on the sand .  The four eggs were painted with my acrylic inks and a fine sable brush, which I spend many hours carefully  painting.  Hope you like them and enjoyed the beach walk.                                      Millyx