Sunny Days

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunny days.  I have taken every day and made the most of it by being outside.  We have eaten outside and it has been so lovely to sit and listen to the birds and read a magazine and do some drawing and enjoy it all.  After the long winter and cold springtime the conclusion was to enjoy every nice sunny day, as tomorrow it might be raining and the weather forecast gives showers for Tuesday!
We have had walks along the shore and of course I collected some feathers and shells and mermaids purse.
 A beautiful walk this week to the marshes where the board walk takes you across the raised peat bogs and into another world.  It was the dragonflies which captured my attention as they tantalised, each time I crept up close they flew off. I managed a photograph of a damselfly on a fern and my husband captured the second red one on the reed.

The wild flowers seem more colourful this year, more abundant and just beautiful as they have filled the hedgerows.  I loved the combination of pink campion and bluebells and white cow parsley.  The fields are full of buttercups, bright yellow fields  and the grass looks so fresh and green everywhere.

  It all looks so idyllic , brown cows in the fields and buttercups and daisy.  One evening we walked through the old cart tracks through this sea of yellow flowers, I felt like a child surrounded by something so breathtaking and to see butterflies darting from flower to flower.  I am curious that I have not yet seen a ladybird.  Each day butterflies dance through the garden, yellow tips and white seem to be abundant.  The bees and daddy long legs and all manner of other creatures are very much part of our life.  Each night moths bump against the windows and the daddy long legs dance around the bedroom ceiling.  I love having the windows open as I can hear the oyster catchers and other birds on the shore. The first sound I hear in the morning is the birds singing  and we watch their antics all day long.

One day on a walk I found a blackbird egg on the road. It had been taken from the nest and the thief had eaten the contents.  I brought it home and washed it and had to draw it. The large hole was stained with yellow yolk and it was interesting to see two holes on the other side too.

 A little record of bird life, as we have been watching "Spring Watch"  we have seen it is just life in the bird world. I am pleased to see the blackbirds and their young in our garden,  the nest in the ivy fledged safely, so it would be lovely to think they are the same family.
The sepia ink I made last year has been strained through a piece of fabric and I have been testing it,  my oak gall ink looks interesting and will be used soon.
Meanwhile I have been working with the Sepia ink and little handmade paper book drawing some insects.

 Last year I completed two pages and have added another five, so only three to complete this little book which I bought on my holiday last year from my favourite shop.   I used a dip in pen and a paintbrush with the sepia ink. I photographed it in the garden as I was enjoying working on it outside.

 I have been continuing to work on the large fern, see my last post.

 Drawing it first in pencil and now with sepia pens on a roll of paper, which is actually baking paper but why not?  It was the right shape, a long roll for my fern.

I held it up to the light so you can see the whole fern. I still have lots to do to finish it, but really like it.

a tiny snail on the fern

I  love the shape of the curled up tip of the fern.

The evenings have been so lovely with pink, yellow and red sunsets. Tonight the setting sun appears as a red ball and the sky is pink.  I am glad I watched each one and  I really do believe you must enjoy each day and take the time to look and see.

  A magical moment every day seeing the colours.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been doing while I have been away,  as unfortunately I have had some unwanted attention in the form of adult sites which have tagged my blog, so I have kept away and not posted for a while!      
 Thank you for your lovely comments.
Hope everyone is enjoying some lovely days too. I will be back soon.                                     Millyx

Beautiful buttercup fields and damselfly by my husband, thank you x,  all other photographs on ipad by me.