Winter walks.

It has become chilly here with white toppings on the hill tops. I have had some nice winter walks, wrapped up well against the bitterly cold wind.

I have been drawing a collection of objects I found on a walk.

 

I picked each object up and wrapped them all in tissues I had in my pockets, then popped them in my jacket and hoped they survived intact. I knew I would enjoy recording the different textures, shapes and colours.

 

I love finding the old pieces of china peeping out of the ground, a blue patterned one and the white crackled edge of a plate. The pale blue empty snail shells seem to be everywhere in the winter hedgerows, all the brown outer skin peeled back and revealing the beautiful pale stripes. I picked up three sycamore seeds with the intricate lines and tears that happen as they age, another favourite drawing subject for me.

 

As I started to draw these objects my mind thinks that I have saved them, rescued them from becoming specks to be blown by the wind or from being swept along with the water running down the sides of the road and into a drain. Who cares much for an empty snail shell so easily crushed under foot without a second thought.

I was looking through an older sketchbook and I saw a page, a similar collection of my finds and I was transported back to a place, a day and a memory of a walk.

 

They may not mean much to others but they do to me, they tell my story of a day, a memory which I want to keep.

Like the berries I picked today.

 

I stopped to look at the hawthorn tree, all tangled and twisted with thorns and there I saw this last branch of berries. The remains of a leaf came home too. I will try and do my best to capture them both together on a new page. The red berries give me so much pleasure to see. It seems such a long time before they will return again next autumn, so let me hang on to the image of the last few as I draw them. Later the birds will have them to eat.

And here is the page from one of my older sketchbooks of my drawings from nature, the acorn cups and oak leaf, the lovely crackled China and the sycamore seeds. Strange little objects with a damaged rose hip berry. Yet I remember that day so clearly as I collected them all.

And I will leave you with the view outside. As the temperature dips we are keeping warm by the fire. I am going to start sketching my branch of berries and skeletal leaf.

What are you drawing ? I would love to hear why or how you choose your subjects to draw or paint. Hope you are all keeping warm.

Thank you for visiting and for the lovely comments, I enjoy reading them. It seems to take so long posting as my eyes do not like the computer. I hope you like seeing my first completed drawing of 2015, painted using acrylic inks.

Sunday 18th January 2015 At. 4pm. See you soon . Millyx

 

All photographs, artwork and writing belong to Eileen Postlethwaite. Please respect my copyright, all rights reserved.