Skeleton leaves

It is really cold and frosty here. There is nothing left in the hedgerows and verges except a few pale bleached seedheads and lots of empty snail shells. It is the time of year when all the leaves are thin like tissue paper and slowly breaking down into small fragments.
There amongst the heaps of dead leaves I can find the beautiful skeleton leaves. They are stripped back to their tiny veins, the very thin delicate lace patterns of their structure now revealed. I collect them, carefully untangle them and press them to keep them like antique treasures, each one so precious.
As I draw the patterns I admire the beauty and think myself so lucky to have found this natural work of art. It is drawn in pencil, with a very sharp point, on A4 size paper. Press to see it larger.

Curling Leaf

A New Year, so I bought a new sketch book, with some ideas whizzing around in my head. I have been planning a drawing project for this coming year.
Meanwhile I have been brushing up on my drawing skills, by drawing acorns and oak leaves. I love using pencil, a sharpened point and a piece of paper, just observing and recording something I found. A moment in time captured, then months later you find that drawing, it evokes a memory of a walk, a place, a day out in the countryside.

This curling leaf is a favourite drawing of mine. I like the crisp shape and the way it curls around. We had been out for a walk and I had collected some leaves. I sat that evening drawing them. I loved the shadows cast from the curling leaf by the electric lamp. I think they make the drawing so much more interesting, the elegant shapes of the leaf and the delicate shadows.
I am going to do more pencil drawings in 2009 as I really enjoy using a pencil. Press the picture to see it close up.
Happy New Year to everyone.

Red Berries and Cotoneaster

It is grey and foggy. The ground is white with frost. I look out of my window and I can see the lovely red berries on the cotoneaster. The birds have eaten so many of them,  but that is why I grew them in the first place, to attract the birds and as a winter food for them.  I do love red berries and often include them in my drawings.
This drawing is perhaps a little unusual for me, it just kind of happened. I had broken off the branch and brought it indoors to draw. The little blue dish was already full of red berries and they just looked so nice together. At first I was using the dish to lean the branch against but then decided to include it. Blue and red always look so good together. I sat and drew it and then painted it with acrylic paints.  I did it last year at this time. It looks very seasonal and brightens up this gloomy day. Hope you like it.
Press picture for close up, you will see it as work in progress, not the finished one.

Peppered Moth

This moth came into my sisters house during a storm. It stayed for days as it seemed to like it in the sunshine in her sunroom and didn't seem to want to leave. She showed it to me and it was so beautiful I had to draw it. The spotted patterns are so lovely and it was fascinating observing the moth close up. I looked it up and found it is a Peppered Moth and that it has two versions. My light coloured wings with dark markings which lives in the countryside. Then the opposite one with dark coloured wings with light patterns which adapted to live in the town, in the days of sooty black buildings. My light coloured moth likes trees and is camouflaged so well on the tree bark. I used a fine ink pen and a little paint to make the wings slightly off white. My drawing measures about 6inches across. Like so many everyday things we don't see them close up, this was fascinating to look at and I did need to use a magnifying glass to get all the detail. Press picture for a close up.

Red Berries

Well autumn has arrived.  I love this time of the year as the hedgerows are full of red berries. Rose hips, hawthorn and mountain ash are all glowing red and each time I go for a walk I stop to gaze at them and then pick a small branch to draw.  Today the wind is so strong the berries will be blown off and the road will be littered with them.  I like the hawthorn berries and have a favourite tree where I pick them throughout autumn and winter.  They hang in little groups on the delicate stalks and each little branch has its own curved or twisted shape.  Over the months they change colour, from the bright red to a deeper bugundy colour. The green leaves change to dark brown and they have such a pretty shape. I am posting one of my little drawings of the hawthorn berries. I never grow tired of drawing them, they are so beautiful with their simple shapes. Hope you like them. Press picture for a closer look.

My display of natural finds.... Feathers

I have a huge collection of natural finds.  Feathers are one of my collections and I just can't resist picking them up when I see them. I find them on the sea shore, in the fields and on my walks.  One of my best finds was a lovely little blue striped feather which I found along one of the lanes in my village. It is a jays feather.   A letter arrived this week from my friend and she had popped a little striped feather in the envelope. It was from one of her hens, you see I always go around the field collecting nice feathers from her hens. See how people think about me, send me feathers , not flowers or chocolates....feathers.  I had a present off my little two year old friend, you guessed, "A feather for you to draw".  Then his five year old sister sent me a feather, found this for Eileen to draw.  Gifts of feathers are sent to me all the time, they see a feather and think of me! In the display cabinets at my exhibition this was one of the shelves, with some of my feathers displayed,  and two of my art cards, the six striped feathers and sycamore seeds with three red berries.  I was painting a red rosehip yesterday, another of my favourite things are bright red shiny berries.  Today I am just going to get started on a feather drawing for a present so I am looking through my feather collection to see which ones to draw. So many to chose from.
The three feathers are drawn with Derwent coloured pencils, three feathers collected from the sandy beach near me.
Please note.... I always wash my found feathers in soapy water to make sure they are clean before I draw them.

From little acorns

Last autumn I collected these acorns and leaves from a lovely old oak tree. I planted some of the acorns and have been watching them grow. The little oak trees have grown and have about four or five leaves and my lovely little oak leaves now measure about six inches high. It is going to be such fun watching them grow. I need to find a suitable place to plant when they start to grow bigger.
I love oak leaves and they are one of my favourite subjects along with the tiny acorns. I have lots of different drawings of oak leaves, some in paint and others in derwent coloured pencils and some detailed pencil drawings. Leaves and acorns all the same but different, each one has its own unique shape. And it still amazes me to think that a beautiful oak tree started off as one of those tiny acorns.

edm 166 fish

I have posted two drawings of fish. The coloured fish was done in pastels quite a while ago. It was the one of the few things I have ever done using pastels, the tin of Derwent pastel crayons remains unused. The pencil drawing feels more like me .

Fish were a favourite subject for an art lesson when I was teaching young children. I would go to the supermarket and buy all different fresh fish, choosing them for their colours and shape and pattterns. What a great art lesson they made and the children always were so inspired and did beautiful drawings. For most of the children this was so exciting as it the first time they had touched a fish and had first hand experience of looking at fish close up. I wasn't too popular with all the other staff, the whole school stunk of fish by the end of the day. There would be a wonderful display of drawings in the classroom and the children learnt the names of the fish.
The coloured fish is a rainbow trout. I bought it at the supermarket and chose it because of the wonderful colours. Hope you like it.
Press pictures for close up.

My display of natural finds.

As it has been a while since I posted here I thought I would post lots of little drawings in one go. This is actually a photograph of one of the little displays at my exhibition last year. I always draw from real natural objects, the cabinet holds some of my little drawings and some objects from my collections.
I wanted people to see the real feathers, shells, seeds, leaves, insects etc which I draw and inspire many of my drawings. So here is a little glimpse into the sort of things I collect, usually from the countryside or beach near to where I live. They are just everyday objects to me , found while I am out and about.
Hope you like it, click to see the bigger picture.