Fragments of Time

On my walk along the Bridle way I found this large piece of china. It was half buried in the rich dark brown soil and I loved all the crackled patterns formed over time.
Over the Winter months the weather has almost seen an end to the Autumns leaves. I picked up this delicate pale oak leaf, now full of holes. The sycamore seeds are so thin as the wings reveal their skeleton lacy patterns. And what remains of the rose hip berry is wrinkled and turning black. The little acorn branches and cups are also thin and fragile and easily collapse.
I put them together as a record of my day. The little blue and white triangle of china and the interesting shapes of my natural finds placed on a page in my square book.
As I started to draw them interesting little connections appear. Nature formed a pattern on the china, patterns I had seen before, on the wings of a dragonfly. The more I looked at the crackled lines the more it reminded me of those wings that I have drawn before. The colours faded over time, different objects all with the same pale yellow ochre and brown shades.
It occurred to me that all these objects have done their job, served their purpose and then slowly they become nothing more than small fragments of dust and return to the earth.
I captured them, a record of their existence.
Painted in acrylic paint, press as usual for close up.

Close up......and now the front

My friend brought me a beautiful Red Admiral butterfly in a jam jar. It was dead when she found it in her garage, so she collected it and saved it for me. She had taken it to school to show her class of young children. She told them I did drawings of butterflies, so I promised to draw it so she could take the drawing back to show them.
I finally got around to opening the jar and started to look at the butterfly. It tipped out of the jar wrong side up, I was fascinated with the underside. With the help of a magnifying glass I sat and carefully made my detailed drawing of the lovely wings. The patterns were really beautiful close up, you discover how intricate the markings are on the underside of the wings .
I hope to do the Red Admiral as you usually see it, in all its glory, but really enjoyed doing this version.
It is painted with my acrylic inks and my number 6 sable brush. Then a little shading and texture with a black ink pen. It is in my square book, so is much larger than real life. I am really pleased with this, it is amazing what you see close up. Hope you like it, press for close up.

Thank you to everyone who left me a comment about my drawings.

And here is the front, with real specimen on the tag. I still think the underside is more interesting and more beautiful.

A flash of Red

We walked along the bridle way, a lovely old path with high hedges to shelter you from the wind and rain. No need for shelter today it was beautiful, bright sunshine and a crisp clear day with views for miles around. By accident, on my walk I ended up at the farm where my Dad lived before he married my Mum. Although I have looked up at at this group of buildings from the road, this was the first time I had visited this farm. From its high position the views were amazing, yet on a cold dark wintry day it must be a lonely place to live, it felt very exposed to the elements.
I imagined my Dad growing up here, walking the same foot paths across the fields and passing through the same stone stiles that I just had. As I left I could see how close he was to nature, growing up at this farmhouse surrounded by fields and trees with the lovely views. He was always the one to give me values, to appreciate where I grew up, see how lucky we were to live in the countryside and by the sea. As a family we walked miles, and enjoyed our environment.
Dad was a wonderful gardener, I spent hours watching him lovingly grow all the flowers from seed for the pretty garden. He grew soft fruits and vegetables, we tasted food straight from the ground.
Dad would show me chrysalis and ladybirds, spiders and beetles, worms and little mice in the greenhouse. On walks he would find birds nests, moles, rabbit holes and frogs for us to see. I remember watching and being mesmerized by the dragonfly at the quarry dams on the moors and seeing snakes and newts and so much more.
It sparked off many memories of my Dad. He would have loved seeing my drawings, he knew I had the same love of nature as he did. Along the bridle path I collected the empty snail shells, the hawthorn leaves and I found the very last red berries. They are not very red as time has aged them, two hawthorn and a rose hip. Little shards of pottery littered the path, who knows I might have brought home a piece that belonged to Dads family.
Another page in my square book. Some of the real specimens and my drawing in acrylic paint.

Falling Acorns

A beautiful sunny day and a chance to walk to a favourite place through the lanes in my village. Last time I walked here it was covered in snow, now it is covered in a carpet of leaves. I cannot help but notice the many shades of brown in the leaves on the ground, some with glorious creamy yellow and orange markings. It made me think of the names in my crayon box, brown umber, yellow ochre, Venetian red, Sepia, Sanguine and terracotta. The colours brought to life here, all scattered along the path. I know there are too many to choose from, so I select a few by the curve and shape of the leaf and the colouring. I settle with my choice and try not to collect any more.
When I reach the oak tree I search the stone steps and mossy bank. There they are, the delicate little acorn cups on thin fragile branches, blown off the tree long before they reach full growth. I collect their strange little shapes, the falling acorns of 2009. It happens each year. I don't know why but I love finding them, one resembles a little old fashioned clay pipe.
The squirrels left empty nut shells on the path. Nature has its own systems, methods and ways to select in the cycle of life. I do wonder, How many of the acorns will eventually grow into a new oak tree?
My drawing records some of the little branches and oak leaves I found.
Pencil studies and coloured with acrylic paint. Press for close up.

Walking in the sand

On Monday we went for a walk along one of our local sandy beaches. The tide was out, so it was one vast expanse of sand. We walked for about one hour exploring the tide line and seeing how the weather and sea had changed the shape of the beach and sand dunes. We explored the little Limestone outcrop before returning .
It took longer than the hour as I stopped to collect more oak leaves and pieces of blue china from the debris that littered the sandy beach. The interesting objects that the sea had gathered here could easily fill my sketch book, but I just selected the objects that I wanted to draw. From all the many tiny shells, I chose this blue striped one to match the blue tones in the sea washed oak leaves and my piece of blue pottery.
It is now another page in my square book, painted in acrylic paints, my palette of blue, brown, yellow ochre and white using my number 6 sable brush. Grains of sand dropped on my page from the objects. I love how everything always looks so beautiful in the sand on the beach.

Page Three

I had a new smart black 10 inch square sketch book. I like the shape and the size of my new book. What will I draw in it? Somehow it seemed the right shape for my first drawing of this year, then I used it for the sycamore leaf and branch and here is page three. The paper is a little thin and someone spied the image of the red berries showing through.
This busy little arrangement feels so me, my red berries collected in the snow under the Hawthorne tree. The little leaves which seem to dance in a line and and an empty snail shell. They are objects that I have seen all my life, I know the time of the year by the state of the berries and their colour. The patterns of the little leaves scattered on the ground in autumn, I notice them on my walks just as I did as a child.
Why do we draw what we draw? I read somewhere, "Draw what excites you, what gives you joy." I draw the things I know, each year I see them but they still give me joy when I find them. They remind me of where I live, who I am, where I belong.
My drawings are like a diary, a calendar, a record of walks and people and places.
A new year to capture, so "Page three" of my square book it is.
It is painted in acrylic paint, my palette of red, blue, brown, yellow ochre and a little white in the snail shell. They are simple things but to me very beautiful objects. Hope you like them too.
Thought you might like to see a few of the real specimens.

Trapped in the ice

I went for a walk in the snow. The roads were very slippery. Everywhere was white except for the dark shapes of trees and stone walls. Even the little rivers and streams were frozen. It all looked so pretty, we don't see this snow scene very often.
I kept finding the tiny dark sycamore helicopters in the snow. Then a dark leaf covered in the black spots, it was trapped under the ice. I carried the piece of ice with my leaf and brought it home to draw. The little branch with three doubles came home too. My little drawing was painted with acrylic inks.
I also found some red berries but they are featuring in another drawing soon.
Thank you for the lovely comments.

My First Drawing this Year

On the first day of the year I went for a walk on the frosty shore and admired the beautiful scenery, the snow capped Lakeland hills. I kept seeing images of oak leaves trapped under the ice. My eyes constantly scanning for the objects washed up by the sea in the tide line. I saw plastic objects, glass bottles, assorted balls, drink cans, metal objects and lighters littering the shore.
Of more interest to me, a huge tangle of natural objects clung to the wire fences separating the grassy shore from the fields. I was not alone, a crowd of young bullocks pushed and shoved against the fence for the best view, curious to see me poking amongst the debris. They followed me as I examined and picked through this giant fishing net for interesting finds. It possessed seaweeds, shells, mermaids purses, a birds skull, feathers, acorns, leaves, berries, a fir cone and many lovely oak leaves, all tangled up with grasses and string. More objects trapped in the ice, gave some fascinating patterns, but I had no camera with me.
It was a bitterly cold day, but very inspiring and reminded me how much I love this place. I have sorted through some of the bits I collected that day, put them together in this drawing together with the fragments of pottery I have found. It will always remind me of that day, the blue sky and my bag of odds and ends found on the frosty shore. Hope you like it. It is painted with acrylic inks and a paintbrush.

The Seeds of Time

I love all the different seed heads in all their amazing shapes. Nature is the designer, tiny seeds held in little pockets and beautiful intricate designs just waiting to fly or sprinkle or blow on the wind. My pencil drawings were done a while ago and the seeds collected from the Snakehead fritillary.
I think a blog is just like Seed dispersal as it spreads and then grows, read by people all over the world, seeds scattered to far corners of the globe. So to everyone who reads this I wish you the very best and "A HAPPY NEW YEAR". And thank you for all the lovely comments you leave me, they are appreciated.
I would love to hear from you and how far my little blog has reached.
It is a beautiful sunny bright day, snow on the hills and very chilly. I am just going for my first walk in this new year 2010, to see what I find, then maybe some drawing.
Millyx