Beach Finds

The other day we went to the next village to post a parcel. It is  a few miles along the coast and was once a fishing village so there are still a few boats about. We decided to wander down to the shore and have a look across at the views.  The tide was coming in and it was a cool breeze, the clouds were low and it seemed as if might rain.  We sat for a while and then we decided to wander along the shore in the direction of our village, looking towards the Lakeland hills. It is a flat sandy beach,  with pebbles and stones and the sandy banks are suffering erosion from the sea.  There were all kinds of objects washed up, shells, seaweed, rope, mussel shells and odd shoes.  The sand was full of pebbles, stones and shingle and my first piece of blue and white china.

I start searching for treasures and we were not disappointed.

We found lots of different pieces of blue and white pottery, and pieces of sea washed glass.  The glass was all different colours and shapes, some had words and numbers from when they were bottles. I love finding the blue pottery,  I see a cream coloured flat shape and it looks quite boring, I pick it up and turn it over to reveal a beautiful fragment of a design and it gives me such a thrill.
Now my husband  is being enticed by the birds running along the sand and stones. He knows it is ideal territory for nesting, so he is keeping his eyes open and walking carefully.  He called me over to see what he had stumbled  upon.  At first I could see nothing and as he pointed,  I eventually focused on the little nest on the ground with three eggs.  It was so well camouflaged in the stones.  Why do you find things when you have no camera, next best thing his phone.

It was the nest of a" Ringed Plover". When we arrived home he looked it up in a book and it said they  like to build their nest on "shingley beaches",  so a perfect place to see them.  Then a little later he found a second one.

I can not tell you how hard it was to see  the nests on this beach amongst these stones.

they just look like four pebbles. 

He made sure he did not touch them and also brushed over his footprints near the nests to help keep their location a secret.  The birds were not far away, no doubt watching us. It was a real privilege to see the nests.  We then kept our distance from the area where they were.  We heard a Skylark singing high above us over the reeds. With my bag of treasures we turned around and walked back towards the village and to where our car was parked.  On the way back I carried the blue snail and the two tiny twisted pieces of seaweed in my hand, I knew they would be interesting to draw.

So here is the drawing from  our lovely  beach walk.

It is drawn with my acrylic inks using a number 3 and 4 sable brush and a dip in pen on the seaweed lines.
Hope you enjoy the walk on the beach.Thank you for your lovely comments.
All photographs on beach by my husband on his phone.                        Millyx

wild flowers

a drawing of a violet in sepia ink

On Sunday afternoon we took advantage of the fine day and went for a walk through the fields and visited the wood.  It was very very black sky over the hills but in the opposite direction we were lucky to have a blue sky and sunshine. The field was full of new lambs with their mothers. As we walked along the edge of the field we stopped to look at the primroses and little clusters of blue violets.  I found the Lords and Ladies at different stages, and made a note to come back and watch them grow as I really like this plant which grows into a stem with red glossy berries.

primroses

 I picked a few different kinds of flowers along the way, a specimen of each to draw.

Lords and Lady  

I saw a ladybird sitting in the warm sunshine on a green leaf and in the distance we could see such a tiny little lamb playing by the hedgerow. A worried mother watched as we walked nearby and then this beautiful  lamb made her way back to her mother and bigger sister.

 We passed the old slate stile and through the fields with the deep holes and the hills of waste slate, this land shaped from the days when the quarry was in this area.  It is now overground with grass and trees and plants as nature has taken over.  We found  a beautiful cluster of violets and ferns growing  in a crack in a stone slab.

an old  stone stile once used  along the  footpaths through the fields 

ferns and violets growing on the stone

  The hills are a high vantage point,  views of the shore and the estuary can be seen from the slate "rubbish hills".

walking on top of the old slate hills and the estuary behind. 

views of the seashore 

Our walk took us through the lanes and we saw lots of different wild flowers all growing along side the road in the verges, bankings and hedgerows.  We left the road and followed the little track to the wood to see the bluebells and marsh marigolds growing there. The strong scent of the white onion plant, or wild garlic,  was  everywhere.  I have visited this wood in the village since I was a little girl.  I remember gathering the bluebells and  getting stuck in the deep mud as I once tried to pick the marsh marigold from the wet boggy area.

Some of the flowers in the wood,  I wish you could smell the bluebells and the wild garlic.

 We saw a birds nest tucked away amongst the stones in a wall.  The photographs were taken by my husband, these are just a few,  lots more I can share in another post.

a primrose in pencil

studies of a violet

a little cup  of a primroses and violets.

And I will leave you with our lovely English bluebells.  Hope you enjoyed the walk. 

Thank you for your lovely comments..............Millyx 

A Walk on the shore

It has been a week of high tides.  I have watched each day as the water gushed in and covered the estuary.  I really wanted to go and see if it had brought something for me to draw,  and  there was also another reason why I wanted to go for a walk.  So on Friday we decided to venture down to the shore.  I say venture because the sky was really black over the hills, a sure sign of something coming our way.  We decided we would risk it.  As we crossed over the railway line and climbed the steps of our smart newly  painted footbridge the  large heavy drops of rain peppered the ground.  Then as we opened the gate we could feel the chilly wind,  already had our hoods up and jackets zipped tight.  Then suddenly it started to drop large hailstones which  really sting as they hit your face and hurt as they increased in size and number.  We turned our back to them and could feel them battering our head and shoulders and stinging the backs of our legs. It lasted about half an hour and then in an instant  the black clouds formed  an opening and bright blue sky appeared.

 It was like it never happened and we walked in sunshine.  The shore is like this, the views are always changing with the weather, and the colours change accordingly.   I found oak leaves,  I had to collect them.  At this time of year they are wonderful shapes and colours, some really dark, others rusty coloured,  some  full of holes whilst others are breaking and collapsing as they deteriorate with age.   I saw feathers and small crabs and shrimps and seaweed.  All reminders of my weekly finds from last year.
I was also delighted to see my old friend had returned one day,  the beautiful swan, my reason for a walk.

It was lovely to take a walk on the shore, lots of memories here.  The high tides had given the stones a good shake up and my husband found the piece of china.  He handed it to me upside down and this side was just covered in crackles,  so when I turned it over I would  see  a lovely maroon coloured patten of leaves, it made me smile, a great find.  I  always feel so much better after a long wander on the seashore but today was very cold so an hour was long enough and the black clouds were building up again over the Lakeland hills.  Someone had really cold hands from playing in the water!

  I washed my finds and chose this oak leaf and  I added the new piece of china.  It is painted with my acrylic inks with a number 3 sable brush.  I used sepia, brown umber, yellow ochre and a little black.  The china was in my new ink but as it is not waterproof  I carefully went over it with acrylic paint and also used white paint  over the china.  I love painting oak...perhaps you have noticed.   It is done on a sheet of textured watercolour paper.   Hope you like it.

Thank you for your comments and the emails I have received.  Welcome to the new followers too.
Bye until next weekend.   Millyx

Nice to be home

Flowers picked from my garden to wish everyone a
HAPPY  EASTER

I had a lovely time at Brighton, the weather was wonderful and it was good to see my daughter and spend some time with her. She was taking part in a production of Cranford at the TOM theatre.  We really enjoyed  seeing her in her acting role as the wonderfully funny gossip Miss Pole. Brighton is such a contrast to our quiet village and it was fun to wander and see the beach and pier,  browse around the shops and take it all in. I loved the antique shop called Snoopers Paradise where I made a few purchases of treasures....some patchwork pieces, some printers wooden letters and a Meloto paper roll of music which was played on a pianola.  I thought it might be fun to draw on the paper.  I stocked up with some new art supplies at Winchester School of Art, where my daughter spent  four years doing her degree,  it was like going back to see an old friend.  We sat in the sunshine in the Cathedral grounds and wandered through the streets with the colourful stalls as it was market day.
While I have been away I  have not done any  drawing. I do feel really inspired and eager to return to my drawing.  I loved my visit to the Booth museum where I saw the huge collection of Butterflies and the hundreds of stuffed birds, skeletons, fish, fossils in this once private Victorian Collection  belonging to Mr. Edward  Booth,  dated 1874.  Of course very thought provoking to see stuffed animals and birds.

 While I was in Brighton I bought the two lovely shells at a shop on the beach. They  were just so lovely and I wanted to draw them. I found a stationary shop selling J.Herbin ink in the most gorgeous range of  colours and I chose a bottle of  'Larmes de Cassis'.  This colour would be for my  Brighton shells.  I returned home and found the garden full of my beautiful Fritillary  flowers and so I had to draw one too,  the colour of this ink worked perfectly.  I used the dip in pen and a fine nib.  It is ink for a fountain pen but such a lovely colour.
It has been a lovely break and I feel better for it but it is good to be home.  When I saw the hills and the shore I knew I was where I belong.  Hope you are all enjoying a lovely Easter Weekend.      
Thank you for the your comments and good wishes.              Millyx

Sepia Fritillary

I have picked  the first fritillary flower from my garden and some buds of this beautiful flower.   It is quite early this year as it usually does not flower until  the end of March and throughout  the month of April.  Each year I add another hundred  of the tiny white bulbs, I planted them in November to flower in spring.
 I have been drawing  in my square book with sepia Calligraphy ink and a dip in pen and nib.  I photographed it and then decided to colour in the background with a paintbrush and the same ink.

It changed the look of the drawing, the white shapes of the leaves seem to jump out of the page and  gives the leaves a three dimensional feeling.  The leaves cross over and make such lovely interesting shapes, this is how they grow in clumps and the sweeping leaves tangle up with each other.

The flowers are called "Snakehead Fritillary",  ( Fritillaria meleagris).   It is the wonderful chequered pattern on the flowers that attracts me and makes them one of my favourite flowers.   They are a delicate flower and only last a few days. I try to go and see them each day and enjoy watching them appear. You will notice it features on my blog header.  The bees love them and when they are out in full  flower, it is alive with buzzing  as the bees weave their way around the flower heads.

This is a photograph taken last year showing the flowers and you will see we have white ones too.  I am hoping for the same beautiful show this year.   At the moment there are just a few flowers out,  most of the plants are just growing and look like a strand of grass.  A heavy rain shower or a windy stormy day spoils them and blows the petals off.

Which do you like the best, the white background or the sepia ?

I will be drawing more of these beautiful flowers, hope you  like them.

Thank you for the lovely comments which I always enjoy reading.  Until next week Happy drawing .         Millyx

Snails

Last week I collected lots of snail shells from the hedgerows.  They are empty shells and have faded colours of blues and grey and brown.   This is the common garden snail and you  usually see them as brown patterned shells, but over the winter this brown skin peels off  and reveals the paler blue colours. The shells are quite fragile and easily break.  I washed the empty shells in soapy water and put them in a large glass jar.

I chose them one at a time to draw and hoped to capture some of the colours and patterns on my page.  It is getting more and more of a strain to draw all the fine lines.  So as my eyes became tired I decided to make some  larger than life size at the bottom of the page.  I was working in my acrylic inks and using a paint brush.  Then for the last shell I decided to try one with my  pencil crayons and also  recorded my progress.

I first sketched it in pencil and chose to work in Derwent coloured  pencils.

I carefully recorded the patterns and colours.  I actually used seven different coloured crayons.

Then I had a little visitor....who walked right across my page.

So tiny . I think the sunshine pouring through my window had woken her up.

Then along the edge of my book.

Perhaps like me, she liked the smell of the pale yellow Hyacinths flowers I grew from bulbs I planted before Christmas. . My husband placed her safely back into the garden.  He found her walking around on his shoe.

 So seven snail shells sitting serenely in my square sketch book......an  alliteration or a little tongue twister....trying saying that fast.   Snails... love them or hate them?   I hope you like my drawings.

 As always,  thank you to all of you who visit my blog and those who kindly leave a comment,  I always enjoy reading them.         Millyx