Feathers and Shell

We had a long walk on the shore one evening.  It was a hot day and the cool breeze was so welcome as we wandered along the edge of the water.   It was alive with birds,  the many bird calls echoed across the estuary.  And to my delight lots and lots of feathers.  Of course I had to collect some and so many to choose from.

We sat and watched a heron dipping his head into the water and  saw him catching an eel.  A second heron came and they seemed to argue,  eventually one flew off and left the other to fish alone.  It always fascinates me to see the huge wings take this tall bird up and fly with such ease through the air.  There was a lot of water about  and the birds were feeding after the high tide.   The ducks gathered together and swam in circles on the large pool of water formed by the tide,  a new attraction as they usually prefer the open sandy area further away.   Oyster catcher wander along the waters edge  and seem to stay in their pairs.  As we move on along we see the swifts  and swallows fly high above, then suddenly  dive  down almost touching the ground and  just as quickly swirl around as they fly  displaying their effortless acrobatic skills.   A curlew and crow or a rook  squabble in the air,  perhaps the black bird is too near a nest for the curlew to feel comfortable.  The oyster catchers are equally alarmed if a bird gets too near them and call out a loudly,  frantically warning of danger.

We had a little danger ourselves, as the sand was wet and very slippery.  With a hand full of my finds I was well aware of the wet sinking sands after quite a high tide and keep away from it.  The tide line was full of beautiful  pieces of seaweed and  many crabs of all different sizes  and we saw some small jelly fish washed onto the grass.  I had decided to just collect some feathers.  I had  plenty to choose from and gathered  a black and white one from the oyster catcher, and some brown and white striped curlew feathers, assorted gull feathers and a delicate white and brown patterned feather to name a few.

  I already had plenty but collected the three brown and white patterned gulls feathers as I knew they would make an interesting ink drawing.

Two of the feathers which I sketched with sepia ink using a dip in pen and a paintbrush. I sat outside in the garden as I worked on this, balancing the sketchbook on my knee and kept blowing away the tiny insects which landed on my page and wanted to walk across it.  I also had this blue shell from the same walk, it was really out of reach in the sloppy sand but I spotted it and knew it was  going to be interesting.  The low evening light was somehow catching all the detail as it cast shadows across it and revealed the patterns and textures. My husband balanced on a slippery mound of the grassy banking and reached with an outstretched hand,  as I stood safely on the bank and held onto his  other arm.  Suddenly his foot slipped, he wobbled and slid into the sloppy muddy sand,  resulting in one very muddy shoe but not before he managed to grab the shell.  I had to hopefully prove it was worth getting muddy for!

Needless to say I felt  huge pressure to make some nice drawings of the shell after ruining his shoe.  It is an interesting shell with lots of bumps and growths of smaller sea creatures attached to the shell.  First I sat outside on a lovely day and used the fine black ink pens.

Hope it was worth getting muddy for ?

I really enjoyed drawing the three feathers, in a new eco book with recycled paper.  The two together were drawn outside and  the third feather was drawn indoors on a different day using my acrylic inks and a paint brush.  They are three beautiful feathers and I will be giving them some more of my time with some careful drawings indoors and insect free.

Last week on a really wet day  I decided to also use my new soft Lino and tools and used the feathers as the subject.  I  did not plan or draw any image, I just cut freehand with the tools and this is what happened.

  I printed it in green printing ink and was pleased with this first attempt.   It took several hours of carving and gave me a better idea of how it feels to use.

 I also been giving more of my time  recording the colours  of the blue shell.

                                                       I used acrylic ink to paint the shell .

                                           Love the colours of this evening sky and the clouds.

The weather turned to rain and it was chilly again.  I enjoyed the sunsets while I could.. During the wet days we cannot see the hills some days, the view  is all hidden  by low clouds as it rains all day.
  Then how beautiful to see the hills again.   Every day is different,  the views are from my window towards the Lakeland hills.

Hope everyone is having some nice days.  Hope you enjoyed seeing what I have been doing.   Thank you for your visits and for the lovely comments which I love to read.         Millyx

Heron photograph by my husband.    All other photographs by me on my ipad.

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.

Signs of Spring

I call this my gallery,  lots of different artwork leans against the window and stays there until I sort it out and file it. I painted some different objects on the brown card with my new gouache paints and the magpie moth on the little gift bag.  I have a  little painting of  this moth which I did possibly ten years ago,  it was used by me to made  lots of little cards with moving wings.  Here are nine of them together.  And the drawing at the top is from my walk on the shore, which was about two weeks ago on a lovely sunny day.

It was a fine day and although the sun was shining it was still bitterly cold.  We ventured across the shore to a favourite little island.  It takes about one hour to reach it, crossing gullies and pools of water and jumping over the many ditches across our path on the way.  I noticed all the oak leaves in the bottom of the pools, all in different shades of brown to black, blackened by the salty sea water.   I found several feathers and pieces of broken seaweed and some mermaids purses.

  When we arrived at the little island I found some pale blue shells, bleached with the sun and weather,  in the summer they are a deeper blue.  Sometimes this place is littered with them and little crabs and other smaller pink shells which look so pretty against the soft bleached sand.  I walked around, looking, taking it all in and felt how beautiful this place is.   So still and quiet, miles of empty sandy beaches across the estuary and a vast sky and the backdrop of the hills surrounding the flatness of the estuary.  I never want to leave,  it always makes me feel so calm and peaceful, so grateful to be here and surrounded with nature.  It saddens me to find evidence of the wild fowlers shooting the ducks. On the way back I like poking around amongst the tideline to see what has washed up on our shores. The wire fences are decorated with tangled  seaweeds, shredded plastic, long strings and grasses, twisted  and woven and hanging from the squared wire pattern of the fence.
Just as we were nearly home, we were lucky enough to witness three Red Kites circling above us. They are in the area but we usually only see an odd one, so this was a great sighting.

  At home I sorted through my finds and chose the dark oak leaf, a black mermaids purse and a sycamore seed and the small leaf  peeled from the sand.  They reflect the time of year, aged and textured and their dark weathered colours.  I used acrylic inks and a fine brush.  It felt like it was finished when I added the red berry.

In contrast it seems Spring is now making a big effort in my garden.  I was doing a little gardening yesterday as the sun shone and I was delighted to see the bulbs appearing and some flowering.  My beautiful Snakehead Fritillary are flowering, seems very early to see this first clump with buds,( see my blog header). I can see more drawings of them, they must be my favourite flower.

Daffodils and snowdrops and cowslips in the grass, at the bottom of my garden.

Crocus and the green leaves of the bluebells showing.

And at this time of the year the village churchyard is so lovely, a carpet of blue crocus and snowdrops, the first daffodils all signal Spring is nearly here,  although we still have snow on the hill tops.
Hope it feels like it is on the way for you too. Thank you for the lovely comments.        Millyx
(All my ipad photographs except the churchyard with my camera.)                                          

A Walk on the Shore

Last Saturday I woke to a glorious sunny day.  As I scanned the view across the shore I saw three swans on the tidal river, two swans with a younger one.  A woman was walking with her dog running free, it started to run in the  direction of the water.  I watched and saw how the two larger swans turned and came together to guard and protect the smaller one.  They sadly flew off,  because of the dog, and as they circled over the estuary I hoped they would return. I dressed for the shore and knew it would be lovely. With my camera in my hand and a huge bar of chocolate in my pocket I set off for my walk.

    The sheep had been put onto the grass and as I crossed the railway line I could see them all grazing. The ground was wet and muddy and I turned left and walked towards the boulders and the open sea.

I photographed the banking to show the erosion after the high tides causing more and more of the banking to fall away. Huge chunks collapsing into the sand.  I continued walking alongside  the Limestone barrier protecting the railway line where all that is left of the grassy shore  is a few feet wide.

I glance back and admire the view, such a beautiful clear day, after so many grey gloomy days with stormy winds and rain, that came with the high tides.  The rain has cleared all signs of the snow from the hills.

 Looking across the estuary at Black Combe.  I sat down for a while on a large boulder and just took it all in.  It was so still and quiet, so peaceful and not another person to be seen. I could see little clusters of white gulls on the sand. Time to just sit and think, thoughts of what I might find to draw.  I captured a few more views out to sea, it was so crisp and clear today.

If you look to the right you can pick out the offshore wind farm.  It is hard to believe how the sea sweeps in and covers all this vast expanse of sand.  As I wander back towards the village I am aware this was my Sea Shore project route,  collecting is second nature to me and I am constantly bending down to look at objects, little bits go into my bag.

 The sheep watch me with interest,  some look annoyed as I disturb them from their sitting positions, others just stare.  I tried not to scare them with their back to me by quietly whistling to let them know I was walking near,  they all got up and started following me.  Oh dear, they think I am going to feed them.  Then I suddenly remembered my chocolate, yummy I had forgotten about it, so swiftly took the rather large bar of fruit and nut out of my pocket.  As I opened the foil wrapper to eat my chocolate,   Suddenly I turned around as I am aware I am being followed. All the sheep are in a line behind me, eyes fixed on the chocolate bar!  Sorry, it is all mine.

I collected several items which I later arranged on my paper, a silvery grey holly leaf, a pale shell, and a black mermaids purse with rusty coloured markings and a long strand of black sea weed. As I passed the Hawthorn tree I could see lots of sheep wool caught on the branches and I thought I would see if any berries were still clinging on.  I snapped off the little branch covered in lichen with a berry still attached,  and also gathered leaves and berries from under the tree.  I walked along the rest of my old route, no swans, but a few white feathers.  During the walk I saw two dead birds, a duck that had been half eaten and the remains of a gull. There was also a huge circle of feathers, the evidence that a bird of prey had found a smaller bird and eaten it! This is nature, the food chain.  Many animals and birds live or visit here and it is natural to see such things,  as it is to see the remains of plants and  sea creatures.

Close up of the Mermaids purse.

All the real objects and the finished picture. I used the acrylic inks and used a piece of smooth bristol board, which took the ink well.  I had a little accident and dripped two black blobs of black ink,  they blend in fine, can you see them?  I have spent all week doing this piece as I used a fine number 4 brush and worked slowly and carefully recording the details.

Hope you enjoyed  the walk and like the drawing.  I will leave you with a little bit of spring, some flowers in my garden. Snowdrops and a primrose.

Thank you for the lovely comments.  Keep Warm and see you soon.              Millyx

First drawing this year

 On the first of January I went for a walk on a gloomy grey day.   It was a high tide and as I looked out of my window I could see the wind was whipping up huge white waves against the banks on the shore and no doubt causing more erosion.  Although I would have loved to have taken a walk on the shore  it looked so wild and windy,  the ground so wet and muddy and with the tide coming in too,  it seemed much too dangerous.   So I kept to the road.   I soon realised I had made a serious mistake and left my gloves behind,  it was icy cold and my fingers were tingling with the cold and turning red.

The view was shrouded in clouds and the dampness seemed to cling to everything.  I stopped to look at the hawthorn trees, just a few blackened berries remain and I noticed how the green and grey lichen had grown on the branches this past year.  A few red berries were on the ground but in a poor state as they had been squashed or just rotted with all the rain.  Yes the rain,  it seems to be dominating our weather and has been  relentless.

 I was glad to have a walk,  it was fine and I really needed to blow the cobwebs away.  The chance of it pouring down was very likely but I didn't have much choice and it felt  good to be outdoors.  I  decided I would  enjoy looking and observing  as I walked along with just my thoughts for company.  I saw one person with a dog and wished him a happy new year as not another person was out walking.

It seemed such a grey day,  grey stone walls,  grey mist, and  I was pleased and cheered up to see the bright red glowing post box.  I glanced over the wall at the hens scratching at the muddy ground,  they ran to the wall expecting some bread but were disappointed to find I had nothing.  The red comb on the heads of the beautiful black and white speckled  hens was a wonderful flash of colour to my eyes.  

As I watched the hens I decided I would pick the rose hips from the bush hanging above the wall.  I reached up and snapped off various little stems and was careful not to cut my fingers on any thorns.  When I started to look at the berries I realised they were all different shapes and colours,  all in different stages of decay, the reds had changed to black bruises, brown, even greyish shades.  I collected more and knew this would be my first drawing of 2013.  Some of the berries had turned to a soft mushy state which just squashed in my fingers.  With a hand full of rose hips I quickly made my way home but it would have been a miracle if I had made it without a real soaking as the heavens opened and  I arrived home rather wet but my treasures intact.
So here is my drawing, I lined the stems in a row according to their state, with the decaying ones at the end of the row,  as I wanted to record the changes to the rose hips. 

I used my acrylic inks and painted with a fine liner brush number 3.  The painting has been difficult with such poor light and also explains why the photographs are not the best quality. Hopefully you can see what it is all about.

I have spent a little time each day working on it and now it is completed.  Yesterday we had a lovely walk on the moors and I have collected some treasures so hope to get started on my next little picture. 
Hope you enjoyed seeing my rose hips.  Thank you for all the comments with help and advice! I am  reading and  researching ideas.                                                              Bye for now    Millyx