Inspiration from the Sea

I have been drawing and painting shells, the prize for my give away, which is on its journey to Peru. I do not want to spoil the surprise for Carolina. After it arrives I will post it here for you to see.
I can always find inspiration from the sea as I collect objects washed on to our local beaches, especially shells, feathers and pebbles. I often buy starfish and patterned shells to draw, beautiful shells from other lands.
But I can always find plenty of feathers because the estuary is home to many species of birds. All these objects go together so well, the patterns and colours of natural objects just seem to compliment each other.
I have a love of tags. Today I bought some brown ones to paint shells or berries or leaves on, putting little things I love on something else I love.
A little display inspired by the sea, hope you like them.

Pencil seedhead

I was in the garden and collected some really beautiful poppy seed heads. Then I discovered one which just looks like a little bird cage. The main structure of the seedhead all but disappeared except for the delicate ribs and the top circular fluted piece. It is like a piece of sculpture.
It reminded me of a drawing I did for my exhibition of a big fat chunky poppy seed head, and here it is. It is drawn with a HB pencil. I have this framed picture but have not looked at it for a while. It was nice to peel back the brown wrapping paper and discover this drawing. I remember sitting and drawing it in a different chair, the light coming from the right side. I always try to draw with the light coming from my left side. As I am right handed the shadows don't get in the way.
I liked the finished result. Hope you do.

Some of my Favourite things

Here are a few of my favourite things made into MOO cards. Just to give you an idea of some of my nature drawings. At this time of the year it is red berries, seed heads and curling leaves. It is also a time to catch up and draw feathers and shells which I have collected at the beach.
Thank you for your lovely comments for the give away. All your names were written on a piece of paper and my husband picked out the winner. It is CAROLINA. I will start on a drawing for her prize and post it on here soon, and then to Carolina.
The other 8 people are going to be the proud owners of a set of my artcards. If you can send me your name and address by email I will post yours to you.
Photograph of the art cards above. I hope you will enjoy your prize.

Grey like the day

It is a very grey day with low hanging clouds. There is no view of the hills, just grey in every direction. It is so dark indoors, not good for drawing or for photographing this latest drawing. I collected these leaves, they are very dark on the front and this silvery grey on the back of the leaf. I used blue, white, brown and yellow to mix the shades, using the acrylic inks. The red rose hip berries just glowed against the leaves. I loved the delicate shapes of the leaves, the heat of the room has made them fold up even more.
I have collected lots of red berries, they will brighten up this grey day. Press as usual for close up.
Love to hear your comments, thank you. I am going to have a give away, leave a comment and a natural object you would like me to draw. I will pick the winner on Friday 13th November, lucky for someone, as I will draw that object for them and send it to them as a gift.

Objects found at the beach

It is a very stormy day. Living by the sea means we really feel the force of the winds and the storms. It is on days like this when all kinds of debris gets washed up by the sea. I like walking on the beach to see what is left in the tide line.
On a walk I found some interesting treasures to draw, berries, leaves, shells and a mermaids purse. It always amazes me how the red berries some how find their way to the beach. It is an old drawing but today reminds me of my beach walks. Take a peep at the bottom of my blog and see a walk on one of our beautiful local beaches, a place to collect feathers and shells.
This one was painted in watercolours. Press for close up.

Autumn Finds

As the wind blows the trees are becoming more and more bare. The leaves and seeds are scattered everywhere. As I walk around the village I collect a few samples of Autumn leaves and seeds and berries. This little arrangement was the result of my collecting. I just placed them on my paper.... a couple of dark brown patterned leaves, a maple leaf, red berries and two sycamore "helicopter" seeds.
So many wonderful coloured leaves, that all attract my attention. I have been bringing some home almost every day. I will not be able to record them all. So instead I just spend a little time looking and observing their colours, shapes and patterns.
I am really enjoying using my new acrylic inks with a lovely sable paint brush, rather like using watercolours. As usual, press picture for larger view.

Wild Flowers I collected.

I had been for a walk and picked a bunch of wildflowers from the hedgerows in my village. They were placed in this jug and after a day or two started to droop and some had died. I was about to throw them out when I just saw something that made me want to draw them. There was some interesting shapes and a pleasing composition. So I quickly captured what I saw.
It was painted in water colours over the pencil drawing. It is simple and yet I like it, but then I do like wild flowers and their simple honest shapes. These are all plants and flowers I have known all my life, collected since I was a little girl and brought home as a gift for my mum.
Press for close up.

Autumn Gifts

I like Autumn. I like the anticipation of all the natural objects that I will find and want to draw. As the weather becomes wet and stormy leaves are being blown off the trees and the ground is littered. The seeds from trees are also being blown and scattered just as nature designed. The colours are changing, Autumn is creeping in every where I look.
The other day this little butterfly blew into my garden and was caught in a spider web. I found my oak leaf on the shore, the salty water has given it a rusty orange colour along the veins. I collected the sycamore wings a while back and love the twisted stalk, and I picked the fresh red shiny berries on Saturday. They go went together in my drawing as signs of Autumn, things I have found at this time of year.
Time for something new so I bought myself some acrylic inks, this was my first time using them, and I really like them. I chose my usual set of colours, and for this drawing I used just three of them sepia brown, yellow ochre and red, and here is my finished result. Thought it would be good to let you see the real specimens too. Press picture for close up.

My thirty year old drawing

I did this drawing thirty years ago. It was one of the subjects for the O level Art exam, for the children, when I was teaching. As the teacher I had to provide the objects for them to draw in the exam, in this case root vegetables. I went to my sister to see what she had in her garden and she pulled up this turnip for me. It was so much more interesting than what I could find on the market stalls.
I don't remember if any of the children chose it to draw but I loved it and took it home with me to draw.
It has been framed and hanging in my house for thirty years, the cartridge paper is pitted with brown stains and the paper is crinkled. I haven't looked at it for years, but I see my style in it. It would be the lines and textured qualities which would excite and inspire me to draw it. I alway loved working in pencil, a nice sharp HB pencil. Of course my eyes were better then, I now need my glasses to draw all the detail.
It holds a fascination to me, I love the detail I captured, yes I am proud of this one. I spent many many hours on this large drawing.