Spring Flowers

Spring flowers

How beautiful it is to see all the snowdrops in my garden. I picked a few yesterday and this morning when I got up and walked into the kitchen I had such a lovely surprise to see them in the window. The sun was streaming in and catching the water in the little glass I had just placed them in yesterday. Little shadows cast across the wall of the snowdrop shapes.
(all photographed on my iPad)

It made me really notice them. I then wandered into the garden and the sunlight was coming through the trees, the sky is so blue and I walked down the little path and looked across at the view towards the hills.

The bare branches of the ash tree where the birds love to meet. This morning two doves sat close together on a branch looking at the views too.

Snowdrops appear magically from the dead leaves and cold ground, so simple and delicate, so white and pure.

How much pleasure they give.

I am always so glad I plant spring bulbs, I love watching them grow and appear. They seem quite early as it is mild. I even have some fritillary leaves growing so soon.

Soon my own will be flowering the same as this little pot I bought. Do you like my homemade wreaths I made with twisting all the ivy and clematis vine that I cut when tidying the garden last autumn.

Snowdrops by the stone wall, slate from the quarry in the village. The wall is probably over a hundred years old, the same age as the house.

I have had many visitors to my blog, looking at all of my drawings, hope you enjoyed seeing them all and found them inspiring.

The white feather does not belong to me, but all other images are mine. And are all copyright of Eileen Postlethwaite.

As always thank you for the lovely comments you leave , I do enjoy reading them all. I am busy and will share with you what I have been doing soon. So in the meantime a whole gallery to look at.
I am going for a walk to enjoy the sunshine and blue sky while it lasts. Hope you are all enjoying some sunshine too. Millyx

High tides

After the flood warnings, everyone waited and watched as the highest tide came rushing into the estuary. It was such a windy cold day and the whole of the shore was soon covered in water. The water rushed on to flood fields and it was obvious there was going to be a possible risk of it breaking over onto the railway lines and onto the road.

 

This is an average sized tide, the view from my house across the estuary.

 

This is the day of the huge tide, the railway bridge to the right and you can see the water flooding in. It did break the boundary line of the shore and the trains had to be cancelled because of the water on the lines. The high tides continued for about a week and then I ventured down on to the shore for a walk and curious to see what might have been left .

There was lots to choose from, so many pieces of seaweeds, lots of mermaids purses and black mussel shells, lots of red berries! I have been for a second walk and so I now have two collections to choose from. The sand has shifted around in the tidal river and we found some pretty pieces of china too, one with a bird on which I have plans for.

I have been drawing this little group.

 

And a lovely piece of blue and white china.

 

Today I added the final touches. It is painted with a number 4 sable brush and acrylic inks. The real berries and the seaweed have now wrinkled and dried up. I really like this piece of china with all the texture from spending years in the salty sea water on the shore.

It is cold but I was so happy to see the first snowdrops on my garden, white buds about to burst, a lovely sight. Meanwhile a vase of red tulips and daffodils on my kitchen table, a present from my sister, signalling spring is not so far away. We had a walk in sunshine yesterday, such a welcome after the wet and grey days. I have been delving in my seashore bags and I have washed some more objects for a new drawing, they do not smell too nice but I have definitely found such interesting things to keep me busy. Perhaps I am just easily pleased. Hope everyone is keeping warm! Thank you for the lovely comments and your New Year Wishes. There has been lots of visitors to my blog, people enjoying lots of my old posts, why not say hello? See you soon, Millyx

 

 

A New Year

Happy New Year. It has been such a wet stormy day here. A chance to sit and draw by the fire. I decided to draw one of the objects I found on the shore on Boxing Day. We went for a long walk and I collected a bag full of treasures. There was so much to choose from after the high tides, long wavy lines of tangled grasses and seaweed and feathers with so many other objects left behind on the shore.

I loved poking around, seeing all the different objects but my most exciting finds were not one but three great examples of this black mermaids purse. It was a lucky day as I found yellow and brown ones too, the ones with long thin twisting and curling strands. I found plenty to inspire me including some beautiful feathers, pieces of seaweed and brown and blackened oak leaves. Then I think I must have picked up about thirty red berries, many of them going black after their journey to the tide line!

I eventually washed my bag full of treasures and now my visitors have gone home, we are back to normal quiet time so I have been drawing one of the large black mermaids purse. I have gone big, much bigger then my usual life size drawings because the days are so dark. I used inks and a dip in pen, perfect way to relax. A board on my knee, paper and a jar of ink and watching the lines create the artwork.

I am trying out something else new today. A blog app to post from my iPad. All the time it takes me to post, I am hoping this may turn out to be the answer! This is to be a more adventurous me, so I am also hoping this blog post works. I do not take part in many of the social media, as I feel my time is precious and I want to use it for drawing and making and being creative. And to use my time for getting outside in the fresh air and walking and noticing and seeing all the countryside and nature around me.

So today it might be a wet grey day here, this photograph taken around 1pm, as the tide covered the shore and the clouds formed a blanket over the hills. There is such a bright and exciting feeling at the thought of a new year, my head is filled with so many ideas, creative ideas and projects. We went for a walk on Sunday high up on the moors and we stood and looked at a beautiful rainbow in the sky, like a message, life is magical if you know where to look.

Hope you all have a Magical 2014. See you all soon. Millyx

Christmas Wishes

Happy Christmas to everyone, my little postcard to wish you all a big thank you for all your lovely comments and for stopping by at Drawings from Nature to read my posts. I am sitting cosy by the fire, lights twinkling and fireplace decorated with all my favourite cards and postcards collected from art galleries on holidays.
We have a windy evening and hail showers outside.  Today we went for a walk and I collected some ivy and red berries and greenery to add to the  fireplace.

 I have been busy,  now finding time to reflect on how quickly the days fly by when I am occupied with a project that takes up all my thinking time as I plan and focus on all I need to do to complete the task. The  task was a  patchwork quilt and I did manage to successfully finish it.  So as promised I am sharing it with you.

I suddenly feel very pleased with myself  looking back at my photographs.  I had a really busy few weeks as I decided to make it for a birthday present and had not much time before the date.   I used Liberty fabrics and cut out triangles from the slippery fabric, the first hint that this was going to be quite a challenge.  As I have been collecting  different  Liberty patterns for  several years  my stash of fabrics gave me lots of choice.   It was to be a  present for my god daughters 21st birthday.  She is studying at London and loves the Liberty Shop.

So after cutting the piles of triangles I started by sewing two  together.  Then joined the twos  into  rows, and finally the rows  together for the quilt.  It was a time consuming job, every triangle needed pinning to match the seams,  and again to match the rows,  as you have to be so accurate with triangles.  It took over the bedroom floor !  My hare pincushion was put to good use.

I really enjoyed making it, looking at all the beautiful patterns, colours and details of the Liberty fabrics. Little by little it soon started to take form, pinning, sewing and ironing and arranging the shapes.  A busy three days, the last leg of backing and hand stitching the binding suddenly gave it the finishing touches and I was delighted how it turned out.   I made a little Happy Birthday  panel to record the date to sew on the back of the quilt  and a card with the blue fabric.  I imagined her surprise when she opened the present.
My gift was well received,  a box of  beautiful flowers arrived as a huge thank you, with a message to say she will treasure it.

It has been my own birthday,  I had my birthday in sunshine and by the sea, as we went on a winter break  to Malta.  It was lovely to feel the warm sunshine, sit outside and enjoy the views.  We did have some stormy weather and rain showers but who cares.  Some walks took us through orange trees, with  lemon and pomegranate  orchards. I collected some objects to draw that I will share again.  I bought some sepia ink and a note book from a little shop selling pens and paper, products made in Rome.   I look forward to experimenting and writing with the sepia ink.

A  little Christmas Postcard to wish you all,   "Happy Christmas", using the ivy leaf and red berries I  found on a walk. I photographed my wrist warmers, mossy green hand knits to wear as I draw and the warm wool cabled head band I wearing in my last post, as some of you wanted to see.

 I have also managed to finished a sock, hopefully the second soon so I can wear them,  I have been really enjoying knitting in the long evenings and it is easier on my eyes than drawing.  I have plans for more sewing and knitting, maybe another quilt.

So for now I will leave you with my Good Wishes for a peaceful Christmas.                  Millyx

On A Grey Day

It is a very grey day here today. The clouds have been getting darker and darker and the rain has never stopped.  It is quite appropriate that I should be painting with grey.  I walked home in the rain on Thursday and collected these two leaves. The red berries were so bright and glossy in the rain and I couldn't resist picking these little branches off the ground and the empty snail shell came home too.

It has been raining quite a lot lately. I don't really mind.  My bulbs are planted and I will be happy to see the spring flowers.  Another 120 new fritillary bulbs have been added to the garden.  I just love them and feel excited at the very thought of them next April and May, drawing them again and capturing some lovely chequered patterns on the flowers.  They are one of my favourite flowers, as seen on my header.

As I was gardening this little fellow came hopping out and I managed to captured him.  He must surely be camouflaged amongst the autumn leaves.  How he gets into my garden I will never know but he is very welcome.  He disappeared between some stones, maybe that is where he lives.

When the rain stopped and the sun shone we wandered through the muddy wet lanes.  I collected a bag of lovely autumn colours and brought them home.  I felt really inspired and placed them all on the big plate to admire.  I knew I didn't have time to draw them but I can still enjoy looking.   The acid green and dark leaves are the ones I have painted, at the next stage in their life when they go completely black and have a grey underside.

When I saw them in the rain they looked very dramatic , wet  glossy black and dull grey. I carried the two grey and black leaves  home and the bright red berries and knew I had to capture them.  So two days of drawing and here is the finished picture......freshly painted today!

It felt really nice to draw again.  I lost myself in the painting listening to the wild wind and the rain on this stormy grey day.     Here are some stages of the drawing.

Sketching it out in pencil and getting the objects ready to paint.

I used acrylic paint and a fine brush.  Grey, white, black, sepia brown, green and red.

I love snail shells, the colours and patterns are beautiful.

The leaves have curled in the heat of the room. And you know how much I love red berries.

 My collection from the walk last week, the little apples and red berries went outside for the birds.

I have not been drawing as I have another project on the go, been cutting out and sewing a patchwork.  I will share that when it is finished.  I have also been knitting, some very useful hand warmers to wear as I am working on my sewing.  Somehow I always want to sew and knit in the dark evenings, better for my eyes too. I have about four different knitting projects half done, things to wear in the cold winter months.

                                   Looking forward to more of these next year.

Hope you enjoyed seeing my drawings and I hope you are all keeping warm, I am sitting next to a cosy fire in the wood burner.  It has been dark here all day and my grey photograph was taken at four o'clock and it was so dark outside.
When I wake up to a bright day and the view,  I will see it again with new eyes.

Thank you  for the lovely comments, it  is so nice to find them. I enjoyed reading each one, so thank you.
See you soon.       Millyx

More Seashore Treasures

I woke up early on Saturday to this beautiful view, the sun rising over to the east.  I gazed out of the window just to enjoy the moment, as I watched the white line of the aeroplane moving across the sky, people travelling high above in the early morning light.  A few birds are singing. I need more sleep so return to my warm cosy bed. I realise more and more that it is the simple pleasures, the moments which make life special.

 I looked at the view out of the front of the house. 6 am and it is going to be a beautiful day.  

Saturday morning view of the estuary.

 There have been some high tides and I have enjoyed some more collecting trips along the shore.  More feathers, a new collection of mermaids purses, some seaweed, a snail shell and red berries. So I spent the day washing all my new treasures and letting them dry in the sunshine

all my collection still in the bag from Wednesday

The butterflies were all happy as they landed on my last flowering  buddleia , with a really sweet scent drifting in the air it soon became covered with many different butterflies.  Bees and several wasps buzzed around the flowers near to the kitchen door. Here I sat with a dish of soapy water and washed and sorted and examined all my  finds from Wednesday.

Thoughts of that day drifted through my head.  It was a really quiet day, low clouds as the tide crept into the estuary.  It  looked grey and green,   one of those days where the sky just meets the grass and no view of the hills.  The pale grey water slowly covered the wide expanse of sand,  flat lines of water and sand as you looked out to sea.  After the tide turned it left the tell tale wavy  line on the green grass, which was two shades darker after being sea washed.
I felt like there was an invisible pull on me, a need to go and see what the sea had left behind.  It was like the sea was whispering to me, Come on you know you want to,  it is all here waiting for you.

Quite shocked to see this huge chunk fallen, more erosion in the last week!

So armed with a big bag I wandered down to do some collecting.

The still silence of the shore, all wrapped in clouds which muffled the sounds.  The birds flew, white against white, huge sea gulls soaring above. A train came into the station and seemed to abide by the rules of the quiet day, gentle brakes, soft banging of doors and then very slowly and silently stole away along the tracks.
I wandered along to the line of promised treasures and found a perfect feather,  it looked like it might have just floated down from the sky.  It was pristine and as I picked it up examined the colours and the round dot on the tip.  A herring gull and another one to add to my collection, each one slightly different in size and shape.

a close up of 13 beautiful feathers I have painted 

I found five mermaids purses, a snail shell and a brown nut, twin sycamore seeds and lots of pieces of seaweed with fat bubbles.  There are always lots of different pieces after the big tides and I limited myself to just smaller pieces, one green, a length of browny orangey tones, some delicate black strands and a black bubbly twisted shape.
It was the many brown and white tiny striped feathers which really stole my heart.  The smallest feathers from the Curlew, or perhaps young birds as they were all so tiny.  I found so many and again in perfect condition, so clean and brand new,  as if they had just floated in for me.

If I  had found just one I would have been happy. They seemed to be everywhere,  each one was so beautiful,  I had to have them.

 My bag was pretty much full except for the berries.  Yes it is red berry time and you know me, I always collect the red berries, my unwritten rule. I have more than enough and maybe it is time to just enjoy the walk.  The clouds were lifting and it started to show glimpses of blue sky, so quickly the days can change.
It seems that I never tire of the same objects. I have been planning some little drawings  in my mind, the objects all look so well together. We found this tiny half eaten fish, an interesting little subject for me trying to capture it in inks.

 I enjoyed this little study, using my own handmade oak gall watery brown ink, playing with a dip ink pen and lots of drips!

 My feathers are slowly drying,  they always make me feel so inspired.
Meanwhile I have been busy working on my Lords and Ladies Zig  Zag book, have been loving this project.  Each year I see the glossy berries, they fascinate me and I just want to capture them.  My book tells part of the life cycle, maybe I will add more next year.

I had a little visitor on Saturday, delighted to see her crawling by my kitchen door.  I just watched her as she walked along my hand. Then proceeded to wander up my sleeve, a lovely lovely moment.

She is the first one I have seen this year in my garden and it was a pleasure to have her walking up my arm and then across my book.

I feel that I must cling on to the lovely warm days of sunshine, watch every evening sky as I see the autumn colours creep into every hedgerow, knowing  it will  not be long till it turns colder, grey days and the dark evenings .
My head is full of  ideas and projects,  beautiful objects surround me and I want to draw them, also to sew, to knit, to print and to use my hands and feel that sense of simple beauty in making.  So I slow down, take the time to decide, listen to my heart.  I have so many things I want to do and often it is hard to know what to do first.

  It is in those moments when I feel happy to just sit quietly drawing or sewing and feel total contentment.  I know then,  that I will create something beautiful, something I really care about and I can share with you.
It takes me so long to put all this together, if it gives you pleasure I would love to hear, leave a comment as I do appreciate it and love to read them, thank you.                                                       Millyx