Completing my collection of three hyper-realistic flowers, drawn between January and May 2021, is the delicate pink peony. The photographic reference was kindly given to me by my lovely friend Sally who has the most beautiful garden full of flowers. She has been so supportive all the way through the creation of this artwork; a…
Tag: art
Art Journal: Peony petals, the first flowers of spring and a teapot
Welcome to my art journal, where I write about my drawings and how my little garden, the fields and woodlands close to my home and the seasons influence my art practice. My screen this week has been filled with the blossoming petals of a peony. I try to concentrate on the clouds of colour, working…
Art Journal: The Kate Dahlia
Welcome to my art journal, where I write about my drawings and how my little garden, the fields and woodlands close to my home and the seasons influence my art practice. My art time in March was spent immersed in the intensive drawing of a Cafe au Lait Dahlia. My friend Kate very kindly gave…
Art Journal: The Audrey Rose
The Audrey Rose Collection is inspired by and named after my lovely friend Audrey. She was kind enough to give me permission to use a photograph of her favourite David Austin rose as a reference for my work. Audrey is the founder of the weekly #FlowersOnFriday Twitter event. Gardeners from around the world share photos…
A Week in Books: Star gazing, poetry and Advent begins
On a Sunday evening, I like to clear the shelf next to my desk, in preparation for the week ahead. There will always be a pile of books that have accumulated beside me. These will include stories my daughter has brought over for me to read to her and those that I have quickly grabbed…
Art Journal: The Creation of Mister Meadowson
Whilst I was working on my winter collection for the little art shop I had a request from a young girl in the United States for a tiny fox with glasses to be included somewhere in one of my illustrations. She wears glasses herself and thought it would be nice to have a character to…
Art Journal: The Victorian Halloween Stage by Stage
For this artwork, I first sketched out the rough shapes onto a piece of A3 (poster-sized) paper with a light 2B pencil, and then gradually added the finer features with a graphic pencil. One of the first items to be detailed-in was the marionette stall. I had put out a request online for suggestions and…
Art Journal: Creating the Storybook Garden in Autumn
The first stage of any artwork I create is to sketch out the shape of the piece in a light 2B artist’s pencil. This allows me to see how the image flows across the large A3 poster. My aim is to create pockets of interest throughout the page. I then put out a request to…
Art Journal: Collecting wild seeds and finding inspiration
On an afternoon when it is too hot to be outdoors, I unroll some parcel paper on the table and set out our recently foraged seeds. Cloud parsley, milk thistle, clover, grasses and rose hips. My little daughter can see that I have plants all over the table. She runs out to the garden and…
Almanac: Patterns of nature, ripening blackberries and a sketchbook
The last time I wrote about these fields was in late April. The seedlings had just started to show themselves in thin rows under a grey-blue sky. The house martins had just made their return to nest in the eaves of our house, and were circling above us in an otherwise quiet and sleepy landscape….
Tiny Potager 