I thought I’d show you the progress on my illustration of the ‘mouse family’ and some other little studies.
(click on them for larger view)
Work in progress, adding watercolor to the ink drawing.
It looks so different than it did as just a pen and ink drawing! They are starting to come to life more with the added color and fur. I’ve been so busy with other things that this illustration is going slowly. What I did here I did in one evening while watching a movie, if I could just sit down one more time it’ll be finished. So she says!
I’ve run out of opportunities to paint from ‘real’ colored leaves as they’ve all gone to the dark side in my yard, they’re all brown and blackish. But I did take lots of reference photos and that will serve me well as usual. I have a decision to make about the leaf in the mommy’s hand, it blends in with her and the baby maybe a little too much? I may add a purpley maroon, something with alizarin crimson? I’ll be adding just a touch more color to the leaves but I don’t want them to overwhelm the mice either. I do like the touch of blue in the background, it helps to show the mushroom better.
Before I forget I’ll show you a little study I did after Beatrix Potter’s mushrooms.
Watercolor study after Beatrix Potter
It’s from a painting with more mushrooms but this little one and the grasses were all I needed to study the colors she used. This was great for me to do before diving into the color of my painting, especially because I wasn’t working outside from real life. I just love and adore her paintings!
A small watercolor study of Moneywort done in springtime.
This is a small study I did in the spring of Moneywort. It likes to grow in wet areas so my land is filled with the stuff! Wonderful in late spring as it covers itself with little yellow flowers; my ditches along the lane seem to be filled with gold! I don’t know if the name refers to the yellow flowers (like gold) or the round leaves looking like coins? I found out something interesting, it’s a native to Europe and was introduced to America for use as ground cover and as an indoor hanging plant. Ha! I never would have thought to use it inside! Well anyways, I remember sitting in a lawn chair on a cold spring day, in a flooded area of my yard when I did this. I watched the little Nursery Web Spiders scampering over the water and over the plants. How great it is to study from life! That’s why I love Nature Sketching so much.
Study of a small wildflower (weed) that grows in my grass.
And this is another favorite ‘weed’ I like that grows around anything not moving! haha…It seems to grow at the edge of everything but I don’t mind, it has tiny pretty flowers and neat rounded leaves that remind me of a tiny geranium. I haven’t yet looked it up, guess I should. Oh by the way, the bees love it! Don’t go killing everything that grows in your grass, as long as it’s green it looks fine! Look closer at some of those weeds, they can be pretty and the bees need them.
I just thought I’d show these because I feel it’s important to always study from real life. Even if it’s a tiny study done quickly, it will help you to look closer at what’s really there, and you will remember it. Especially when it comes to color, the photos you take will not be as accurate as what your eye sees at the time, in that lighting.
Well I hope you enjoyed seeing my progress and other studies. I’ve been playing around with adding some new colors to my watercolor field palette, so we’ll see how that goes. Leave me comments if you like, I always love hearing what you think!
Click the picture above to see another cute mouse painting I did! If you hover over it (in my shop) you can see an enlarged image. Go to this link to see some other new children’s illustrations in my shop!
It’s been a long while since I posted! I’ve been busy with packing up and also selling things in my house for my eventual move. Wow I didn’t realize I had so much STUFF! I was also busy with my eldest son’s University Graduation, which was in Washington DC. and afforded me an entire day at two fine art galleries that would blow your mind. Well it did mine! I’m going to post about that visit next I think!
moss study in watercolor, of same tree
Back to the moss now… I did these studies in March (click pic to see detail) when it was sunny but still chilly and actually quite nice to be out on the land. Trees were still working on their buds; leaves, grasses and wild plants were all just coming up through the dead, wet leaves of winter. But everywhere I looked there was gorgeous moss growing on all the bases of my trees. I have very wet land and there is no shortage of moss!
I did these studies because of a little story I made up about a mouse…and I needed to do moss studies. Wow, a great excuse to go out and paint!! haha. This first study (above) I did the same tree twice; sometimes I do that, the second time going faster, more bold or just trying a different technique. For the one on the right (the second study) I stepped back and just looked at darks and lights of the green, also tried to do the bark quicker. I’ve left a good amount of clean paper because I may be able to use it later to add in some characters or more trees.
moss study in watercolor on tree in Aspen Hall
The study above I was really happy with! I went to Aspen Hall, a special place on my land that my boys and I used to go to, and I picked this one tree because the moss had a different hue. When the mosses are ‘blooming’ or sporing (?) they have little rusty brownish reddish heads that come up on hairlike stalk. If you get in close you can see them; it’s these that give the moss a sort of rust patina on top of the green.
I firmly believe if you want to paint something right, the more you can study and understand your subject the better. You don’t have to scientifically understand all about it, but get up close and really look at it’s parts, ask yourself what those parts are maybe. I find the more you do this, the more you SEE, you will get really good at seeing details you would never have thought about before! That’s my two cents!
A beautiful fuzzy budding bush, close up
On my walk I took a few pictures (of course!!) Here’s a few beautiful, soft buds on a bush. Don’t they look like those fireworks that explode outward? There’s such symmetry in the unopened bud, like a pine cone and the opened ones are irresistible to stroke to feel their softness.
Here's a snail keeping company with the tiny frog eggs
And then there were frog eggs in the wet lane, some tadpoles that had hatched and a snail friend on top of them all.
This could be the mom or dad of those eggs!
I see countless Leopard Frogs while I walk, all jumping this way and that as I come along the lanes. This was a big one so I assume an adult that overwintered and had something to do with those eggs! Now (at the end of May) I go walking and see many young frogs leaping into the wet areas of the paths, new frogs of the year!
A male (American) Robin has his crest raised while looking at me
This male American Robin was in “Pasture Lane” as I walked, he has his crest raised like someone with big eyebrows would lift them to look at you! He’s on alert.
This is a typical pose for robins, with wings held slightly hanging
Here he is again, it’s a good pose to show you how they typically hang their wings a bit. He’s still looking at me you can see!
Well I couldn’t resist adding a few more pictures from my walk, so here they are:
Two beautiful Mourning Doves, watching me from a high branch.
A beautiful setting of moss, grasses and dried leaves on a tree.
And here's my view looking home, along "Pasture Lane", a very wet but ALIVE with creatures lane!
I hope you enjoyed my moss studies and nature pictures from my day out. Please leave me a comment or ask a question, I love getting comments! I promise to TRY to put aside packing for planned sketching time everyday and get back to my posting here!
Some of my pictures link to my Zazzle Shop, please have a look around as I put many photos there that aren’t on my blog.
This will be one of the shortest blog posts I’ve done in ages! I just did this little sketch the other day to test out some paper and new kit supplies. I stood to paint in front of the row of Day Lilies and it wasn’t easy. The ‘no see’ums and the ‘see um’s’ were all biting me and started to make me miserable! Oh the joys of painting outdoors! Anyhow, the paper proved to be too thin and cheap so that won’t be going into my sketch journal.
After I got as much done as I could, I retreated to the shade and just outlined with a permanent ink pen to tidy it up. It looked a LOT better after doing this! Then later that night I saw my little kit of metallic watercolor paints and thought, ‘what the heck?’ so I brushed some on and it looked nice. The border is just the permanent ink pen then I loosely brushed on some metallic paint.
Well folks that’s it! Told you it was a short post, haha. More bug sketches and paintings coming real soon! Enjoy the links below to my shop!
What did you think I’d be doing on Mother’s Day? It was gorgeous outside and I had the day to myself until later when my son comes over, so off I went for a walk with my sketch journal!
female bluebird I met along the way
Along the way I captured this shot of a female Bluebird, I’m so happy it came out. I didn’t use my long lens today, so the camera was actually easier to hand hold. (click to see as Note Card where you can see up close)
My watercolor crayons in a vinyl case so I can scatter them as I worked.
I was thrilled to find that the land on one side of the field was actually sort of dry. I mean I’ve been wading through water for weeks now, so any dry grass was pretty great. Before walking at all I decided to sit right down and have a go with my kit. I knew something would strike me. Above you can see something new I tried that worked great; I brought this empty vinyl case along and when I was ready just opened it and put it on the ground. I took my watercolor crayons and set the box right inside it, as I used colors I could just plop them in front and find them easier as I worked. This would be good to use for the watercolor pencils too, as they get lost easily in the grass.
Putting color down around a round plastic shape.
I wrote some notes at the top of my paper as I sat, not even caring about painting, just enjoying the great weather. Then I decided I’d try to put a landscape but leave a circle in the foreground to fill with something. I have a piece of plastic I cut from a plastic milk carton and just filled in green watercolor crayon around it.
Blocking on more green for grass, sky has been painted a bit.
As I decided where my horizon line would be I colored blue in the sky, leaving the clouds just blank paper. (lately I’ve been doing them with white wax to ‘block’ them out using a resist method, this time it’s just bare paper) I then brought the green up as far as I thought it should go, then wet my paper with the big brush to blend all and used a brown crayon to put trees in on the wet paper. I like how sharp the trees can look if you put them on wet paper; if you draw them dry first and then wet them, they can get fuzzy looking.
My set up on the grass, balancing my sketch journal on my knee.
Here’s my set up, as I sat on my piece of vinyl and kept everything in easy reach. I actually leaned on one elbow to do most of this sketch, and quite smartly tucked an empty sandwich bag under my elbow. By the time I was done, my elbow would have been soaked!
The real scene behind my sketchbook, the clouds have already floated by.
So here’s the sketch with the ‘real’ scene behind it, I don’t really like the greens of the watercolor crayons, but more practice will help. Sometimes I admit I could do a better job but when working in the field either the weather is too cold or my back hurts then I just want to hurry up. So I try to work fast, I can always touch up later if I want, or leave it as a study.
This is the page as I finished it in the field, dandelions and all.
This is my study finished in the field, I decided to put dandelions in the small circle as they were everywhere. First I lightly sketched in pencil then went over it with a brown Windsor Newton Permanent ink with a dip nib pen. Then I colored them in by touching the brush tip (a finer one) to the crayons then painting. I colored the letters the same way using a blue crayon. I really want to go back and tone down that green on that grass! Yikes!
Field sketch after touching it up back at home.
Well here’s the sketch after I got home and touched up the greens and added the yellow dandelions.
Leopard Frog
On our way after that sketch, I kept seeing Leopard Frogs. If I stood still I would start to pick them out of their hiding places.
Leopard Frog
I was really getting good at it! As you walk by they get scared into the water…then if you stop a few steps away, they would seem to appear everywhere. I imagined a funny cartoon of a photographer stopping to look for frogs, the way in front of her clear, but behind her all these little heads popped up in the water! haha, well it’s me of course!
mystery water bug
This was really cool, I noticed as I stood watching for frogs without moving, a little something moving in the water below me. I swore they were just catkins from the tree floating along the bottom, but it’s a standing pool of water and instinct told me otherwise. I bent over and kept watching them and remembered reading about larvae that formed cases by ‘gluing’ stuff around them. I got this great shot of it actually poking out of the case a bit! I am not sure yet what it is, have to look it up.
Long Lane green and lush.
Here’s Long Lane on the way back home. It’s green and lush in this very wet spring we’re having. It’s a bounty for the frogs but that means soon will come the mosquitoes too!
I hope you enjoyed this springtime walk with me and my sketching. I hope you go out and capture some nature the way I did, just stop and stand or sit still and you’ll be amazed at what you notice.
A post sharing my notes and photos from a cold, wet walk on Easter Sunday. I was still able to find interesting life, wait till you see the video clip with Tadpole eggs! Please click images to see them larger or be taken to see them as cards you can zoom in on, use the BACK button to return.
Easter Sunday 2011
Below is a picture of what it looked like when I was sitting on a pile of dead logs, my rubber boots deep in water, and trying not to drop anything! My hands were cold, as you could guess from my trusty wool flip back mittens. This is just a small, quick sketch done with watercolor crayons.
Watercolor crayons, brush and journal on my lap above the water.
Then I video taped the little tadpoles floating in the water here in front of the pond, have a look!
By the time I got to Oak Lane, where the wild Mayapples grow, I was tired and cold.
A sea of green umbrellas, like little people waiting in the woods!
I was excited to see the Mayapples though, they always surprise me as they don’t grow anywhere else on my land. They look like a sea of green umbrellas held by miniature people standing in the woods, maybe they’re fairies?
Mayapples softly unfolding.
Mayapple unopened yet, such a tender green with hints of reddish tints.
Below just a few small sketches done while standing and looking down at them. I had to give up soon though, my back was seizing up saying enough!
Mayapples + Green Frogs
I was excited to find a Green Frog in the pasture on my way back, he was moving slow because it was so cold. I was actually able to snatch him up after he dove under water! heehee…I felt like a little kid!
Meet my new friend, Mr. Green Frog
Always gentle with creatures I touch, I was careful how I held him, and with experienced deftness (;-) ) whipped out my tiny camera and got some close up shots of him.
Mr. Green Frog poses for his 3/4 profile shot!
Don’t worry, I didn’t entertain thoughts of kissing him! I already found my prince! But I do think Mr. Green Frog was trying to look handsome.
Green Frog in the grass
Then he was gently returned to the grass and as many frogs will do, just sat there while I continued to snap pictures and also do the small watercolor sketch. They believe themselves to be invisible while not moving. Here’s a tip from me, when photographing a frog, or any critter, take some shots right away in case they jump away. Then after you have a few, try moving your position a bit or as I sometimes do, move some grasses that might be in the way. With this green guy, I was actually able to gently remove grasses in front of his face, then from his body as he sat frozen, watching me. It was a cold day so maybe he was extra sluggish. Then he jumped away into the water and I took more shots.
I really do like frogs and feel a bit guilty for not doing a nice little painting for you to see, BUT I was really cold and wet by the time I met Mr. Green Frog and couldn’t wait to get home for a hot bath. I’d like to do some drawings from my photos though, when I do you’ll be first to know!
I hope you enjoyed coming on my walk with me, it was kind of lonely until I met the tadpoles and then the frog. I guess you’re always surrounded by friends if you stop to meet them!
Here’s some links to fun things in my shop with “Mr. Green Frog” on them:
I know it seems out of place, this painting of snow when it’s Spring (at least it’s trying to be spring!) but I found I had never posted this and would hate to have it forgotten! So here’s a short post about a cold, snowy walk in January! If you click it you’ll see prints of it in many sizes.
"Field at Long Lane Farm" watercolor
I did this little 7 x 7″ painting in my journal while standing in the lane that goes out to the fields on my farm. I love the subtle colors of winter, the red tipped bushes and the cool blues in the snow. On a good sunny day you can have to most intensely blue colored skies and high contrast clouds. Not that you’ll ever hear your weather man call them that! “today there’s a chance of high contrast clouds with rain” hahaha.
Seed heads along the walk
Here are some notes I wrote as I paused to look at some dead seed heads.
Watercolor pan, brush and waterbottle
And this shows you what I used, not a waterbrush but a ‘proper’ watercolor brush, just used the one and a plastic bottle for water. In the winter you can’t use the waterbrushes that are so popular as the water tends to freeze as you paint on the paper.
Hope you enjoyed the late posting…I hope we can all say goodbye to winter weather soon!
Here’s some prints and note cards of this little watercolor in my shop:
(if you are viewing this from your email subscription, please visit my blog on the actual website to see the video and links properly)
Today I went for a walk with Ginger. We ventured forth out into the wet lanes and fields, the mud sucking at our feet, water swirling as we waded. Not all my land is wet mind you, but this time of year it certainly is in some areas. I start my post off today with my drawings of the little snail I met while out walking, because I knew you’d be curious to see him.
Little Golden Snail Sketches
I did these studies actually back at my studio while looking at him under a magnifying glass. I did some while in the field (you’ll see below) but it was so small it was hard to really get a good look at him while I sat on a log! So he came home for a visit. I first lightly sketched him with pencil then drew with a permanent ink pen and then watercolor on that. After I drew the swirly curly border I drew over it with one watercolor pencil then just dragged a wet waterbrush over all of it to soften it and make the color bleed out a bit.
Now back to our walk.
Secret Circle Lane
This is “Secret Circle Lane”, as wet as it always is in springtime; (click it for high res. view in my shop) how pretty reflecting the sky like that! Ginger and I crept quietly along through this water because I heard an interesting call from some kind of frog along with the zillions of peepers that were singing.
Here’s a short video clip I shot while standing in the water, just to let you hear the sound of the Peepers calling.
my boots
Ah yes, the trusty boots! Can’t go anywhere without these mud boots or “Wellies”. Well these boots weren’t made for “walkin” they were made for “sloshin”!! I did see some interesting little critters in the water before our feet disturbed it, some snails and a few water beetles.
me
Oh, and there’s me…had to show you my favorite hat of all time and my Dad’s hunting coat! The hat I bought in England at a farm supply shop, where they sell the expensive horsey equipment and clothes. Well it WAS expensive too, BUT well worth ever penny! It’s waterproof, lined for warmth, has a flap that drops down over your ears and makes it fit your head like a helmet and has an elastic cord that goes under your chin for high winds. When the wind blew hard on the high hills of Northumberland, my wonderful hat stayed put!! The other nifty thing is it has a little button on the brim you click and you get two settings of led lights! High power beams!! I’m telling you we’ve used it to find our way on paths past dusk and it’s great for visiting old castle ruins because you can point your beam into dark places that you wouldn’t have seen before. I should get paid money to promote this hat!
And the wonderful old Woolrich hunting coat my dad gave me so I love it. He used to put it on when going out hunting, I still remember seeing him in the kitchen with the pants on with bright red suspenders and laughing playing like he was Santa! It is covered with pockets and has a special pocket at the back for carrying your ‘game’ home in. I have been known to carry sketchbooks there and always keep a spare kitchen size garbage bag for sitting on wet ground.
Crocuses in Aspen Hall
I told you before that we planted flowers in “Aspen Hall”, here’s two little crocuses I wanted to sketch. Click to see a note card of it where you can zoom in and see it bigger.
golden snail
I love the close up pictures of this pretty little golden snail. I spotted him on the ground amongst the leaf litter, but in the sun he glistened like gold. I took my tiny Olympus camera on the macro setting and shot this picture through a close up part of my magnifying glass! It really works at getting a little closer. Click on the pictures to view note cards that you can view close up.
golde snail pointy end up!
Here’s another shot of him, I love the form of the shell twisting up like that.
Studying the snail closely for sketches
Now this picture is important because it shows you how tiny he was and when you need reading glasses to see things better, it doesn’t help. The other thing that made it difficult to draw him in the field was sitting on one little log made my back hurt terribly so I was not comfortable. I wrote my notes and did some little sketches anyways.
golden snail peeking at me
Another great shot, I love the patterns in the shell that the sunlight catches. And notice the subtle color that runs up through those eye stalks? I notice how well it matches the dead stick he was crawling on.
My Journal page
Here’s my actual journal page from my time sitting in “Aspen Hall”, go ahead and click it to read it.
Tiny Golden Snail with metallic gold watercolor paint added.
Now I had a little more fun with the snail studies I did by using some metallic watercolor paint on them. I took some pictures of the snail paintings tipped at an angle to catch the sun and really show the metallic watercolor paint I added on top. It was a lot of fun using it and really made it look like the snail did, it sparkled in the sun!
Golden Snails in watercolor with gold metallic watercolor over.
And one more shot showing the glitter in the full sun.
I hope you enjoyed our walk today and you didn’t even have to get your feet wet! 😉 Don’t forget to visit my SHOP by clicking the pictures above to see note cards of the little golden snail or the landscape photos in this post.
Here’s a note card using the watercolor studies:
Speaking of snails I’m honored to say there’s a wonderful blog written by two talented women one of which was inspired by my posts about the snail I found and did studies of while I was in England! Have a look here: “The Dao of Doing”
As my page describes, it was overcast, wet and dreary. I did the small landscape sketch while standing up, just a small little thing but it reminds me exactly of the time and place. At the bottom I wrote words I associated with where I was sat, this is a great way to begin creative writing. When I got back to the house I added the background colors behind the words and around the landscape to perk the page up. Without it it was quite plain looking! Then I outlined the leaf shapes under the crocuses to give it more ‘umph’.
Wet Walk in March (2011)
I was sitting on a small pile of dead trees that I stacked as I could during the winter, right in the middle of “Aspen Hall”, a favorite place on my land. It’s just a clump of Aspen trees that sticks out into my field and can be seen from the house. As you walk up the lane, lined with bushes and some trees, you come to a place where there are thick trees on both sides and it forms a sort of shady canopy, so we named it “Aspen Hall”. When my boys were just two and four (when we first moved here) we found it to be just the right distance to hike from the house and have a picnic. I then planted daffodils, crocuses and maybe some tulips some seventeen years ago! When I went out the other day I was excited to see shoots coming up! Today there were crocuses ready to open, I can’t wait to see what will be out next time I visit.
Mud Boots and Paint
This picture and those that follow I took with my cell phone! I guess I was glad I had it, sometimes it is great to get some pictures. Had to add this photo! The mud boots or “Wellies” are standard fare around here; if you want dry feet you practically live in your mud boots! I just reached down to use the colors but it wasn’t the most comfortable after awhile for my lower back, even though I was on a low seat.
My Watercolor Paints and Watersoluble Crayons
Here’s a closer look at my watercolors and crayons. I didn’t use the crayons but put them out just in case; they’re new to me so I want to play around with them more while out in the field. I also used just a tiny round watercolor brush with a small container of water I had, not my usual waterbrush.
Ginger's Big Nose
My little companion Ginger, she loves to walk with me and waits patiently (though she whimpers when she wants to keep going) as I stop often to sketch or paint. She’s getting older now though so it’s probably good for her to stop.
Water Droplets on Seed Heads
On my return to the house I noticed something glimmering like diamonds in a rather dreary landscape; it was water droplets hanging on the seed heads of the plants.
The World Upside Down in a Drop of Water
Did you know that water droplets hanging like this reflect the world upside down? It reminds me of the drawing I did of a crystal ball reflecting the woods around it (Ravensphere), everything is upside down. I think someone poetic could think of ways to use this imagery of the world being caught like this. (This picture is a bit dark but it shows the glimmering of the droplets quite well).
Well I hope you enjoyed coming on this walk with me today! There’s always something to discover outside your door and you don’t have to go that far. I hope you will go out today and see and hear what you can!
(A late entry that I wanted to add photos to before sharing, it’s from a tiny field sketchbook I made that’s handy to take in my pocket or a small bag when it’s wintry weather like this.)
Dead Weed heads Covered with Snow
What a cold day today, but Ginger and I ventured forth into the frozen whiteness and found some pretty things. I liked looking at the heads of dead flowers way out in my field, the snow was cupped upon the tops like cotton waiting to be picked. I did the two sketches today using a small sharpie marker in my tiny field sketchbook I created.
"Shadows on Fox Lane" 2
This photo is of “Fox Lane”, one of the ways I can walk out to my fields. I love the blue winter shadows cast here.
Tracks in the Snow Up Long Lane
The drawing above is of “Long Lane”, a VERY quick, simple sketch done with mittens on while Ginger and I paused on our walk. I at least wanted to show the perspective of the lane and the trees, the tracks in the snow help with that too. Long Lane is the prettiest, trees much closer and thicker along the lane, it’s so beautiful in springtime.
Furry Fronds of Ice
These furry branches are weeds growing just under my back deck, just where the exhaust from the furnace comes out the moisture in the air has created these pretty stems.
"Shadows on Fox Lane" 1
Another photo of Fox Lane. Hope you enjoyed this chilly walk with me!
Though I went for this walk a month ago, I need to catch up on posting my sketches from all my walks so you can see where I’ve been. This walk started at the Edlingham Church from the 11thC and Edlingham Castle.
Edlingham church and castle quick sketch
As I noted on my page, it was a gorgeous, sunny day. I started by walking past the old church and as I stood in the parking lot near it, I sketched using my Derwent Inktense “Ink Black” watercolor pencil. I then used my waterbrush to make washes using the pencil lines. You can add more color or value by touching the tip of your pencil with the waterbrush and adding it to the already damp paper. If you re-draw on the damp paper the pencil will make a very strong line and be harder to blend. Since I don’t have use of a scanner here, I photographed my pages and then brightened them, the picture here looks a bit more contrasty than the real one.
The sketch of the castle at the bottom of the page (shown above) is started with the same Inktense pencil then later colored with watercolors and watercolor pencils. I was way up in a sheep field looking back when I did this, just a quick impression.
Edlingham Church and Castle
After my walk I added color to the top sketch of the church, with watercolor pencils. I’m going through a phase with them right now, as I so often do…then I switch back to my loved watercolors. I’m having fun layering colors to find nice greens and browns. I don’t like a drawing or painting to look ‘mushy’, that is be too soft, and I’m tempted to go back and draw with my ink pens into these little studies. But they are studies and sometimes the soft look of them is nice.
Lapwing
As I walked up through another farmers field I saw Lapwings on the ground. They are such a neat bird with two long feathers on their crest that looks like a fancy plumed hat! When they fly their wings are wide, rounded and a sharp looking black and white. They have a very nice call too. This picture is a bit blurry as I shot it from far away, but you get the idea of what they look like.
Dog Rose + Lapwing
I’ll type out the notes from this page down below.
I had fun and created a old fashioned looking greeting card with this Dog Rose watercolor I did. Click to see it in the shop, it has pink inside and you can add your own text. Click your back button to return.
On the way to the top
This photo shows just how gorgeous the views were; I wanted to stop and paint all the time! But if you don’t keep walking you’ll never see as much, so on I went. (click it to see it in my shop larger)
Yup, that's me!
Yes, well, that’s me! I was happy to be out walking alone, stopping as I pleased and discovering interesting things, like the butterflies below.
Painted Lady Butterfly
This is a tattered looking Painted Lady, it looks similar to the Tortoiseshell below, but see how that one is dark in the center around the body?
Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly
This small little Tortoiseshell butterfly looks like it’s been through some weather, maybe even escaped a birds beak? I saw quite a few butterflies along the little dirt lane I walked on, I think they enjoyed the windbreak of the stone wall that followed it.
At the Roman Fort site, wow, buttercups!
(Click to see this picture as a glossy note card) This picture is at the top of the hill where the Roman Fort used to be. There are piles of stones around in a big rectangle shape, all that is left of it now. The Buttercups were so pretty, I crouched down low to get this shot, I liked the angle of it.
Here are the notes I wrote on my page: ” Headed to the Old Roman Fort. Sitting here now- it’s so beautiful the scene. Skylark is singing to my right + sheep are calling down the valley behind me. I don’t have time to paint the landscape, I have too much to do at home. 🙁 oh…I couldn’t resist! Quick watercolor sketch!” (See below!)
Small watercolor view from top of Edlingham
I’m so glad I took some time to do this little watercolor, now I look at it in my field journal and can remember the scene so well. I sat on a huge rock of the fort, with my feet up and set a little container of water besides me. I used regular watercolor brushes for this one. I first laid on washes of blue and quickly lifted areas with a tissue for clouds. Then overlapping (on purpose) the blue near the horizon, I put pale green hills. The blue showed through and it made very nice distant hills, keep it soft and pale for this. Then I put various patches of greens for the fields in front.
View from Top, "Ah, this is the life!"
I used this picture to create a glossy note card for those who love hiking, click on the picture to see my “people in landscapes” but I also created one that says on it: “Ah, this is the life!” I guess that says it all, you’ll find that one in my shop here.
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