Well I must admit I’m getting way behind in my posts, I have lots of new pages to share and adventures to tell about, but keep running out of time (or energy!) to keep up. Here’s a short story about my morning walk in the tiny village of Edlingham on a sunny morning in July.
Edlingham Castle from across fields
You can read my notes written on my sketch page too. The drawing above I sketched while standing on the side of a road, I just pulled out the watercolor pencil I needed as I worked. First I did a quick sketch with permanent ink pen then touched in with colors. Edlingham Castle is a great ruin to visit and explore, I love wondering what it must have looked like ages ago.
Meadow Cranesbill
There were Meadow Cranesbill flowers growing along side the road, very pretty! I guess they’re named such because as the flower head looks a bit like a crane’s head and bill.
Black Faced Sheep in the Field
This is how pretty it is around Edlingham, black faced sheep and huge shadows passing over hills of many greens.
Sheep with lambs
Now these sheep are ok as sheep go, but really not my favorites; I think they are a variety from France. I tend to refer to them as “uglies” ohh I know that sounds harsh…but they look like ‘beefy’ sheep thugs wearing wool sweaters.
Burnside Cottage, Edlingha
I made my way up the lane to near where the busy road is and sat on a gas meter to look over the hills. As I made my way back down there is a sweet cottage called “Burnside Cottage” right by a stream; Burn meaning stream. I stood across the road and just up a bit from it to do this ink sketch while standing. The light changed as I worked but I was interested in an ink drawing so it didn’t matter. I did take a few snap shots of it so if I want to go back and color it, which I think would be nice, I could. (forgive the quality of the picture, it’s not scanned, I only have my camera to photograph my sketchbook with then I try to edit them a bit on the computer to brighten them)
Song Thrush
At the very end of my walk I was greeted by the song of the Song Thrush. And here is a little poem I just made up in honor of the Thrush:
The Song Thrush
The Song Thrush
Hides in the bush.
The air is ringing
With his joyful singing.
Take to the air
Snails beware.
The thrush he is a winging!
(c) Mary McAndrew 2010
Don’t forget to visit my shop on Zazzle where you’ll find my most recent photos of landscapes and nature from my hikes in Northern England, CLICK HERE.
Some more sketches of architectural elements from about Alnwick (pronounced Annick). The page above is my entire sketchbook page, I drew the boarded window, then much later added the doorway. I kept the page just for windows and doors or things like that. Then even later than that I played around with decorating the page with scrolly bits and made up lettering for the word “Alnwick”
Window in Alnwick
I did this sketch using an inktense watercolor pencil and my waterbrush while standing looking over a stone wall into an abandoned yard.
"Number 8"
This “Number 8” was done with a permanent ink pen when I was sitting in the car waiting. People might think that I’m secret police studying their houses! I drew some of the leaves at top (vines) and bottom in the hedge then left it to finish later by repeating mostly. This was a little cottage with a white door, dark stone walls and pink roses and greenery all around, very sweet!
Here’s a quick little post about a building sketch I did in Alnwick, Northumberland England. Alnwick is an old town, perhaps 800 years or so, and therefor filled with interesting architectural elements. It has it’s very own castle on the edge of town and a huge stone gate that once was part of a wall around the town, now gone for building stones.
Baily's Cafe sketch
I sat on a cold, hard, stone wall on the busy “Bondgate Within” street, a street with shops, small hotels and the upper part still filled with bumpy cobbles. They do have new benches but none gave this straight-on view of the shop I wanted to sketch. I only had enough time to start my sketch when Gary showed up and we were off and running again; this was on June 17.
We returned on July 20 and I, with sketchbook in hand, said I’d be drawing while he ran errands. I had about 35-45 minutes to finish this sketch, so I found the same hard, cold rock on the stone wall to sit on and got busy. This is with a permanent ink pen so whatever marks I made were not erasable. I first tried to put the rest of the lines in for the main building row and the dome. Then I added windows, lamps, people and cars. I didn’t bother to add the distant buildings and cars till the end, but glad I got them in, they really add some depth and interest to the drawing. What I loved about this building was it’s green patina dome, I would really like to do another sketch of it using my colors.
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.
More posts coming as I catch up! Please sign your email in the box at the right if you’d like to be notified. Exciting news coming soon about Creative Journaling and Sketching tours!
Come with me on a sunny, breezy stroll along the Northumberland coast of England, south of Cullernose Point and Dunstanburgh Castle.
South of Cullernose Point, Northumberland
This sketch is done looking northwards while I sat on the grass. I used one water soluble “Inktense” pencil (Ink Black) by Derwent, ; after doing a light sketch I wet it with my waterbrush to create tonal values. It’s like doing an ink wash sketch, great for quick sketches and you can go back over it later with color. The inktense pencils are relatively permanent once dry, so I’m experimenting with using the black then coloring later from photos. These colors of Inktense are very intense, so you need to practice and go lightly with your pressure. You can also achieve very black areas which I like.
Drawing near Cullernose Point
Here I am with my field sketchbook, what a view! (click on the picture to see it as a note card with a quote by Pablo Picasso)
Enjoy the many photographs I took below, they show the things we discovered as we walked and some I used later to do sketches from at home.
Brown Lipped Snails on Cowslip Leaves
It’s funny, once you learn about something you start noticing it more and more, as is the case with snails for me. Now when we walk I see them everywhere!
Brown Lipped Snails
These are Brown Lipped Snails; notice the brown line at the edge of their shell. I just love the striped patterns they have.
Pool with Grey Heron
This is looking down from the coastal path we walked on, there is a Grey Heron in that pool down there.
Grey Heron
Well spotted! He’s a beauty; we watched him fish in the pool as I took pictures from afar.
View of the coastal rocks we explored
Here’s another view of the coast where we walked. You can see two figures walking on the path ahead, that’s where we’ll be going.
Common Limpets and a Sea Slater bug
When we ‘clambered’ down to the shore, (hey it’s an old word but it fits here!), we found lots of Limpets, snails and Periwinkles. It wasn’t until I looked at my pictures on the computer later that I noticed the bug, a “Sea Slater”, how interesting! The Limpets are living creatures that cling very tightly to the rocks, you’ll see a watercolor sketch below of one I did.
Yellow Scales
This is called Yellow Scales, a type of lichen that grows near the coast on rocks. It’s very beautiful along with the whitish lichens and grey rocks.
Southern Marsh Orchid
When we returned to the top of the cliffs, we found these small unusual orchids growing here and there. I was surprised at how tiny they were and may have passed them by if Gary didn’t point them out. As near as I can tell they are Southern Marsh Orchids, if anyone knows better, please let me know!
Me Drawing near Cullernose Point
This photo will show you how tiny they were, the orchid is just in front of my sketchbook. I just lay in the grass and did a tiny light, sketch with a pencil. (click to see this and other photos like this, in my shop)
Shell and Flower studies
When I got home I downloaded my photos and did these studies from the laptop. I used watercolors for these, but using Titanium White this time for the white highlights and ‘wet’ look. I don’t usually use white paint, I rub or scrape off to create lights, but I quite liked using the paint for the glaze look. You can read my list of things we saw while there that day on my page.
Studies of Grey Heron
The little studies at the top of the page show my experiment with “Inktense” and just a black watercolor pencil, using watercolor pencil to color it. I wanted to see how much the blacks would lift or blend, hoping they wouldn’t. As I thought the Inktense didn’t lift as well and that’s exactly what I wanted.
The heron studies are also done from the laptop, just painted without sketching him out first. The little one in the left corner was an experiment of painting solid blue water then lifting color and using white paint to add the heron after. I’m not thrilled with how it came out but you should always experiment!
I hope you enjoyed coming along on this walk by the sea. Get outside and bring a small sketchpad with you, you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll see when you sit and start to draw things around you; a whole new world opens up before your eyes.
Here’s a little video clip of the waves washing over the rocks where we were, enjoy!
NOTE: Many of the photographs in this post have been made into beautiful glossy note cards and gifts and are in my shop (home page link). There are many more besides the links in this post, I hope you have a look and please pass it on to friends!
Today is a tale of meeting a snail, hmm…I feel a poem coming on…maybe later.
We went to Alnmouth and explored all around the dunes and on the beach. As we walked between the great high dunes to reach the beach, I couldn’t resist stopping to pick up so many pretty coiled shells. I didn’t have my usual field painting bag with me so I ended up filling my little purse! Those that were packed with sand I plopped into a dish of water to soak once I got home. Imagine my surprise when the next morning I found one of the ‘shells’ crawling up my coffee pot! (Lucky it wasn’t on!)
Well I quickly made his acquaintance and before you knew it he had food and shelter. At first he lived in a little plastic jar with the lid on very loosely on, but now he’s in a glass jar on it’s side with nice mosses to hide under. Click on the page below and read the notes I wrote as I painted his picture that day.
Snail Studies pg 1
My set up with the Model
Here’s my set up while I painted him, he was on the little plate with lettuce etc. but then slide off, and went up the brass lamp about halfway, this is when I took a bathroom break! When I returned I put him on top of my waterbottle, for this picture. I’m using the watercolor pan I take in the field with me all the time, it’s got a good selection of half pans. I used permanent ink marker to draw over my penciled sketches then used watercolor with regular brushes to color. On the right side you can see a rectangle shaped silver thing, that’s my little light up magnifier for reading maps; it’s great for field work.
Close up of snail studies
Here’s a close up of two of the snail studies with notes.
"Escargo Escapee!"
This painting makes me laugh, I did it with just watercolors. He was escaping from the plate…so I called it “Escargo Escapee”…he didn’t want to give me any ideas when I was hungry! The funny thing is I think he’s a copse snail…so a copse snail is escaping…but shouldn’t he be a robber snail then? (Oh gosh I know that’s corny!)
Cuthbert the snail with the shells I found
One more picture for now, more to come soon. I love this shot of him with the empty shells I found…poor thing, he’s probably crawling around them saying,”Where’d everybody go?” I decided to name him Cuthbert after the Patron St. of Northumberland, we found him near the cross for St. Cuthbert in Alnmouth.
Here’s a great website I found on snails, this page has a diagram on shell parts and helps with identifying your snail:
I have already drawn more pages of sketches and I’m recording changes in his shell growth. Please come back soon to see what happens to him! I have created some really neat gifts with these snail images on them, please have a look and pass the link to my shop onto your friends!
Today we had such a great walk that we really didn’t expect. The weather turned out nice in the late day as we drove to Alnmouth on the Northumberland coast just north of Warkworth Castle. I wasn’t expecting to go on much of a walk so I didn’t even have my field kit with me! Makes me feel bare, but I did have my camera and my purse which always has a small handmade sketchpad in it.
Road to beach at Alnmouth
I really can’t resist putting so many pictures in my post because it’s hard to pick and choose, leaving one out when I feel they are all beautiful! All of these will be in my shop as note cards and gifts, please visit the links at the end.
Dunes at Alnmouth
As we walked from our car, this is looking back through the dunes at the Rape Seed fields. The sand dunes here are quite impressive and filled with interesting shells. I picked up a bunch, so many that I had to fill my purse pocket. I have a story about that on my next post make sure you check back.
Beach at Alnmouth
This is the gorgeous beach at Alnmouth, the sand was fine and light colored, a great beach!
Cross at Alnmouth
This is St. Cuthbert’s Cross, that’s the name carved onto the base of this cross. Here is a great link about St. Cuthbert explaining more about the patron St. of Northumberland. This is the view as you climb up the not very high hill, to a windy spot that gives you views inland and out to the North Sea. We saw many sea birds and a heron ‘behind’ the hill, as the waterways wind around behind it as tides come and go.
Alnmouth from 'cross hill'
This is the view of Alnmouth you have from the top, it’s really great. I just love this photo with the sweeping clouds and quaint buildings.
Me drawing on hill
So you must have known sooner or later I’d have my sketchbook out! I had my tiny field sketchbook in my purse and tried to whip out a quicky sketch with watersoluble graphite pencils. Gary took this photo but my photographer friend Mark Baker did some editing to perk it up, Thanks Mark! ( www.mhbaker.com)
Alnmouth waterfront sketch in water soluble graphite
I had to touch it up at home as it was getting late and we needed to go home. No sitting and sketching time today 🙁 I used a waterbrush on it to do the washes. (I took a photo of the sketch with my camera to upload it.)
Cross at Alnmouth 2
Well I’ll leave you with this last view, though there were many more I had to choose from.
To see these wonderful photos as note cards and other gifts, go here to my shop. Just scroll down the page to see all the photos from Northumberland.
I wanted to share some work in progress with you on a little painting I’m doing of Edlingham castle. It was built in the early 12th C by the Normans, it’s in Northumberland and I can walk to it everyday from where I’m staying!
Sketch of Edlingham Castle, Northumberland
(Forgive if my pictures aren’t perfect as I’m using my camera to upload images) I brought my field kit with me and walked not on the typical path that tourists take right up to it, but one that goes behind an old Abbey that sits next to the castle grounds. I don’t like to be painting around lots of other curious people so I decided to view from afar. I found a big wooden gate with nice heavy posts that I sat on top of, I sometimes have a pad I can sit on to keep away the dampness, lucky I had it today. I decided to do a detailed drawing of it, not knowing if I’d get time to watercolor it on the spot, I took several reference photos before I left. The weather got really drab, cold, windy, actually chilled me through! So…the detailed sketch is as far as I went! Pretty clear for being drawn while sitting on a fence post!
Edlingham castle work in progress
Back in a cozy house, with a pot of tea, I pulled the picture up on my laptop and worked on it from that. The color is NEVER the same but it’s not a bad way to work, especially good if you can take color notes while in the field. I figure I may get back down there on a nice day and finish it up, or just work from the photo, we’ll see.
Until I finish it, you can see some nice photos of the castle here in my shop. Follow the link above or go to this one for more photo note cards of the castle.
Well at first I was going to call this post “Little Brown Moth” as I couldn’t guess what kind it was. Have a look at my sketches below and then read about how I figured out what it was.
The last time I found a moth it was a fugitive hiding behind my kitchen door curtain, this one was very similar. He was inside my kitchen sliding door frame…just another ordinary little brown moth. I dismissed it as such and thought, well later I’ll look at him and maybe do a sketch. All I could find to hold him while I studied him (without hurting him) was an empty camera lens case; it’s extremely clear, round, flat and about 3″ across. I made sure not to close it so he could have air and tried to work quickly, I am mindful of his life in my hands and don’t want to stress him too much.Trying not to touch his wings I gently cupped my hand over him and could feel him fluttering inside my hand.
He did get away I’ll admit, then it was actually easy to hold the lid over him then put the bottom up to catch him from off the exhaust hood over my stove…with me perched on a chair!
"Common Looper Moth Studies"
The first two sketches are done from life using a quill pen and brown ink. The ink will run when wet so I used a waterbrush to gently touch it and ‘make’ it run; it turns a beautiful reddish brown when you wet it. (Pelican ink) I also noted the actual size, you can see it’s quite small so a magnifying glass was handy to help me see him.
The drawing on the bottom of the page (above) is done while looking at a photo I took of him. I put a very light sketch in pencil then used my permanent brown ink pen, to which I added some watercolors. This study is only 2″ tall, pretty small in my tiny sketch book.
Common Looper Moth study with notes
You can see from my notes, what was so interesting about this little brown moth is his profile! When I looked at him from the side I was surprised to find the bristles sticking up like a crown or furry coat. He also has a big ‘nose’ looking thing, I think that’s actually his tongue or mouth parts?
Common Looper Moth side view
Here are two photos I got of him as I released him outside; it was going dark so the lighting isn’t great. I think the best shots I’ve gotten of captured insects are when I am about to release them, outside on my screen porch in natural light. The photo below is blurry, SORRY! but the light was fading, I just wanted to show you his wing pattern.
Common Looper Moth top view
Now a few notes about how I identified him. After studying his form and the unusual profile this helped me, I took note of the whitish marks on his wings and the color of the ‘underwing’. I went to my “Nature Links” page and clicked on “Bug Guide.net”; this site is very helpful but sometimes can be difficult if you’re a beginner like me. I started with “Moths”, click on that, then they showed a silhouette box and that was most helpful. I clicked on the one that looked just like my bug, and from looking it up in my “Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America” I at least figured out that it’s some kind of Owlet Moth. Cool, well, now what? My field guide gave me no more help, but on the Bug Guide website I saw another website called “Moth Photographers Group”, (now a link on my Nature Links page!) and when I went to a page it recommended, I was able to really see so many moths and almost certainly identify mine. Then I copied the name and went back to “Bug Guide” and pasted it in the search box, oh wow!, lots of pictures came up now of MY MOTH! Yes, that’s it, an Autographa precationis!
A tip from me, on Bug Guide, if you find a page with pictures you want to look at, use your back button to return from looking at a photo or else it will bring up a whole new set of pictures, not sure why. Another tip, when you visit the Moth Photographers Group, to see pictures go to the “Plate Series” page for links to pictures, BUT I highly recommend starting with Bug Guide or your Field Guide to get an idea of the scientific name, it’s the only way to search on this site.
I hope you enjoyed discovering more about this not so plain little brown moth with me! What it teaches us, if you look at something much closer, with curiosity, you can discover new things you never knew were right under your nose!
Come walk with me on my Spring morning hike at Long Lane Farm!
Song Sparrow
Below is the first page in my small field sketchbook from today, I’ll type what it says below in case my handwriting is hard to read! (Click the photos for larger view, drawings are already enlarged.)
"A Glorious Morning!" 4-23-2010 pg 1
“A glorious morning! Frost on the ground and now at 9am it’s just wet in the sun, sparkles on the grass everywhere. The House Sparrows are chattering at the barn and a Song Sparrow has staked his claim to the back corner of the yard. Ginger waits in Fox Lane for me. Tree Swallows diving at each other near the nest box, constant twittering, bubbling, chatter. “
Tree Swallow
I saw some great birds today, the Tree Swallows are a joy to watch! They swoop and turn and I’ve watched them play a game by snatching up chicken feathers from the ground while in flight, then carrying it up high they drop it and another bird will catch it out of the air! I can’t get over the glossy green blue of their feathers.
me sketching
Here’s a picture of me sketching in the lane, wearing my tall mud boots (Wellies), winter coat, bag for sketch supplies and my camera with the long lens. I like to cross the strap diagonally from my shoulder as it takes pressure off my neck and back better.
"Budding Tree" 4-23-2010 pg 2
“Song Sparrow over and over, cardinal in the treeline and a crow, gurgling of the Red Winged Blackbird and Tree Sparrows. Such a sound! Now a Yellow Shafted Flicker…off up the field somewhere. I hear a Field Sparrow now at the maze.”
The trees are just starting to bud, looking up at them in the sunlight they looked like little gems glittering on the tips of branches.
Bluebirds
I was so happy to see a pair of Bluebirds have chosen one of the houses in the field, the Tree Sparrows have claimed the other one.
"Secret Circle Lane" 4-23-2010 pg 3
I had fun discovering tadpoles, snails and a tiny red mite on “Secret Circle Lane”, all in the freezing cold water flooding the lane.
Water Mite
As I wrote in my sketchbook, I was finally able to scoop up a ‘red dot’ floating in the water. Later I was able to study the tiny red dot from the photos I took and found out it’s a Water Mite. Before it got any ideas of how tasty my finger would be I released it back into the water! I’d like to know what they do live on or how they live.
Here’s a short video clip I shot while standing over the flooded lane (now promise you won’t laugh at me!) :
"The Wet Woods" 4-23-2010
I walked into the wet woods and standing in 4″ of water I did this tiny watercolor sketch of the dead tree. What fascinated me the most was how the shadows and sunlight dappled on the ground and tree branches
"Snail Study" 4-23-2010
Once home I looked at my photos on the computer screen and did this little watercolor study of a snail and two tadpoles. I haven’t identified the snail yet, but it was amazing to see when it was floating in the water it wriggled until it looked like it was out of it’s shell. It was a queer blue color, I never saw one like it.
The shell of the snail was not flashy or patterned boldly but I think it was beautiful in it’s own subtle way. It looked almost of a gunmetal grey with a cream background.
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