E is for...

Elm!

I have a bit of a soft spot for the Elm- I feel it is a bit of an underdog and am always pleased when I see one. (Dutch Elm Disease info ...)

This is the drawing I did yesterday for the #WoodlandAlphabet, however it is the third Elm study in the sketchbook since March. 

This was the first study- looking at the buds:

Then the next - with the start of the seeds. Photographed with an Elm yesterday which showed just how much it had changed since I'd drawn the branch 2 weeks ago (prompting the new drawing). 

Same study, different picture... just because.

In the kitchen there is a cutting that is coming into leaf that I need to get on and draw too!

Yaffle

I had a lovely day in the woods in the sun yesterday and returned happy and smelling of woodsmoke.

I've hardly ever seen the Green Woodpecker... but he laughs and laughs whenever I'm there! Yesterday was no different.

I'm really enjoying learning a bit about each species- I've been looking them up in the evenings.

Also known as the Green 'Yaffle' - a name given to it as it sounds like someone laughing.

Inspiration

Day 15 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #Inspiration 

There are lots of pictures I could post for this. It was almost this picture of the sycamore I took yesterday...

It could be of artists, friends and family that inspire me. Words and humour are also up there as sources of inspiration.

However I settled on this, a fairly ordinary subject- brambles and their friends on a woodland floor.

The woods, nature and the predictable yet awe inspiring seasonal changes that happen all around us inspire me. I notice something new each year and am regularly fascinated by the often overlooked detail in the 'ordinary' subjects.

Raw Materials

Day 6 already of #MarchMeetTheMaker and we are looking at Raw Materials.

Here is a picture of the table the other day when I was working on drawing buds. I had been collecting them from different species as I saw them and keeping them in water at home to draw. 

The initial drawings are done straight into the drawing a day book, as a study, drawn in pen and coloured with watercolour. I can then scan them and use them all together is designs using the computer. I'm also working on a couple of bigger pieces and am collecting seasonal studies to work into the final composition of these. 

Spring is Springing

I love this time of year as everything slowly turns green and comes into leaf. 

For my Drawing A Day this week I've been looking at different tree species - drawing their buds as a sketchbook study. I'm a bit of a tree geek and love how you can play detective and work out which trees are which. At this time of year the buds are one of the ways to identify the species (as well as the bark, remaining seeds and silhouette). I'm hoping to draw a few more this week and build up my collection. 

I also really like being able to tell what time of year it is in my Drawing a Day book when I flick through - maybe one year I'll manage to do a whole year as a nature journal...

Here is the process...

These studies are the starting point for another project I'm working on... but that's for another day!

A new range

I've started working on a new range of cards that combine my love of trees with my love of illustration and hand lettering. At present I'm affectionately referring to them as my TreeGeek range. This is one I've been tinkering with today...