Tea towel!

I'm thrilled to say that my Woodland Alphabet has hopped onto a tea towel and that they arrived this week! 

I've listed it in my shop, which is filling up now with lots of potential Christmas gifts!

Woodland Alphabet print!

Back in May I drew my way through a Woodland Alphabet. 

Since then I've been working on a couple of things based on this. The first has arrived and I've just added it to the shop! You can go straight to it by clicking here!

It is an A3 print, on premium recycled card. There is lots more info about it in the link above, but here it is, posing in the wood, in the Autumn sun!

and finally...

A Storm Kettle (or Kelly Kettle - a popular brand). A highly effective means of boiling water in the wood.

I didn't light this one - too scared my sketchbook might get too close! 

This is the end of the Woodland Alphabet - for now. I think I might occasionally add more items. The hope is to now create a print of the Woodland Alphabet - in time there will be different options for the different letters... so if you particularly like woodland flora it could be a complete alphabet, or woodland flora, or more bushcraft or working in the woods - a variant for that too! Watch this space!

Or another F could be...

Only when uploading this picture to the blog did I realise that this is the third F! 

A feather stick can be used for fire lighting, especially when tinder is scarce or it is wet. It is a stick with lots of very thin whittled cuts, with all the thin shavings still (just) attached to the stick.

F is also for...

Fire steel!

Another human link to woodland - I use a fire steel to light fires when I'm in the wood. I've used the same one for years - and you can tell from the look of it; all worn away yet still has years left in it. 

Just a couple more to go - not sure what they will be yet! and then a bit of a break in June to work on the shop and get some more products listed and cards printed! I have a couple of nice ongoing projects that I'm looking forward to dedicating some more time to.

Or...

M could be for Marshmallow... or even as a T for Toasted marshmallow - on a whittled stick over the embers of a fire. If you then sandwich it between biscuits (I go for digestives, unless feeling very decadent and then it would be milk chocolate hobnobs - chocolate facing in so that it melts...) it becomes a s'more (some more - as you can often want more). Traditionally a s'more is American and uses Graham crackers and includes chocolate. So this could also be S for s'more! 

I've eaten way too many of these over the last 12 years.

Or... C could be for... Charcoal!

Or... C could be for... #Charcoal!
I'm trying to think of a few alternatives for some letters - moving from flora and fauna to some other things that might be found in the woodland - some with more of a human influence.

So - here is some charcoal, made in the woods, from wood (in a tin, not from the wood). 

I realise I should have drawn this in charcoal too really- I have plans to mix up the sketchbook a bit in June and dig out other mediums that have been dormant for months! 

 

Z is for...

Zebra spider!

Phew!  I made it! I'm going to do a few variations for the last few days of May.  I'm hoping to then turn this Woodland Alphabet into a print... watch this space!

Y is for...

Yew!

X is for...

Xylem! 

I was definitely having a panic about this letter!  It's not a woodland species... but an important part of woodland flora, responsible for transporting water and minerals. In some species of tree you can really clearly see the xylem tubes within the growth rings on a cut trunk.

W is for...

Woodlouse!

Complete with a real woodlouse, having inspected the drawing.

V is for...

Violet! Wood Violet / Common Dog Violet to be more specific. Seen flowering in the wood the other week. 

U is for...

U is for... #Ugly Milkcap! 

...this is another letter I was struggling with, until my cousin saved the day and consulted her Roger Phillips mushroom book and came up with 3 options almost instantly! 

The Ugly Milkcap is very common, usually found with Birch in damp places from late summer through to late Autumn according to Roger.

In other news I'm suddenly finding this neat, accurate,  watercolour and ink work a bit restricting... a pastel pencil snuck in here... it's making me think about an experimental sketchbook challenge for June...

T is for...

Treecreeper!

I thought a Treecreeper might make it into #AlicesAprilAviary but I didn't see one until the 30th April -the same day I saw the Dipper. As it was only the second Dipper I'd ever seen, that made the cut for #AlicesAprilAviary, and the poor TC missed out. 

I saw at least 4 more species I hadn't drawn for that challenge that day, but decided not to draw them all but save them for another day, another project. 

The Treecreeper came very close to being drawn however, as when I saw him (on the 30th April), he flew from the Oak tree I was sitting under, over to a Poplar. I excitedly pointed it out to Dad who was gardening near me, and he said (without looking up) 'I know- it's just dropped a worm on your arm'... sure enough, there was a worm on my sleeve that the TC had just dropped just before I caught sight of him.

I used to see one almost every week in one of the woods I used to work in regularly, it'd go up the larch trees-starting low on the trunks and working it's way upwards.

So, I'm pleased to be able to add the #Treecreeper to the #WoodlandAlphabet

S is for...

Shield bug (and a small, sticky, Sweet Chestnut leaf - it is growing from the buds I picked several weeks ago and have been keeping in a jar on the table).

R is for...

Red campion!

...which is actually the most vibrant pink and a lovely colourful addition to the woodland. Currently receiving the baton from the bluebells and soon will take it forward towards summer and the bluebells will go over.

I have some wonderful friends - this bouquet of wild flowers was picked for me by a particularly fab one last week - and has been making me smile, sitting on my table. It's got lovely Red campions in it, which was very handy for my letter R! I'd like to draw each species in there, but there aren't enough hours in the day. 

Also - look at the petals of the Red campion - perfect pink hearts. 

Q is for...

There are a few letters I've been worrying about in this project - this was the first. I was tempted to switch to Latin and focus on the Quercus family (Oaks) but, this weekend we visited a lovely little wood - and there, saving the day was a Quince! 

Although not native they have grown in the UK since 1275 (according to Wikipedia) so I think that's long enough to count - for this project anyway.

P is for...

P is for... #Primrose

Another favourite, so unfussy and arrives early in a widely reassuring way.

I was told (by someone...not sure who) it comes from Prima - being first and rosa - flower = first flower. It is always lovely to see them.

We used to pick them when we used to make Easter gardens on an old tray when we were small and they were reliably always about.

They were still going in the wood last week... will look again this week. ✒

O is for...

Oak!

I've gone for the distinctive buds rather than the well known leaf for this one...

N is for...

Nettle!