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!

Organised

Day 28 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is organised

Inspired by @janeheinrichs I made my own diary/ planner this year from the loveliest Rhodia notebook.

At the back I've done a month to view and each week has the dates on the left and a to do page on the right. Each month also has a few pages for extra lists and ideas.

The pages are super silky and were lovely for the dip pen pen to glide over

Creative Friends

Day 14 |#MarchMeetTheMaker is #CreativeFriends

I love how creativity can be in any medium: 

- Stunning silver (Louise Mary Designs), 

- Linen Loveliness (Wild Flora Clothing),  

- through to Culinary Creatives (...check out this Banoffee Bear Birthday Cake 😋). 

Many friends of mine insist they are not creative. Labelled that way or not, they inspire and motivate me. (These three are just the tip of the iceberg!).

Post Run

Day 11 #MarchMeetTheMaker is #PostRun 

As regular followers will know, it's very early days for me so I don't have a regular post run yet. 

However, I adore post and posting things to others and always have, which is part of the appeal of designing greetings cards. 

One of my favourite things is addressing envelopes- sadly many can't be photographed as they are private addresses. 

Here however is a card sent to a very lovely fine stationery shop & pen emporium that people can only benefit from knowing the address of! Have a look here... Bartrums Stationery and Fine Pens

Burns Night

It seemed only right that today I should choose words by Robert Burns for some hand lettering. Here is the song 'One Night As I Did Wander'...

And yes, it was the tree that sold this one to me!

...and should you want the standard English translation (not nearly so prettily written!) it's

One night as I did wander,

When corn begins to shoot,

I sat me down to ponder

Upon an old tree-root:

Old (river) Ayr ran by before me,

And hastened to the seas;

A wild pigeon cooed over me,

That echoed through the trees.

According to this website.

Joining the dots

I can vividly remember sitting in the careers room at school, being asked what job I'd like when I was older. I wasn't sure. I was told to have a look at the helpful A-Z of Careers poster on the wall above the desk and say which ones appealed...

I looked through them all and read out three that interested me. The careers man asked me to go away and have another think.

After A'Levels I did an Art Foundation course, I loved Art and it gave me some thinking time before making a career commitment in the guise of a University course. At the end of this great year my tutor decided I was destined for Mixed Media Illustration... I decided Education was where I was heading, and that I'd keep Art as a hobby (although I was very tempted by a degree in Calligraphy, my favourite wild card at the time).

I'm now 11 years into my career in Education, more specifically working with children, young people and adults in woods through Forest School. I love it. Being outside is part of me. It doesn't feel quite right if I haven't had my daily dose of fresh air. Checking in on what is happening outside, where we are in the year, what is growing, blossoming, coming into leaf or going over. 

Illustration has remained a hobby throughout. I have done a Drawing a Day for several years now as regular blog readers will be all too familiar with! Now however, with a change in my hours at work, I've decided to see where the illustration can go. 

So, I'm going to join the dots and combine the two... here goes!

And finally... I'm braving the world of Facebook, do 'like' my page 

Hand Lettering

I've been really enjoying working with my dip pen recently, particularly when doing all the addresses on my Christmas cards.  This is something I'm developing this year... watch this space!

I'm catching up on radio programmes while I draw and write at the moment. I love this quote which Dermot O'Leary said to describe Guy Garvey during an interview before Christmas.