Happy New Year!

As some of you may know, this year I created a botanical wall calendar from seasonal studies in my sketchbooks. 

This is the January image with added identification labels.

Runner bean flowers

...I went to pick the Runner Beans, but couldn't help but come back with a flower to draw. Another great colour I think.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Some more recent studies - #Parsley, #Sage, #Rosemary and #Thyme

I've fancied drawing a collection of herbs for a long time, and finally got around to it. These are all A5, on watercolour paper (venturing away from the safety of the sketchbook!).

Flowers...

Although I have decided not to do a drawing challenge this month, I'm still doing my drawing a day, and love looking at what is appearing at different times of the year. 

Here are a couple of pictures from recent days

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!

A Buzzard wears a necklace...

A #Buzzard for yesterday's #alicesaprilaviary drawing.

I saw two buzzards close up, one on a fence post and the other in a larch. Then more later in flight.

As I've mentioned before I've enjoyed reading about each species as I go, Wikipedia described the Buzzard as having -a pale 'necklace' of feathers' which I'd not realised before. I've been tempted to write facts about them or label features as I go but decided against it in general. However I may play with some card or print designs that builds on this idea!

Never seen in the garden as photographed but I thought it went nicely with the spring blooms and brick.

No longer waiting in the wings!

When I started this challenge (at the start of the month) I hadn't decided to publish it here. A week later I thought it would be a good plan (and motivates me to keep it up!). So I have some catching up to do in terms of sharing the pictures of the first week.

The idea came to me when I was on holiday on the Isle of Mull. We saw some fab birds there - a couple of my long time favourites - the Oyster Catcher with his splendid orangey legs and bill, and the Grey Heron - I love how gangly they are and how they move - those long legs stalking through the water, or their huge wings when they fly - and awkward neck they have to fold in! We also saw eagles which were very exciting - I still need to do a bit of research on these to find out what type they were.

First up was the Oyster Catcher. This was a sketch done on the 31st March, which gave me the idea for the challenge. I drew him again as a card - you can see me drawing it in this video.

Next up is the Hooded Crow - there were lots of these on Mull too...

Next up is the Greylag Goose - there were lots and lots of these on Mull too

The Heron was the last bird drawn from our holiday on Mull... or Mulliday as I like to refer to it.

The woodpecker was spotted on my cousin's bird feeder - the other side of Scotland, near Stonehaven. We were looking in a lovely bird guide that my cousin has that used to belong to our Grandmother's best friend - she had made a note of when and where she had seen each species on the list at the front of the book. For that reason I'm making a note of where I've seen each of these too.

The Lapwing was seen in a field and flying up from it on our drive back from Scotland. 

The Magpie was from the car the next day...

Next up is a blue tit - seen in my garden, hopping about on top of the hedge.

Next up was the Sparrow that is already online!

This swan was seen at Attingham Park, on a walk on Saturday.

And that fills in the gaps so far!

Alice's April Aviary ... so far-

1. Oyster Catcher

2. Hooded Crow

3. Grey Heron

4. Great Spotted Woodpecker

5. Lapwing

6. Magpie

7. Sparrow

8. Blue Tit

9. Mute Swan

10. Mallard

11. Blackbird

12. Green Woodpecker

...right, I'd better get away from the computer and see what I can see today!

Customers

A day late due to lack of Internet but...

Day 31 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #customers

I'm working on these spring studies at present, soon to turn them into products for customers to buy. 

It'll be a watch this space I'm afraid as quite what these will be is work in progress!

I've really enjoyed this challenge, thank you @joannehawker for devising it. Lovely to meet so many makers this way!

Milestone

Day 24 | MarchMeetTheMaker is Milestone

I wasn't sure what to put for today as it's still so early, but I think it might be my first commission as Alice Draws The Line. 

This is something I'm currently working on and triggered the spring modern botanical illustration studies I've been doing. I know most have appeared on here already but here's a short flick through the sketchbook to show them together.

Best Seller

Day 22 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #Bestseller

 

Having not planned ahead well enough I actually featured my all time best seller as Day 17- my Twist and Sprout Christmas Card.

 

So that I don't put the same pic up again today I've chosen this week's best seller for which is this collection of 3 handdrawn cards. Bunting and hand lettering both done with my trusty dip pen.

 

These can be personalised with the addition of a name, can be all of the same design or the selection shown. Additional option of these being small or larger cards.

More details in the shop!

 

 

Helper

Day 19 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #Helper

As it's such early stages for me I don't yet have the need for an official helper.

However many of my friends and family have been helping by providing encouragement in my illustration adventure...

...and patience as I stop to look at yet another tree !

You can see the dip pen in action on the Facebook page ...just click here!

Shelfie

Day 18 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #shelfie

This is the top of my bookcase that I use as a holding bay for things to draw (pretty much a nature table really) but also as a display space for new ideas/designs. They lurk the where I can see them regularly until I've made up my mind about what to do with them /if I like them /how to tweak them!

Photography

Day 17 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #photography

My fab friend Louise Mary Designs helped me photograph my first few items in my etsy shop.

Pictures were taken with her lovely camera in her equally lovely studio. Since then however I've been attempting to recreate the feel using my kitchen table and mobile phone camera... got to start somewhere! 

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

Goals

Day 9 of #MarchMeetTheMaker looks at 'Goals'.

I've given myself a year 'to try'... to see if the dream of earning enough through illustration and hand lettering to supplement my part time job can become a reality. Otherwise the reality is finding another part time job...

Tools

Day 4 of #MarchMeetTheMaker... today it's tools...

These are my current favourites (although this changes!). I love the colours in this mix. 

A closer look...

1 - 0.38 Pen from Muji (lovely thin, even line)

2 - Water brush - this comes everywhere with me in my pencil case

3 - Paintbrushes, a lovely thin one and a slightly thicker one

4 - Small watercolours - these fit in a handbag easily. I've topped these up with tubes of watercolour. there is a pink where a paintbrush should sit, and black and purple share a square too.

5 - Black India Ink. Waterproof. (Dr Ph. Martin's)

6 - Water pot - this was in a seconds box in a pottery I visited on holiday once. Sadly the label has washed off it and I can't quite remember where I got it. I often take this with me if I'm going away. 

7 - My Grandmother's watercolours. These mainly stay at home, partly because they are quite big, but mainly because they are special to me. I'm not a fan of cleaning this, I like to think there may be a colour that she mixed still on the palette somewhere.

8 - Two dip pens - the wooden one and the green nib holder. 

9 - A mechanical bic pencil - nice and soft to draw with but nice and dark when I want it to be 

Pistachio!

I have to confess, I'm not sure where many of these National Days come from, but today is 'National Pistachio Day'! ... and here are a few to help us celebrate!

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!

Nuts about You!

This design is now available as a card... perfect for Valentine's Day! or any Anniversary... or just because!

For sale in the shop - go straight there by clicking... Nuts About You! 

The original is there too, you can find that by clicking... Nuts About You!-Original