
I’ve just got round to drawing Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt beauty. This was a narcissus flower I think at Rode Hall on Sunday. I was thinking of drawing bluebells but my photos were a bit blurred.
New paintings and regular art updates.

I’ve just got round to drawing Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt beauty. This was a narcissus flower I think at Rode Hall on Sunday. I was thinking of drawing bluebells but my photos were a bit blurred.

Beautiful pink fingers
Reach for the sky
Magnificent Magnolia
Giving me joy
Seen on a warm day
In early May
Life changes quickly
Soon they will die
Then the leaves come
Shade the ground
Summer has arrived then.
Wait for spring
To come again.

We finally got the weather for our walk around the grounds of Rode Hall. It was lovely, calming and peaceful. I know it’s strange, but I wondered where the musical backing track was….. But there was beautiful birdsong.
This was the last day of the actual bluebell walks, but they are obviously still there for a little while. There is a Rode Hall website and I’m sure there will be details available for visits there.

To flowers
And plants
Geranium, poppy, fushias
Petunias and surfinias
Mounds of green leaves
Hidden tomato plants
Surrounded by scent
Wild and cultivated
Hanging baskets blooming
Like overflowing fountains
I hope summer is here soon.

Note cards from my friend Martha in Colorado. She’s a brilliant artist and loves the Sand Cranes that migrate through her valley twice a year. She has cards for sale through her Etsy shop I think.
I hope she doesn’t mind me using her image. I think it’s so atmospheric. I like the different positions the birds are in, so well observed. And the sky is blustery and lively. It’s great to have something like this from such a talented artist. I’m definitely putting one of them in a frame. Is so sensitivley painted, I love it.

Do you post a picture or the title first? I generally choose a picture to write about then decide on the title. Sometimes there is an ambiguity because my image may have nothing to do with the title or the actual wording of the post.
So why Vinca? It’s a cheery little flower, nice colour, it scrambles over the ground in a green mass and then in spring these lovely, twirly flowers pop up. I just wish I could get it to grow better, but I think our garden is too shady. Also if you look closely the five petals of the flower spiral inwards in a whorl.
As to the question ‘what first?’ it all depends on how I’m feeling, how inspired (or uninspired) I feel.

Drawing from 2021. I was watching Sky Landscape Artist of the year and I decided to do a drawing of Snowdonia in North Wales. This took half an hour. I have relatives that live near to Snowdon so it’s a place I love. The landscape near where I live is more rolling hills, certainly no mountains nearby.
One of the things about the UK is that there are so many variations in the landscape. Flat, hilly, mountainous, green, forested, heathland, waterlogged, dry, arable, coastal. You can see why people fall in love with it.

I think of daffodils and crocuses at this time of year, or snowdrops and later tulips. But an often overlooked plant is the Helibore. The flowers tend to droop their faces towards the ground and they have larder five lobed leaves. There colours can be a mottled grey green, white with green splotches or a greyish pink. This is a manipulated image to show how interesting they can be. Lift up a flower and be captivated by its hidden subtle beauty.

Glass bright
Transparent
Light
Sparkle and shine
Malleable
Ground, sand
Melted silica
Moulded and pressed
Strong and brittle
Cast and blown
Overwhelmed
By its beauty

Using manual settings for this photo of the sunset reflection off the clouds. I didn’t have the chance to go up to the top of our hill, but the colour was glorious. This is looking north towards the centre of Stoke. I love it when the sky gets a warm glow and blossoms pinky red.