
Beauty in a bloom,
Hidden shapes
Finding nectar
Bee time
Hover flies
Burnished ladybirds
Crawling, flying, scuttling.
Flowers feed them
They feed us.
Save the insects
Saving flowers
Saving us!
New paintings and regular art updates.

Beauty in a bloom,
Hidden shapes
Finding nectar
Bee time
Hover flies
Burnished ladybirds
Crawling, flying, scuttling.
Flowers feed them
They feed us.
Save the insects
Saving flowers
Saving us!

This acrylic on canvas Poppy painting will be on sale in a shop in Stone, Staffordshire later in the week. I will try and get a few photos of our group display when everyone has hung their work.
Poppies come in lots of colours from large red, magenta, pink and white ones to smaller common poppies with red patals and black splodges in their centres. Also white and pink variations. Then there are the bright oranges of Californian poppies, orange and yellow Welsh poppies and blue, hymalayan poppies. Just gorgeous.

I can’t stop experimenting. This time I drew overlapping triangles. Am I boring you? I think this kind of drawing is a meditation. It’s a way of ignoring the the world. Taking the time to place each shape and space them evenly apart. Does anyone else doodle or draw? It helps my mental health. I’m very visual and I have to create. I can’t stop….

After I drew the laburnum arch I looked through the photos I took at the weekend and realised I could have drawn this instead. I don’t remember seeing it before, but it is quite striking. One thing about the UK is the greenery. Once spring and summer arrives the greens burst out. Yes we do get drought conditions, but we are very lucky compared with many places.

Digital manipulation of the drawing. I do not know how to stop. Trying twisting and mirroring to create new ideas. Having fun. This could be a design for a stained glass window .

Just playing with pattern and colour. I will probably do more to this digitally. It is a drawing made with felt pens. Each shape is linked, where possible with a line. The centre is more complex, then the outer lines act as barriers or walls. When I’m doing this I set myself simple rules to follow so the image doesn’t end up too chaotic.

Draw triangles and colour them in. I started with a star shape then worked my way out. Who needs adult colouring books when you can make your own pattern. I also tried to vary the colours so that there is more light and shade in it. The paler blue section seems to recede. I just used a set of ordinary felt pens and a fine line pen to draw the triangles. Doing something like this is like a meditation. You can sit and let the world go by as you draw and sketch. You can use any shapes you want and make the pattern as complex as you like. X

Squint and see faces, patterns, monsters. Tipped over doubled image. The colours help make it vibrant and interesting. Plant life can be amazing.

I sat and drew one of the magnolias while we were there at Bishton Hall. It was just a black and white sketch so I coloured it in when I got home. The curved edges are because I can’t get my sketchbook page to lie flat. I don’t think I’ve got the colours right, but I have only got a limited range of colours in the set of felt pens I’m using.

Doorway at the Thai temple. So beautifully decorated. Golds and greens, amazing patterns. The celebration was outside so we didn’t go in, but I would have liked to. The skill and artistry is outstanding. I imagine the sort of skills you would need to carve church screens, or old furniture. Those skills are being replaced by computers or 3d printing. But hand carving and painting adds something special. Not clean and accurate, but human and possibly slightly flawed. It is fine art. X