Peaches in the wood pile

Watercolour and coloured pencil studies of Wrinkled Peach mushrooms (Rhodotus palmatus)

More pics and info over on on Cambridgeshire nature notes!

Dunnock post-mortem study

Dunnock post-mortem study, pencil and coloured pencils in my Stillman & Birn zeta sketchbook. More about this bird over on my other blog Cambridgeshire nature notes!

A new blog!

I've started a new blog for my nature journalling/photography/general ramblings - pop over and have a look. Not much on there at the mo, just a 'hello' post and some nice piccies!

http://cambsnaturenotes.blogspot.com/

Wood mouse studies

I had another opportunity, via the cat, to study some local wildlife - this is a wood mouse.

Pencil and watercolour in the Stillman & Birn zeta journal, which is slowly but surely being filled up!

Scrumptious succulents

A couple of months ago I had a lovely afternoon with a couple of pals, visiting gardens in an 'Open Garden' event (Moseley in Bloom, in Birmingham UK). The gardens were, of course, just beautiful, and a common theme seemed to be succulents - people had them planted in pots, planters, kitchen sinks, and all sorts of places. They looked fab, and inspired me to try a reduction linocut, and this is how it turned out...

This was the first chance I've had to use the Ternes-Burton registration system (available here in the UK) - suffice it to say I will be using it forever more, it's that good!

I started off with some sketchbook research. On the left-hand page I have made cut-out shapes which I played around with until I found a composition I liked.

Some in-progress pics...

There's now a gap where I didn't take any pics. We did have a few weeks of hot and humid weather when the ink was taking forever to dry, so I think this was the reason...

I printed an edition of 6, on Hosho paper, and for one of the prints I tried the reverse, slightly rough side of the paper. You can see how the ink coverage is patchy (I don't have a relief press, these are printed using a baren and/or wooden spoon). Always useful to know!

Coverage was much better on the smoother side of the paper.

Finished print: Scrumptious succulents, reduction linocut, edition of 6 on Hosho paper with Caligo Safewash inks.

Couldn't resist a bunch of home-grown beetroot that someone was selling at their garden gate. Ink and watercolour sketch of one, before they all got turned into beetroot houmous...

Lamy Safari fountain pen with Platinum Carbon ink, watercolour, on Saunders Waterford CP watercolour paper, 9 by 12"

Indian running ducks

Ink and watercolour sketch, Indian runner ducks.

Fun to draw, with just a splash of colour too...