Botanical Inspiration

Achillea Terracotta

Bleeding Heart

Aquilegia Vulgaris

Gossypillium Hirsutum

Salix Fragilis

Sanguisorba Officinalis Tanna

Willow Herb Seed Head

Thalictrum Delavayi

Cotinus Coggygria

In a spare half hour earlier this week, I decided I would spend those golden minutes at the library. I originally intended on sketching for that time, but instead I picked up a hefty wodge of books and got a bit lost in them. Actually, I think my little trip turned out quite well, as its provided me with a new wave of inspiration.

Trying out some watercolour lettering…

I made this card for my oldest, loveliest friend who had a baby this week, named Lily Barbara.

Welcome to our world, Lily!

Illustration Friday :: Swarm

Swarm [swawrm] – noun

1. A body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.

2. A body of bees settled together, as in a hive.

3. A great number of things or persons, especially in motion.

It’s not quite a swarm, but I’m sure you get the idea.

I came across the painted background which I did last year, for a painting I wanted to do of a tree silhouette against the sunset. It was a particular tree I drove past most days. I actually didn’t get round to completing it, but since I re-found the watercolour background, I thought a little ink would look nice over it.

Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Betsy, winner of the Hellebore hand-carved stamp!

Our winner was picked using True Random Number Generator via Random.org – Betsy was the eighth entrant into the giveaway.

Thank you to everyone for playing along with me – your comments have provided me with some more direction, and I’m very grateful.

Giveaway!

This hand carved Hellebore rubber stamp could be your very own in my first blog giveaway……all you need to do is tell me your favourite piece work I’ve done and why, by leaving a comment in this post (The link ‘Leave a reply’ is at the bottom of the post).

The closing date is 9pm GMT on Wednesday 2nd March, so be quick!

The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and I will post the name (not the details!) of the winner at 10am Thursday 3rd March.

Bon chance!

Lotus Seed Pod – Part I

The curious Lotus Flower Seed Pod.

This will be another watercolour and ink painting.

Illustration Friday :: Layers

The gleaming mirror-like layers of the orange-spotted tiger clearwing pupa in Colombia provide camouflage by reflecting the light and colours of the surrounding rainforest. After rainfall, they seem to disappear among the glistening wet leaves.