Continuing my daily sketches for July. There are a few rules. They should be quick. Half an hour to an hour and just something I have seen recently and found interesting, mostly to do with the natural world. The purpose; to observe, record, explore and just see what ideas come along through the sketching. Many do.
The drawing, the making marks, the use of colour on paper, however basic and perhaps unpromising are the key. Nothing is a mistake or wrong or good or bad, it’s just work. Visual notes. More stuff for the visual memory bank. Seed pods are endlessly fascinating:
Monday 13th: Campion Pods. Red Campion pods are on closer inspection, exquisite little urn shapes with rolled back edges containing a treasure trove of seeds. The Bladder Campion pods are papery and translucent showing the large black seeds inside
Tuesday 14th: Herb Robert or by its most sinister name “Death come Quickly” … why??? . It’s a delicate little weed that loves my garden.
Wednesday 15th: Convolvulus. One of the many types. This is the large white one. The flower buds are beautiful. Tightly furled. More drawings I think..
Thursday 16th: Cacti at Cambridge Botanical Garden. Little thumbnail sketch just to remember the soft blue/grey/greens but I was most interested in the shapes.
A5 sketchbook notes
The Gardens are interesting, but the Glasshouses, with their steamy jungle smell, dripping mosses and clambering vines, filled me with a wave of nostalgia and longing for my familiar old botanical friends in Florida. Ahh….
Friday 17th: Flint. One of the black hearted flints that have been unearthed by the recent works round the Reservoir. I love these mysterious things. This one has milky clouded spots. There will hopefully be more drawings.
Sat 18th: Enchanter’s Nightshade This dainty little plant carpets the nearby wood. It has delightfully tiny hairy seed pods. Its Latin name is Circaea lutetiana which accounts for its wonderful English name as the enchantress Circe, supposedly used the plant to turn men into pigs. Hmmm…
Anyway it’s not related to the dangerous deadly nightshade. Transformation is, I guess, preferable to death.
