The Spinney: Starting with Drawing

One of my projects this year is to make some work about the small spinney which I cycle through most days. I have already made some drawings and prints but it’s a wonderful place with so much to offer that I have decided to make more. A few days ago when it was sunny I took a small notebook with me and stopped to makes some scribbly notes.

It was very cold and the drawings are quick shaky lines but really useful to me. To stop and draw, however quickly makes you sort out what exactly it is that you are really interested in. Ignoring the muddle you simplify and isolate (I think intuitively) the things that are important to you in that moment. Another day the drawing would be very different and the added bonus of drawing outside is just the joy of being outside and those chance encounters with the natural world. It makes you stop for a while and in this quiet place, off the main track, there is little to distract other than the noise of the wind in the tree tops, squirrels, woodpeckers and a friendly robin.

Today I returned for more drawing and again the robin appeared and hopped around by bike.


Yes it is very muddy! Why Savages Spinney?
The Spinney is a narrow strip of fascinating woodland which contains some fragments of the ancient wood. It features on the old maps. On this scale it is tacked onto the end of Calpher (Calfe)wood. This one from 1643.

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This from 1687
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Here nearby Brampton wood is encircled. It was an important hunting wood, once part of the much larger Royal forest of Warbridge.

In 1889 the spinney is more clearly defined. I have highlighted it. There is the addition of the railway line, now long gone and Low Farm, lost under the reservoir in the 1960s.

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Then 1986 and the reservoir has engulfed Low Farm, the railway line closed and fractured and the spinney now has its feet in the water. This is how it is today.

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So it is an area which has seen development and loss. Settlement here dates back to the Iron Age. Roman remains have been found near Perry and the church here dates back to the early 12th Century. So there is much to think about.

The wood itself is very lightly managed by the Wildlife Trust. Piles of logs are left to rot and are overcome with moss and fallen and broken branches remain undisturbed. There are woodpeckers, owls, fungi, carpets of bluebells in the spring, orchids many many bees and insects and down the side track is the bird hide, looking out over Savages Creek. There overwintering waterbirds take shelter along with resident swans, coot, moorhens, herons, cormorants and egrets and delightful grebes.

Yes indeed, so very much to think about!!

More Daily Sketches

Week two of the daily sketches

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6th July, little marmalade hoverflies, which are everywhere at the moment. They are so dainty. I was thinking it might be difficult to explain the name to anyone who does not know what marmalade is.

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7th July, some more stems and a few seed pods.

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8th and 9th July. On a bike ride we were rather fortunate to find a dead mole, (see mole drawings and print posts from a couple of weeks ago) Unluckily it wasn’t in very good shape. Something had chewed at it and it was beginning to decompose. But not to be deterred this time I brought it back and made some sketches before the smell and the circling flies made me call a halt.
However it was such a good opportunity to get a better understanding of those extraordinary feet. Big, almost scaly and spade shaped with long claws. If you have ever held a mole you will know how very strong they are.
I now regard drawing a dead thing as an honourable tribute, so can just about cope with the yuk factor. It is now under the apple tree with the hedgehog and a shrew. I have buried it in a box with thoughts of preserving the skeleton. My internet search history could be misconstrued.

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10th July Dog Rose. I think the last one in all of Grafham …. I had thought there would be plenty of dog roses left but I could only find one. The little rosehips are already forming. I am wistfully thinking it seems too soon.

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On Saturday 11th we had mussels in wine, garlic, chilli and tomatoes… this time with a few langoustines thrown in. I can’t quite believe I have never drawn one before. It’s one of those things you are sort of expected to draw when learning. They are really delightful both to draw and eat. I have saved a couple of claws to make more detailed studies.
The drawings take between a half an hour and an hour. I like to make them quick. They are usually on A4 sketchbook so something similar. This week, pods and some quick loose brush paintings… and a dancing Owl.

First chilly outdoor sketches of 2015.

Log Piles: Ordered disorder In the pale almost warm winter sun I went for a morning cycle/walk. It’s quite a while since I have been so far; up through the wood and along to the spinney where in the summer the dainty little Dexter cattle graze.

Someone has been clearing and chopping and small piles of logs are scattered around. There is something very pleasing about a pile of logs. They are imperfectly neat. An attempt by man to make some sort of order out of twisty natural forms. I stopped to make some very speedy ink sketches.

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Ink sketches in A5 Sketchbook. My fingers got cold very quickly.

The sketches are .. well, sketchy… but it was just good to be outside, looking at things properly, making a start, seeing wrens, robins, a million blackbirds , pheasants, partridge and many tiny birds dancing about in the brambles, and they are my first outdoor sketches for this year.. a bit of a late start but a start.
The weather forecast for the next few days is awful so it may be a while before I do any more. I am a bit of a fair weather pleinair sketcher:) I was struck by how the woods were full of greens, from the brilliant acid green of moss and lichen to the blue greens of old leaves and the oak tree bark, to the soft olive greens and brown greens of general undergrowth. I’m going to investigate these some more tomorrow …

Coot and Willow Print

I’m still working on the lovely cootses and as it’s a while since I did any lino work I made a quick trial reduction print to work out some ideas. It’s an image I want to develop along with some others. I like these neat birds.

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I did a few initial drawings and tonal sketches for what will be a 3 colour reduction.

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Various first stages and the lino block

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Some final stages with various different colourways. I like the image, but the printing needs work :).

Maybe one really good one out of 6.

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Coot and Willow..  image 6 x6 inches

I see the coot pottering about on the shoreline here, in and out of the willows. There is always a fisherman somewhere.

The coot is large, the willow tree is small. That’s just how I wanted it.

Conker Seedlings

When I joined Lucy’s Tree Following Project in February I rather wished I had known in advance because I would have planted some conkers. In a hopeful moment I went to look under the tree by the roadside and found some unprepossessing blackened conkers in the undergrowth, brought them home and stuck them in a pot. Out came sprouts and now they have grown into good little seedlings.

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I though it would be interesting to draw the development so put another one in some vermiculite. That too sprouted, but so quickly that I missed the early stages of growth.

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Today, outside in the sun and showers I sketched it. Two small compound leaves rise up from a split in the snaky root which has developed rootlets. Then a shower caught the ink.

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Chestnut seedlings sketches and old conkers: A4 pen, ink and rain.

A small  watercolour sketch stayed dry. Shame…a shower might just have improved it.

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The optimistic new Horse Chestnut Tree

I am almost packed. We are off to Amsterdam…Hurrah….

Horse Chestnut Tree…slow Tree Following…

The Horse Chestnuts in the village have galloped ahead of me and are in full bloom, their fabulous scented candelabra flowers weighing down the trailing branches. I might get round to drawing a full flower head one day, but they are fiendishly complicated so probably not.

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One flower spike seems to have an average of about 25 individual flower stalks radiating out from the main stem. Each flower stalk may have from 2 to 9 or 10 individual  flowers. That would give roughly 150 flowers but they are not all in bloom at the same time.

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Flower stalks at the base of the flower spike develop first and flowers at the base of those flower stalks are the first to open. They have a yellowy centre initially which then turns crimson. The 5 petals are wavy edged and so very delicate, with long stamens curving down and up from the centre of the flower.
The flower spikes are also very fragile. I have one disintegrating on the desk, the delicate petals fall as soon as you touch them. It is one of those projects where you might draw three individual flower stems a year…then wait for the next season to come around and so on.

It might take many years to complete…….yawn. I do know of some patient and very skilled painters who would happily do that. Not me.

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So far I have more or less just looked in hesitant wonder at these complex things. But I have made a page of sketches and a couple of loose watercolours.

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A4 sketches … the spike is drawn life size.

The sketches help to work out the construction of its complex shape. One tree in particular is very much more advanced than the others and on the the lowest flower stem a little conker is forming. April seems so early. I brought just that one stem back to draw. This loose treatment seemed a good way of trying to portray the fragility of the flowers.

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Flower spike with first small conker, watercolour sketch

And one flower head.

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Each flower has 5 frilled petals The pollen on the stamens is ginger Tomorrow I am Easton Walled Gardens with my painting group and I know their Horse Chestnuts will be magnificent!
More conkery things to come.

Over at Beautiful Beasts I am continuing documenting progress of The Black Bee and the Pied Shieldbugs.

It will be finished this week.

Some More Tree Following

It’s the week to sign in the Lucy’s Tree Following project.

The Chestnut Trees are developing so very quickly now.
There is a light green haze of leaves around them and some of the more advanced trees have a flower here and there.

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The flower spikes are lengthening and the individual florets becoming more spaced out.

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Florets coming into bloom from the base up.

I made one drawing of a more developed twig with a flower spike still in bud.

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My flagging model after a couple of hours

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The pencil drawing A3 And a couple of conkers I rescued from the verge mowing.

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A loose sketch of the two sprouting conkers.

They only have long tap roots so far. They seem to grow upside down. To my great surprise the sad looking old black conkers that I optimistically planted in a pot outside are sprouting.

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A new leaf is about the emerge. Spring!

Tree Following: Chestnut Bud Development.

Despite a bitterly cold day today, spring is racing ahead and it’s hard to keep up. Some of the Horse Chestnut trees in the village are getting leafy. Now I am looking more at trees in general it is interesting to note how early this tree has come into leaf. It must be one of the earliest. The newly opening buds are really beautiful. As the feathery, deeply ridged new leaves open up they reveal a tiny new flower spike, each floret tightly curled.

On the drawing board

This bud is only just opening and the protective scales and the outside surfaces of the leaves are still hairy

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Watercolour and pencil 6 x 8” approx

This one has opened up quite a bit more. The small leaflets are breaking free.

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This one has opened further: pencil and watercolour approx 6 x 8” approx

This twig below has no flower buds, they are only developing into leaves. It’s hard to believe these tiny delicate furled things will develop into the huge shady parasols of the mature trees. For me it’s always that bucolic scene of dozing cattle, swishing tails and chewing cud, sheltering from the sun under its generous spreading boughs. Such a beautiful parkland tree.

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Pencil and watercolour sketch 8 x10

Lucy, who is organising the tree following posed the question. “Is it possible to tell before the buds open up which will have flowers and which won’t.” I have never really thought about it so had another look at the tree today.

What I noticed is that the buds low down or near the trunk are not opening to flower spikes, just leaves. Buds at the end of the outside branches all seem to have flower spikes. Which makes quite a bit of sense. Flowers need to be up and out there, where the pollinators can find them.

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he big candelabra flowers spikes will be a challenge to draw!

Horse Chestnut Tree…Some Progress

The Height of a Tree On Saturday I co-opted Chris to help me try to calculate the height of the Church Field Horse Chestnut Tree. There are various ways, I had not realised so many. A handy guide from WikiHow gives some instructions. “Measure a Tree” I opted for a very simple one of asking a friend to stand by the tree.

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So here is Chris standing next to the tree. With a bit of rough calculation we think the tree is about 58 ft high. It is also interesting to see a 6 ft figure by the tree. The human figure really gives an idea of the scale of these magnificent trees.

Two More Sticky Bud Developments

I’m trying to catch the bud development of the Horse Chestnut twig. I have two buds beginning to split, which I drew today. As the sticky scales develop, and open up,  the first four leaves begin to show at the very tip. They are furry, covered in white fine downy hair and tightly curled up. It’s a fascinating contrast of smooth, sticky, shiny scales with the downy hairs of the emerging leaves .

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Watercolour and pencil sketch: 8 x 5 inches

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Watercolour and pencil sketch: 9 x4 inches

I am keeping all the Tree Following posts together on another blog: www.followingtrees.blogspot.com  It’s going to be nice to see the continuity through the year.

Also it’s easier for the other tree followers to find. If you are taking part, this is the week to sign in with Lucy. There is an update box once a month on the 7th which will stay open for a week.
There are lots of people, not just from the UK, taking part. It will be fascinating.

A Start with the Village Horse Chestnuts

My first post for Lucy’s Tree Following Project for which I will be looking at the Horse Chestnut Tree: Aesculus hippocastanum

I don’t know much about these lovely trees yet, except that they are a tree of childhood days; of conkers, sticky buds on nature tables, the magnificent “candles” when in full bloom. “Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree” the children’s chanting rhyme with the accompanying actions.

Shade from the summers heat and a nesting tree for big birds. Also a favourite subject in the much loved Ladybird “What to look For in….” books with the lovely illustrations by Tunnicliffe and in the Shell Guides with S. R. Badmin’s quintessentially English paintings.  More of these artists in future Chestnut posts.
It’s not a native I know, but a magnificent specimen tree for stately homes, parklands and village greens. Although from an economic point of view they are not a very useful tree, they are none the less very beautiful.. so fall well within the “beautiful or useful” category of William Morris. I know that, like many other trees, the Horse Chestnuts are having some problems.
In this case they falling prey to the unsightly leaf miner and the more serious bleeding canker. I will learn more about all of this as I go.  Initially I need to understand the basics and so I am starting with its shape. I made some quick sketches on my walk.

There are several scattered around the village from young to old which is useful. Trees look very different from different angles and are very complex things to draw, but for me sketching is the very best way to see and understand the basic shape.

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This is perhaps the oldest in the village and the one I can see from the front room of the house. The street light gives some idea of its size.

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There are two in Church field, in a group of four trees. A glimpse of the reservoir between the trees.

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Two young trees down the lane one still with its plant stake. Sketches in A5 sketchbook

The Horse Chestnut is described as “ a native in the Balkan Peninsula A. hippocastanum grows to 36 metres (118 ft) tall, with a domed crown of stout branches; on old trees the outer branches often pendulous with curled-up tips”

I now see that the very long lower branches in the older trees hang elegantly down and curl up. The sticky buds on the ends of the upturning branches are just about to burst. Church Field Boundary Trees The two horse chestnuts in a group of four trees, one on the right of this sketch and one next to it. This view is with my back to the reservoir looking back to the church, which, minus dragon, is in the background.

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Village Horse Chestnut

This is a huge tree which overhangs the road. Its lower branches hang down into the garden behind the fence while the roadside branches I think have been cut back. There were wonderful conkers this year.

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The same tree as my No 1 sketch, Ugly Bungalow roof in the back ground.:)
A4 sketchbook

Tree of Kiev
Coincidentally The Horse Chestnut is a symbol of Kiev. I can only hope that the beautiful flowers to come in the spring will also bring a time of peace and political freedom to its population. It seems the Chestnuts were planted in some respects to spite the poplar loving Russian Emperor Nicholas I..

“In 1842, botanical likings of Kiev citizens and Russian authorities got drastically  different. By the second half of the 19th century Lombardy poplars with the support of royal power finally became a symbol of tsarism, autocracy and conservative «patriarchal» orthodox Kiev, while chestnut trees meant for Kiev citizens disobedience to the central authorities in St. Petersburg, a new urban development and municipal government. Chestnut tree was associated with constructive opposition to absolutism. Step by step, Kievans began to give advantage to attractive chestnut trees (which were also helpful in summer hit because they were shady) instead of «officiously» decorative poplars that had no practical usage.”

Read more from the Discovery Kiev website here Trees as subversive and defiant symbols. Wonderful.