Week 3 Visual Notes

Almost a week of sketches, every day except Friday when I was away at Easton Walled Gardens for a workshop.

MON 10th Sept: A fabulous windswept day. I walked miles, wrote lots and drew little. But I brought this odd little thing back to draw.

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An ancient shelly fossily thing from Devil’s Toenail Cove.

TUES 11th Sept:

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The old railway bridge, a sketch out walking and a tonal sketch later.

WED 12th Sept

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Very very cold early morning, fingers so cold I could hardly hold the pen. One sweeping dark cloud to the north west.

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Back later to sketch “the dark thing” and white foam.

THURS 13th Sept

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A stack of big uncompromising straw blocks. I was thinking how different from Monet’s romantic haystacks.

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Clouds of rooks on the stubble and the spinney in the background


SAT 15th Sept:
Hot and sunny, a later walk

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The half baled field. Lines of sweet smelling straw crackling in the hot sun.

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Sometimes things suddenly appear. This big fallen branch is old, but was not there yesterday.

SUN 16th Sept:  early walk, grey and chilly

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The wild geese on the field by the road,  just visible above the line of the stubble.

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The black rabbit on the track by the water.  This is the second black rabbit I have seen around here, but the other one was on the other side of the water.  I regard it as good luck!

Morning Glories and the White Goose.

It was the noise of them that woke me early… the sheer exuberant, cackling, honking, wing flapping  thrill of them.

The geese from the reservoir are circling the house, hundreds of them.  They are irresistible, uplifting and so on this peerless sparkling dawn I leave the house running, running down to the shore line to watch.

It is 6 o’clock the sun is just rising and the water is alive with birds. Squadrons of formation flying geese rise up and soar above my head. Banking to the right they are lit by the sun. Up, up up  they go, up to the stubble fields and back down to the water. Their wing beats are heavy on my eardrums. They are so low and so close.

How much I resent the leaden pull of gravity and how much I wish I was up there with them.  Flocks of screaming terns circle dive and glide, a lone black cormorant skims low and silent, its mirror image flying close and perfect in still glassy water.

There are flotillas of noisy ducks, solitary grebes who suddenly dive leaving nothing but small rippling circles and, in amongst all the noisy clamour, glide the beautiful swans, always regal and always aloof.

As I walk back the geese return again to the water, the air is thick with their grey plump bodies but in amongst them is one shining white shape.
One fat white goose .. I wonder if, like me, it saw these wild geese from its farmyard home and yearned to be up there too, winging its way to wild and reckless freedom.

Did it just occur to this bird that if it ran and ran, its comfortable lumbering body might be transformed into a thing of weightless soaring beauty, and it could be whisked up and away with that whirling gypsy crowd.
These beautiful magical early dawns are fleeting things, within the blink of an eye things change.

Turning for home I see the wind is rising, my shadow is shortening and the day becomes ordinary again.
But I kept thinking about the white goose and not ever wanting this lovely day to end or be forgotten I returned to the reservoir, but the geese were gone, replaced now by small fishing boats.
Disconsolate and unsettled I wandered the tracks and cycled miles on side roads and bridle paths, startling tiny muntjac deer, looking for bee activity and picking more plums before returning to the shore line.

Still no geese. I consoled myself by sketching  snoozing ducks and little terns squabbling on Tern Rock and finding a patch of sun kissed blackberries.

ducks grafham sept 1      terns grafham sept 1

Later at 5.30 I went out again, The wind was fresher still, the fishing boats replaced now by gay little white sailed yachts which were dashing about by the far shore.
At 6.00  flocks of terns came drifting in from the fields, and five Canada geese performed aerial acrobatics low over the choppy white topped water.  I sat on the grass wondering if the geese would return.

At 6.30 I came home.

At 7.15 I walked out to the yard and looked up to the stubble field and there, streaming in over the horizon, as dusk was falling, complete with their gleaming white companion came the geese. Happily I returned to the house.

But then at 8.00 I hear them again, honking, whirring and on the wing. We open the door to see them flying over the house. I run out again, I run through the tall crop and down to the water. A slender waxing sickle moon hangs in the sky and the geese are just dark shapes on the shining water.

My day is complete. Today I should have been in the car, driving, I should have been at the computer and I should have been doing a million other things.
But I decided they could all go hang!
Sometimes you need to look after your soul and when the days are dull and the demands of routine and duty are oppressive, the memory of the white goose and this sparkling day will keep alight that burning wild thing inside which is the essence of my being.

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Morning sun on the white goose amongst its grey companions, Grafham Water Sept 1

Hips…make some wartime syrup!..

A quick sketch of some rose hips. It’s “research” for a nice little job to draw 9 medicinal plants for the labels of a lovely range of herbal products.
The first one is the rose… whose “hips” have been used for many and varied medicinal remedies over the years and are edible too. It seems that Rosa rugosa hips are the preferred ones for eating.
Rose hips are packed with vitamin C and allegedly can help lots of things.. from coughs and colds to rheumatics and digestive problems. So in these frugal times hedgerows can help keep us healthy and the wild rose bushes here are laden with these pretty fruit.

Here is some wartime advice:

ROSEHIP SYRUP The recipe distributed by The British Ministry of Food 1943: ‘The Hedgerow Harvest’

2 pounds (900gm) of hips: Boil 3 pints of boiling water. Mince hips in a course mincer and put immediately into the boiling water. Bring to boil and then place aside for 15 minutes.
Pour into a flannel or linen jelly bag and allow to drip until the bulk of the liquid has come through. Return the residue to the saucepan add 1½ pints of boiling water stir and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
Pour back into the jelly bag and allow to drip. To make sure all the sharp hairs are removed put back the first half cupful of liquid and allow to drip through again.
Put the mixed juice into a clean saucepan and boil down until the juice measures about 1½ pints (852ml) then add 1¼ (560gm) of sugar and boil for a further 5 minutes. Pour into hot sterile bottles and seal at once
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Source: The Hedgerow Harvest, MoF, 1943 via Woman’s Hour.. where else ! 🙂  Another nice old quote, whose provenance I cannot find, says this:

‘Children with great delight eat the berries thereof when they are ripe and make chains and other pretty geegaws of the fruit; cookes and gentlewomen make tarts and suchlike dishes for pleasure.’

This not-so-gentle woman is still contemplating her haul of damsons and windfall apples but thinks this year she really should give rose hips a go! Mother would be proud!

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Rose hips from Grafham

I only had to walk a few yards to find bushes laden with hips.
The bushes have a graceful arching habit and ferocious thorns.
Our kitchen window was reflected in the glossy surface ..will report back on syrup progress!

Walk /Sketch:Day Seven. Water Tower and More Bee Sketches

I am doing some more work on my Bombus hypnorum.
The pretty Tree Bumblebee who is quite new to the UK. I will paint the one I saw at Easton in May who was busy on the cherry blossom.

I looked through my photos again and see I have photographed both male and female over the last few months.
They are very similar but the male has a ginger section on the abdomen and a top knot of ginger hairs. They are really quite delightfully hairy with long silky hair and their wings seem quite long when compared with other bumble bees.

They are certainly spreading throughout the country now, its ten years since the first records, and it seems they are a benign invader. The sketches are useful just to get re-acquainted with the bee.

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I think I have finally decided on the position of the bee on the page and its size. It is vital to get all this sorted out now as changes are not really possible…well, not once you have put the first layer of paint down.

I am using my rather blurred photo for the pose inspirations, and I do have a little model which I can use when I paint the final piece. It’s taken me two hours just playing around with various possibilities.

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I think I will be painting this later in August. At Nature in Art I hope to be sketching and making studies from their lovely garden.

Grafham Water Tower The local Post Office is in the next village and I had a couple of things to post so cycled over there.
On the way you pass the water tower which comes as a bit of a surprise as you round a corner.
It stands in its own neglected and weedy plot of land and there are dire warnings of DANGER and risk of “Non Ionising Radiation”.

I am fascinated by water towers. In Lincs you can orient yourself by their positions on the skyline. They are strange, blank looking edifices. They seem silent and tight lipped as if they hold a private secret. I have to admit I have never seen inside one.

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I made a little thumbnail sketch then started a larger one. It was cold today and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to stay out for long. I took a snap of the pencil stage.
I don’t usually use do pencil prelim when I am out sketching as I feel it makes me too fussy but drawing buildings makes me nervous. I feel I need to work it all out before committing to pen. Silly really! I just need more practice!
Maybe the Church tomorrow.. well maybe just a bit of it!

sketching the water tower  grafham water tower bg

I like the tinted paper because you have a mid tone already there for you!

I might add a bit of sky to this …but no more time today.

Bee Thumbnails, almost on the Drawing Board. And Walk/Sketch 6

I am working on some new paintings.. so far I have been researching and sketching.

I have said before I don’t consistently use one beautiful and carefully annotated sketchbook, I wish I did, but never have and am too old now to change! So rough ideas are sometimes just scribbled on the back of bits of scrap paper.

I will be working on a Heligan Bee.. the only problem is which one??

I have thought and thought about this. I am undecided between a Bumble bee and foxglove, or the wonderful female Anthidium manicatum on the curious motherwort.

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The Bombus hypnorum, The pretty Tree Bumble Bee will now be a commission. I am delighted to be painting this bee at last. I have added more blossom.

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Another little Osmia rufa Red mason bee with cherry blossom was an alternative commission possibility. I am fond of this one so will probably do it anyway.

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Below are a couple of  thumbnail sketches for another painting of the snailshell bee, also a commission, for Peter and Carol who were fascinated by this combination of bee and shell.

This will be a bigger painting than usual and with two bees. A massive 14 x 14 inches! Nice. It will be two Osmia bicolors, male and female. This is another bee I haven’t painted yet.  These are just first thoughts about how I might position these two bees.

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Honeysuckle and Bombus hortorum. I watched these lovely bees both this year and last year on Dad’s honeysuckle. This one will be another commission I think.

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I think that’s enough for now 🙂

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Day 6 Walk/Sketch

I didn’t get out till 5.00 today for my walk/sketch. I was out until 6.15. I know this because I have also been writing down where my day goes..I seem to get nothing done some days so decided to keep a record of where exactly the time goes! Its 7.15 now and I should be getting this posted as I still have emails to write/answer…. so just two sketches today, on this cold grey day. Dark skies and wind in the tall crop made for a gloomy and uneasy walk so I didn’t stay out long. The fishermen were wrapped up.

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and the sky should be much darker!!

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That’s a UK summer for you 🙂

Short Walk:Day Five. A Quick Brown Fox and Birds in Trees

Just an hour today to get out for air. I walked up and away from the reservoir, a very short walk to where the old Grafham railway line crosses one of the paths. There are some old dead trees up there and a view back to the farm and the cottages. I took a different pen today.

My Rotring Art Pen which I keep trying to like, but I endlessly lose the cap. Where exactly do Rotring think you will put the cap when you are using it, because it doesn’t sit on the end. It drives me insane. It’s a shame because I do like using it.

I have the fine nib, not the extra fine which would be better for this small sketchbook. It was worth trying it again, but I think it might go back in the box. The crows and rooks like to sit in the dead trees…

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A curving path runs up the hill towards another old dead tree. I will be doing another sketch of this one. Its trunk incorporates an old gate hinge.. curious…?

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I was drawing the little new trees in their plastic tubes which line one of the fields, when a fox trotted across the path.

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I have lots to do this week.. but will try to keep up the sketching.
A week today I will at Nature In Art with my bees!

Walks: Day Four. Water Horizon.. and a Guinea Pig

I couldn’t do any sketching yesterday so today I went straight to the shore line in the morning not knowing what I should do. I stopped to look at the teasel patch to see what the bees were up to and sat on the rocks looking out over the water.

It was cold but if I hunkered down a bit I was out of the wind. I wasn’t planning to stay there but looking to my left I could see something interesting…a 3 part landscape of water, rocks and grassy bank, 3 different sorts of texture.

And once you are sitting down, you see more and more.

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3 different textures and marks… nice. I then looked across the water and started to draw the line of the horizon and the landscape above that line. I was thinking about lines and what goes on above and below.

Most of this is above, save the odd boat or duck. It took 3 lines to get the complete horizon in.

G water     Grafham w2

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Small insects and spiders came and went on the paper. Some I drew.
Big bumble bees hovered by me checking me out and the terns performed their stunning aerobatics off shore. I will have to put them all together in a long strip someday.

The Guinea Pig

As from today I am looking after a neighbours guinea pig for a week.
It’s such a responsibility!! It may only involve food and drink but I do feel the need to go and spend some time with him. He doesn’t seem very impressed.
I think timid is the word. I know nothing about guinea pigs but do want him to be happy. Hay and cabbage leaves seem to do the trick. He is rather old and doesn’t do much which at least gave me chance to sketch.

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I think this is the very first time I have sketched a Guinea pig. I am wondering if he will whistle for me? 🙂

Walks: Day Three. Charcoal in Littless Wood

You can smell the acrid smell of wood smoke from two fields away. I had almost hoped they were burning today.
I remember cycling round the lake one day and glancing up to see a plume of smoke on the horizon rising from the woods across the reservoir.
On that dry May day it could have been a catastrophic fire but up in ancient Littless Wood they were burning charcoal.

Today, a grey and chilly morning, I took a cycle rather than a walk up to Littless Wood to the charcoal burning camp.
They must have been there quite recently. The smell of burning was so strong. I have long been keen to draw or paint something on the theme of charcoal burning.

Many years ago I made a small sketch after watching the capping of a kiln, brilliant red flames flaring up around the black rim of the conical lid. But today just some sketches of the deserted and eerily quiet camp.
The kilns are curious things, uncompromisingly black and simple geometric shapes in stark contrast to the leafy tangle of the wood. A high wind rustled the tree tops but at ground level things were very still. A fox barked somewhere in the wood. It’s a distinctive and shivering sound.

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The blackest thing in the scene was a pile of charcoal, deepest black black. It gleams like coal.

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A nearby wheelbarrow with two sacks of sand and a pile of logs.

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I get a bit frustrated with the rigidity and slowness of this pen sometimes. Next time I will take some ink to use with the brush or a dip pen.
I didn’t have a decent dark colour with me today so mixed up a darkish grey from 3 colours.. but it doesn’t have the power of ink. Maybe tomorrow..

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Meanwhile I spent quite a bit of today with two rescued bumble bees. One found perilously immobile on the main road outside when I came back this morning.  He only needed a rest and a warm up.

The other I think may not make it, which is sad but there are many tatty and forlorn aging bees around at the moment. Their natural life span can be as short as two weeks.
However, I feel that giving a little bee a sip of sugar water and a safe haven  for an hour or two is worth it… isn’t it?

A Week of Walks: Day 1

A path, bees and (killer) teasels. Yesterday I met with my artist friend Jean after visiting the Aged P. The Aged P is not doing too well and is a profound worry.
We are doing the best we can for him and life must go on, but it is a situation which weighs heavily on the not-so-broad shoulders of myself and my sister… so, to mull it all over, I go for a walk.

I have been walking for days now. Jean and I were talking about how good it is for body and mind to sketch out of doors. Its something I have not done much of recently. So today for my mind clearing walk I also took along the sketchbook. It has to be simple for me so a pen, a pencil and a sketchbook.
Sketchbook work is always so good for looking and seeing, and recording thoughts if you have a mind to do that.
Today then, the path, which follows the reservoir shore. It is lined on one side with a very tall unidentified crop which looks almost like sugar cane.

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As I stood sketching,a gusty wind started at the far end of the field and slowly worked its way towards me, thrashing the tops of the tall crop, rustling and advancing in an unnerving way.

You would surely think there was a tiger in there somewhere. Willows line the path on the other side, with the occasional conifer and birch.

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Then there were the wonderful teasels. They are widespread here and I have been watching them develop from little green prickly rosettes into the tall and beautiful flower heads, beloved of bees of course.

I watched the bees carefully work their way systematically round each ring of flowers. I also now realise that teasels start flowering from one central ring , then as those flowers die and fall away the flowers develop both up and down making two ring of purple.

Fascinating and geometrically stunning.

Bees on Teasels

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I sketched them in pencil while I was out and added a bit of colour on my return. The bees today (cold windy and occasionally wet), were mostly pretty gingery B pascuorum. I wrote about teasels before here, beautiful and useful!

However they do have a dark side where insects are concerned … read two fascinating posts from two excellent natural history blogs, first Killer Teasels post over on Cabinet of Curiosities blog and again on Wasp and Teasel Water Cup on A Bug Blog.

It seems that teasels thrive on drowned insects!

Shoreline Things at Grafham: Spiders, Snakes, Swans and Shelly Fauna.

The  reservoir shoreline is being exposed a little more every day as the warm windy weather continues. Rocks are left high and dry and thistles are edging relentlessly into fish territory.

The crusty edge of the land is developing the flaky cracks and deep fissures of a high baked loaf. Big sandy rocks interspersed with pebbles and shingly sand are splitting and crumbling.

The graceful weeping willows barely brush the retreating surface of the water.

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On the land side the bleached white world of shoreline stones and pebbles is patrolled by many tiny black spiders .. what they eat I cannot imagine?

They are skittish and shy and scamper about their mountain ranges casting spidery little shadows and stopping to bask in the sun from time to time.

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There are occasional well disguised little jumping zebra spiders too.

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They, of course, pay scant regard to their ancient landscape but some of the intermittent shingle beaches seem to be almost entirely made up of lumpy fossil gryphaea, bivalve shell relics of another unimaginable age.

I read that the shore line of Grafham water exposes Oxford Clay which is comprised of :

…mainly brownish-grey, fissile, organic-rich (bituminous) mudstones with shelly fauna dominated by crushed aragonitic ammonites and bivalves, including nuculoid and meleagrinella shell-beds”

 

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It was in one of these shell beds I found a fossilised twiggy thing of some kind. It is curiously beautiful. The pith inside whatever it was is clearly visible and there is a leaf scar of some sort.  I know nothing about fossils at all but I do find it incredible that I can hold something in my hand that may date back some 154 to 159.4 million Years.

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A rock had split to expose this beautiful frondy pattern.. How long has it been hidden?

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Off shore there are lots of these:

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Sometimes regal and graceful and sometimes not.

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And one day last week we saw a distant swimming snake.

It’s a startling sight, seeing this curious creature, one minute gliding through the water, the next slithering along the ground. It makes you catch you breath.
It was just a pretty banded grass snake equally at home zigzaging silently through water, as coiling around the rocks and pebbles on the beach. It was quite difficult to see, with just its head above the water. Sometimes it swam completely submerged.

 

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I was even more surprised to see it later that day but much further round the reservoir. Both of us were startled.  I was photographing a bee which was investigating an old tree stump by the water when the snake suddenly appeared, winding itself round the base of the roots.

 

grass snake

I wish I had been quicker and been able to take a better photograph. I have not see it since.  Shore lines are so fascinating and, yes, there are bees as well. Taking advantage of the sandy banks for a nest site, an Andrena of some kind disappears down a hole, stalked by a ubiquitous, opportunist and sinister Nomada bee.

andrena bee      nomada sm

And we are still lulled to sleep by the humming house, the Mason bees are still busy.