My creativity is inspired by the natural world around us. To walk amongst ancient trees is my most inspirational place to be. I’ve had the pleasure to work with these fine trees through my work in the Conservation Sector over the last 17 years. I love looking up to see shapes and faces in their…
Category: Creative
The one red leaf…
‘The one red leaf, the last of its clan, That dances as often as dance it can, Hanging so light, and hanging so high, On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.’ – Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834) – Red Acer Leaf photographed today in Hergest Croft Gardens, Herefordshire. The light…
5 Tips for Painting with Plants
This week I was Painting with Plants with colleagues at the Woodland Trust. It’s an exciting time to discover the colours of nature. I’ve added some top tips below so you can have a go.
Painting Plein Air
Yesterday I was excited to be heading outside in the sunshine to sketch in the landscape, to feel the sun on my face and sketch what I see in front of me. I’m capturing the landscapes in my local area. These are the hills I see on my travels and I know their names. I…
Creative light…
Walking this evening in the sunshine to see the bluebells…
Nature Inspired
As the ferns are uncurling, this is the time of year which I love the most. Everything awakening, a festival of colour in every direction you walk. I’ve been making the most of the sunshine, sketching in the landscape. Whilst on my walk I discovered these beautiful Early Purple Orchids, amongst Bluebells, Primroses and a…
Sketching in the Brecon Beacons
Pen-Y-Fan in the Brecon Beacons Into the mountains I went, to stretch my legs, connect with nature and sketch what I could see. I was graced by the beautiful weather and on the first evening I heard the curlews calling me. They take me back to an ancient time, it feels like a sound from…
Lion’s Tooth
I’ve been settling into a new job in the tree world and this is why I’ve been quiet. With bursts of sunshine peeping through those grey clouds, I was itching to get out for a wander with my sketchbook and paints to take in the gardens’ display of rainbow colours before me. It was the…
Castlerigg Stone Circle
I was very excited to visit Castlerigg Stone Circle, on an adventure near Keswick. It’s an amazing place to visit, nestled on a hill top; the plateau it sits on forms a raised centre of a natural amphitheatre created by the surrounding fells. I was able to see some of the highest peaks in Cumbria,…
Small Adventures…
A little budding artist joined me on my walk today. As we wandered across the fields and spotted little things along the way, I was then asked, ‘ Are we going to draw now?’ Eager to start, we found a spot on the trunk of a fallen ash tree. ‘What shall we draw?’ he said. How…
The Walking Sketchbook 