Helicopters

A 'library page' of sycamore seeds which have whirled their merry way to the path outside my house.

 Happy autumn!

Sequoia cone

We are coming to the end of the first painting module of the diploma course and this was an exercise in textural repetition.

I picked up this cone in the park on my way home and I'm pretty sure its a Sequoia. Let me know if you disagree...

I've put up an image of the whole sheet so you can see my notes on colours etc. in case you are interested in that sort of thing.

Cones always seem a bit daunting to me with all their fibonacci spirals but I'm enjoying these far more than trying to get veins on leaves looking right at the moment.

Camelia leaves

 

 

I've been practising mixing different greens, so some nice green leaves are the obvious thing to paint. The Camelia bush has lots of pink buds, ready to burst open when the weather warms up a bit.

 

 

Pine cone

This pine cone has been lying around the house gathering dust for ages, so I thought it was time I drew it. I don't know what species of tree it came from.

Pine cones, like pineapples, sunflowers, corn on the cob, and countless other natural objects, show fibonacci spirals in their structure. Its tricky to get it right, and I had to resort to putting little coloured stickers on the scales so I could follow the spirals round without getting confused.

Pedunculate Oak

 A couple of quick sketches of twiglets with developing acorns on the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur, also known as the English oak or common oak)

Another Nepenthes

I posted a pencil sketch of the pitcher plant that sits on my kitchen windowsill last year, but now I've had another go at it in coloured pencil.

We were at Hampton Court Flower Show a couple of weeks ago and saw some amazing pitcher plants on display, which reminded me of this article about the Giant Montane Pitcher which acquires its nutrients in an unusual way (unusual even for a carnivorous plant). Its well worth a read.

Enjoy!

An inspiring start

Its almost a month since I returned from Edinburgh, where I spent two fabulous weeks at the botanic gardens for the intensive teaching block of the first year of the diploma in botanical illustration.

Here's a small selection of the many photos that I took:

It was a lovely bunch of people, with fantastically talented tutors, in a beautiful place.

I learnt a lot.

I've been updating my course journal, and going through all the notes and photos that I took, and have made a start on the first couple of assignments (maybe more on that later...)

This wasn't my first visit to RBGEdinburgh - I've been a couple of times before - but this was the first time I've been in the summer, and it was glorious. Here are just a few of my favourite pics from the gardens:

I can't wait to go back again next year!