Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Linen Hearts, Snowdrops and Birds In Trees

Back from my little blog leave. I think there is the tiniest hint of spring in the air. We will certainly welcome it after the very cold winter we have had. Now they are threatening us with another very hot summer (remember the hot summer we were supposed to have last year). If they say the same thing every year, they will eventually get a hit!

This is my fifth in the series of The Woman Who Planted Trees. I have gone for a bit of colour co-ordination this time.


This is a pen and ink drawing with digital colour. I think these birds are planning on roosting in these trees. We are still having an abundance of birds feeding in the garden, particularly today when there was a light covering of snow. We seem to have a regular Song Thrush too. Thrushes used to be very common when I was a child but you rarely see any around these days. I just hope it remains safe from the prowling kitties.


I found the lovely card below in a local interiors and design shop. I like to go there to check out the cards and just experience being in a wonderfully old building with lots of old wooden beams and uneven floors. I think it probably dates to at least the 1500s but may be earlier. They often stock cards that are a bit out of the ordinary. The publishers are called Flytrappublishing and you can find them here. They are a family firm and some of the designs they use date back to the 1920s but they are all created by different generations of the same family. Being a great fan of printmaking, I particularly like the designs of Sarah and Tony Venus.

Felix and Moppy


Early snowdrops I photographed in a local churchyard a few years ago. I use this image as my desktop at the moment.


Lots of lovely spring flowers around now. These are some tulips I bought the other day

and a pot of hyacinths I treated myself to.



I was very tempted by these gorgeous, tiny linen hearts made by Etsy seller Adantine and I finally had to give in to temptation and purchase them. They are so pretty and beautifully made and she put two extra ones in as well which aren't pictured here. She has some beautiful items in her Etsy shop including the lovely fox and angel below which had already been sold. I haven't decided what to do with them yet but I think some of them will probably adorn a needlepoint. You can pop over to her shop and have a look here.







I found the book below at one of my favourite charity shops. I bought it for a fraction of its original price and was very pleased with my find. It is jam-packed full of the most beautiful botanical drawings, illustrations and paintings. I have posted a few below. I find botanical art quite amazing for its exquisite detail. Every imperfection of the plant or seed is faithfully recorded. Far better than a photograph. These works must have taken the artists hundreds of hours of work.

A Passion For Plants book by Shirley Sherwood


Dragon Arum - Camilla Speight - This is a small view of the complete picture in order to see the lovely pen and ink pointillism used. There is a very amusing story about this drawing which you can read here entitled "A Stink On The 10.30 From Paddington".



This is the complete version of the above


Bergamot And Cherimoya - Margaret Ann Eden


Hydrangea - Brigid Edwards


Amanda Popham is very well known for her lovely narrative and quirky ceramics. (You can see I am into quirky today!) I first saw her work years ago when the gorgeous Liberty of London had a whole section devoted to British art and craft. How I loved that part of the shop. It is gone now sadly but not forgotten, by me anyway. Amanda's work can be found in many galleries throughout the country and also on these websites: Marine House at Beer here and Imagine Gallery here.

Various Ceramics


But Hid My Fond Heart Jug


I found wonderful Scottish artist Ailsa Black quite by chance whilst browsing for another artist. I am really taken by her gorgeous contemporary artworks. Ailsa is based in Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland - one of my favourite areas. I particularly love her detailed pen and ink birds and her whimsical and very quirky paintings. Lots of birds sitting on animals and people can never be bad...lol. She has lots of other artworks on her website here.

Self Portrait


Lapwing With Brimstone Butterfly


Fox With Black Headed Gull


Black Grouse With Common Blue

34 comments:

Artist said...

love the mixed tones of the colours in the leaves on the trees in the first one, the one that you did. Looks very good!!!

Gillian said...

Love your photographs of Spring flowers - I think its my favourite time of year! Love too your drawing of birds & trees - fantastic! G

jeannine davidoff said...

Wow! i really like the work you do.
Have a brilliant day.

tammykingdon said...

Another post full of delights Cathy. I particularly like your birds about to roost - well done!

BeadBag said...

Gorgeous! Love everything you've posted.
Shirl

Cathy said...

Thanks Artist. I love mixing and matching colours. Trouble is that when they are printed they are always slightly paler than you see on the screen.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Gillian. I should really have attempted it as a linocut as it lends itself to that technique but no time...haha - same old story.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Jeaninne. The weather is a bit miserable at the moment but with lots of lovely blogs to read, who cares.

Cathy said...

Thanks Tammy. That idea just came out of the air...and so did the birds.

Cathy said...

Thanks Shirley. Nice to see you back in the swing. I will be in touch.

Lyn said...

Just want to let you know that I'm passing the Beautiful Blogger Award to you, which I received from CatLadyLarew. Please pick up at my blog:
www.ellerochelle.blogspot.com
Enjoy!!

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Amazing pottery! I have such a thing for quirky faces.

bunnits said...

Lovely! I especially like Felix and Moppy.

Old World Primitives said...

Hi Cathy,
Welcome back! I am really enjoying all of the beautiful images and art in your post. As usual, there are many artists who are new to me who I must now go and investigate further! I am especially liking your latest installment in The Woman Who Planted Trees series. The patterns and colors are lovely.

We have the tiniest hint of spring here too - just today I noticed some daffodils and tulips starting to peek out from beneath the melting snow.

Stephanie

Caroline said...

Hi Cathy - thanks for your sweet comment regarding my internet woes! I think (keep fingers crossed) we may be back to normal now - just have loads of catching up to do!
I really do love your birds on those cropped trees - such a striking image! I hope one day you'll be selling some of your images as cards!
I have the same book and regularly dip into it for inspiration - it's wonderful. Lucky you to find in a charity shop!
Have a lovely week!

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Lyn.

Cathy said...

Me too Pamela. I love quirky full stop but quirky ceramics are very special.

Cathy said...

Thanks Melissa. They are lovely, aren't they. I would like to buy the whole range of their linocut cards.

Cathy said...

Hi Stephanie. I am happy to know my "Woman Who Planted Trees" series is still popular. I love thinking up new designs for it.

We had a slight covering of snow yesterday but I think rain is forcast today. Our weather remains incredibly cold (for the UK that is). No daffs in sight yet.

Cathy said...

Hi Caroline. I think you and I must have very similar collections of books...haha. We know a good book when we see one. I am glad you computer problems seem to be sorting themselves out now. It is bad in a way to be so reliant on something that we have little control over. I am just happy each morning when I turn on the computer and it works!

andamento said...

Hello Cathy,
I really like your roosting birds picture. My favourite "other" work this week has to be that by Ailsa Black.
As to getting bigger photos on blogger, I explained how I did it the post of 12th Feb on my blog. I only usually bother to do it for scenic shots but it makes a HUGE difference I think, I like them anyway!
Anne.

Acornmoon said...

Another lovely collection, especially that adorable lapwing.

I love that part of Scotland too, especially Kirkudbright,

Cathy said...

Hi Anne. I thought that I had seen on your blog about larger photos but the old memory deceives me these days...lol. I will have another look.

Cathy said...

Hi Valerie. Yes, Kirkcudbright is very lovely as well. I really like the quiet and lack of traffic in southern Scotland. A nice place to live I think.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Cathy - I've given you a blog award, you can find it at: Creative Blogger Award

ArtPropelled said...

Hi Cathy, I find Adantine's work so appealing. The fox is my favourite but I must say a whole group of those little hearts is very effective.
I love your flat topped trees with the roosting birds.

Cathy said...

Hi Juliet, thanks very much for that. I am having trouble uploading pictures like that to my sidebar at the moment but I will try it again today.

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Robyn. I love her work too and my hearts are beautifully made even though they are quite tiny. I just like to look at and admire them.

Holly Renee said...

I love the felt angel. How interesting. Thanks for posting all these finds.
-Holly Renee
http://loveimaginecreate.blogspot.com/

Cathy said...

Thanks very much Holly.

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Missed you! Fabulous inspiration as always. Particularly like the Adantine angel and fox

Have a lovely weekend

Carolyn

Pomona said...

Lovely pictures - and your photos are so good - I really struggle at this time of year. I have put a link to the apron tutorial on my latest post - it is a very easy one to do.

Pomona x

Cathy said...

Thanks Carolyn. Yes, Adantine's work is really gorgeous. Her little animals are darlings.

Cathy said...

Hi Pomona. I will have a peek at it.