Summer Flowers And Pretty Crocks

Really enjoying the summery weather at the moment. Not too hot and plenty of rain to keep the gardens looking nice. Lots of beautiful flowers to photograph and the countryside is looking spectacular.

I have now taken delivery of my etching inks and copper plates etc. so I am hoping to be able to get down to some serious etching.

Bit of a summer flowers theme going on at the moment. This is the first digital drawing I have done for some time as other things have intervened. The colouration was inspired by a very pretty skirt I saw in a shop. I had to try and memorise the colours until I could get home and commit them to Photoshop.

I love hares and deer in any shape or form and I have always kept my eye out for any brass models in charity shops etc. I found the lovely long haired beastie on the right a couple of days ago and the one on the left I have had for some time. I know the right one is definitely a hare and I had thought the other one was too but now they are together I am not too sure. What do you think? Hare or rabbit on left.

These beautiful paintings below are by talented English artist Helen Tabor who now resides and works in the Scottish Borders. She paints mostly figurative and landscapes in oils with collage elements. Her work is beautifully textural in appearance. You can find more of Helen's work here at Thompson's Galleries and here at Morningside Gallery.

Girl With Doves

Girl With Goose

Pretty In Pink Dogrose

Foxgloves

This picture below is of an elm tree. It is a very young one because as soon as they reach a certain height they are killed by the elm bark beetle. I, among millions of other Britons, mourned the demise of 30 million elm trees from 1960 onwards. They probably epitomised the English countryside more than any other tree and were very common in hedgerows etc. Their loss changed the landscape for ever. You can find small and young bushes today in lots of hedges and they are lovely to see but now someone has claimed to have introduced a disease free strain of the common elm. I hope he is right. It would take many generations to introduce them back into the landscape but wouldn't it be wonderful?

I found this wonderful childrens' book in a charity shop the other day. It is a series of poems selected by Anne Carter and is illustrated by Reg Cartwright. I find the illustrations very graphic and naive in style but really lovely. Just what I would have enjoyed as a child (and still do!).

Night Heron

An epitaph On A Robin Redbreast

First Sight

Collective Nouns For Animals

Don't you just love reading lists of collective nouns for animals. I found this one here the other day. Some of them are hilarious. I love the "prickle of hedgehogs" and the "clutter of cats". We have all heard of a "murder of crows" but there is also a "storytelling of crows" - I like that one.

The chinaware below is by very talented maker Alice Garland who lives and works in Suffolk. These images are from her BigCartel shop site which you can find here.

I stumbled upon painter/printmaker Anne Smith quite by chance but was very pleased that I did. I think her work is very beautiful and I like the themes she chooses. The wonderful images below are all etchings which she often colours by hand. Anne was born in the UK but has lived and worked in Australia since 1971. Much of her work seems to be inspired by plays, stories and theatrical or operatic productions. You can check out her work here and here at the Falls Gallery or here at Frances Keevil Art - both Australian galleries.

Queen Of The Night

The Flight

Papagena I

The Juggler