We’ve had some beautiful weather here in Yorkshire these past few days, and I’ve taken advantage of it by going out as much as possible. Today was perfect for walking, not too hot with a nice cool breeze. I took my camera with the intention of trying to take a photo which would be worthy of entering in a local competition. I was snap happy for hours on end trying to chase bees and butterflies. I’m pleased to say I managed to snap several which were really quite outstanding when compared towith my usual photos. These are the best of the photos I’ve taken in the last few days:
Tortoiseshell butterfly
Comma butterfly
Damselfly
Bumblebee on a thistle
Bumblebee on hogweed? (I’m not 100% certain, please don’t take my word for it).
You would not believe how much these little beasties had me running around, jumping up, crouching down, cursing and spitting feathers. It looks so easy doesn’t it. Just creep up behind them, get as close as possible, point and click. Of course, every time I do that the little critters fly away laughing their cute little heads off and I’m left with a blurred image of a butterfly or bee’s butt! After this session though I know I do have a chance of snapping the photo occasionally.
This past few days I’ve also done something very daring for me; I actually took my sketchbook outdoors and dared to draw and paint in it whilst outside. My intention was to do a scribbly sketch and add a little colour. I went to and Embroiderers Guild meeting at Ackworth earlier in the week. The speaker was Anne Brook, and very good she was too. I spent a bit of time admiring her beautiful sketchbooks and decided it was time to make the effort with mine. These are the quick sketches/paintings I did whilst outside – the pages are not finished yet, but I wanted to show that I had the guts to do it:
Sketchbook poppy
Sketchbook alliums
Sketchbook hollyhocks
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sitting in front of the plants sketching, rather than taking a photo, really makes you look closely at the subject. Suddenly I don’t feel too worried that I’m not producing a work of art, it was all about the focus and learning about the plant.
Finally, I also had to do some research for a little project for Ackworth Embroiderers Guild. I was given 3 luggage tags and the name of a country. I have to decorate the tags with ideas/images etc relevant to the country. This is the sketchbook page from this morning:
In the past I’ve started quite a few sketchbooks on various themes. I think the idea of placing everything in one sketchbook is much better. I’m going to be taking this sketchbook out more often in future.
Creating Textiles 