Lockdown Wildflowers: How I Made My Biggest Drawing Yet I’ve recently finished my biggest, slowest, most favourite drawing ever. Here’s a little summary of how it came about: Lockdown 2020. Sometimes I forget how extreme it was and then I remember a detail – like there being chains round the gates of play parks, or …
Lockdown Wildflowers: How I Made My Biggest Drawing Yet Read More »
I recently got a chance to go for a solo walk round the woodland. I love exploring the wood with my one-year-old boy but keeping him safe and on his feet tends to take up a lot of my focus so I miss a lot of the details. Since we don’t have Buddy dog anymore …
Over the past month we have been enjoying watching a family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers on the feeders in the garden. I usually think of woodpeckers as quite aggressive birds but it has been so nice to see them tenderly feed the youngster. We call our family: the dad is Pecker Purves (my husband’s surname …
Great Spotted Woodpeckers: How to Tell Male, Female and Juvenile Apart Read More »
This is the third post in my mini series about pencil drawing. The first post covered materials and the second post covered inspiration and how to collect it. The act of drawing is basically just making marks on a surface. Any marks, any surface. Make the marks that express who you are the story you …
This is part two of my mini series on pencil drawing. Part one was about the materials I use. You can read it here. In this post I’m going to talk about the inspiration for my drawings and how I record it so I can use it in my work. I find it easy to …
I’ve been asked a few times recently about my materials and the techniques I use for my pencil drawings. I thought I’d break it down into a couple of short posts so you don’t have to wade through to find the information you are looking for. I’ll also keep it nice and brief, then you …
You know those days at work when you have a billion important work tasks to do (like preparing for Scotland’s Trade Fair this weekend) but instead you manage to sketch a cheeky beaver called Walter? I’m having one of those. I’m very excited that beavers are now colonising the UK. Seeing a beaver in the …
We’re not long back from a wild but wonderful trip to the Isle of Harris, which lies 24 miles from the nearest point on the mainland, across a strip of water called the Minch. It was my first trip to the Outer Hebrides, and a trip I’d been keen to do for a while. As …
I’m really delighted to be able to let you know that we have raised £1,000 so far for the fundraising for the Borders Macmillan Centre Appeal. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has bought the A Garden for Wildlife cards so far, as well as to Footeprint who donated the first 1,000 cards for …
Fundraising Update: The Borders Macmillan Centre Read More »
Our dog, Buddy, isn’t one of those nice dogs that doesn’t like rain and delicately steps around puddles. He needs lots of exercise in every weather. On our daily walks, I often take my camera – and sometimes my Polaroid, too – with me. Buddy has got quite used to waiting for me to stop …
Process: Photographs, Sketchbook & Finished Drawings Read More »
