Nature’s fireworks

A dark, dank day has me reaching for soft-toned, soft-textured paper. Not, it's called – a tactile surface somewhere between smooth and rough. It was my dad's choice for watercolours (I always wondered at the 'not') and today, it's mine because I have small things to draw, in a posy foraged in yesterday's dry weather.

Some of my forage is forage itself. Ivy's fast-growing sprawl gives it a bad name but this time of year, it's a feast for late Autumn's creatures. Its plenty allows me to snip a bit. It's November 5th and each stem is a mini firework display, bursts of flowers turning to berries, glittering with zingy yellow-green that has me reaching for a highlighter and sponging on sparkles of yellow and mauve.

For the table, I choose a tea bag. Its tannin is just right for the timber, though my stained fingers make me grateful that I've decided on a day in...

My posy has lonicera berries too, glossy, dense deep purple at first glance but as I hold them up to the light, like glass. I use layers of purple and Payne's Gray to build up the colour.

There'll be fireworks tonight in my neighbourhood – but it makes me smile to know that nature has got its display in first.

Ballpen, watercolour, fineliner, highlighter and tea on handed-down watercolour paper.

Visit my Teemill shop for sketches on t-shirts and tote bags.