Hearts and flowers

Loo rolls. Not the most glamorous things to write about in this week of hearts and flowers. But I save them for sowing sweet peas. Their delicate roots don’t like being moved so these, I can plant whole. Cardboard and compost aren’t the most glamorous things to draw either – I … Read More

Pinks and clues

In late afternoon, I spot the first shocking pink cyclamen flowers and draw them quickly, in the last of the day’s light. Leave them overnight and they’ll have been snacked-on by a passing creature. I grab a highlighter. Watercolour alone isn’t up to the brightness of these flowers and even … Read More

Short day, bright things

On dark days, this, near the Winter Solstice and dark of news to match, I’m happy to see any glimmer of brightness that the garden will offer. Here, bobbing in the chilly breeze, the first snowdrop of Winter. It’s a few weeks early, brought, perhaps, by mild weather but it … Read More

Cyclamen rescued from a frozen flower bed

Like fairy dresses, flowers rescued from a solid-frozen flower bed. There’s so much movement in these petals – it’s all about the shape. I gathered these with a couple of snowdrops and some forsythia buds, a tiny indoor posy in a Nancy Main single stem vase. Biro, watercolour, fineliner on waste … Read More