Colours of Autumn.

It has gone cold here.  The day started with a frosty morning and I have been happy to stay indoors and finish my drawing of the little branches that I collected from the garden.  The birds have eaten many of the berries but there are still many hanks left.  As I selected the branch it was the three coloured leaves which caught my eye, three leaves in three colours, green, orange and yellow.  A  lovely example of Autumn colour and how nature loves to surprise.

  I decided to record this branch and the berries. So I sketched them in pencil

And then I thought for a change I would use acrylic paints. I squeezed some brown, yellow, red, and green onto my saucer.  It felt strange using the thick acrylic paint after using the inks.

 I started with the leaves,

                                         and then the browns on the branches,

Then the red berries, as I carefully painted the red making sure the paint is put on and leaving the white paper for the shine. Then the little branch of cotoneaster added to the page, such tiny leaves and the red berries that the birds love. And we are finished.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the work in progress, and the finished drawing is here.

 Give away Winners. Thank you for the 24 comments , including the four emails and you were all entered into the give away. All names folded and placed in a bowl.

I asked my husband to pick the winner from the names in the bowl.  The winner was ALISSA DUKE who will receive the copy of the drawing and goody bag.  Two others will also receive a folder of my artcards, they are Gill and R H Carpenter, also drawn out by my husband.  Please can you leave me a postal address and I will post them to you.
Thank you all, it was really nice to read all your comments, and useful to hear your thoughts.          Millyx
The photographs were taken after dark, sorry for the quality, it is dark at 4pm.

Hares and Red berries

I have been collecting some branches of red berries.  You know they are a favourite subject for me and they look so bright and shiny on the gloomy grey days.  We have had our first little shower of snow and it brought the frosty mornings and a drop in the temperature.  This is when I love to sew and knit and I have been making some little lavender cushions. I picked the lavender and dried it by the fire and then had the job of sorting out the seeds from all the other bits of stalk. The whole house had the smell of lavender drifting in every room and so I decided to use my lovely Hares again. I made one for me and then one for my friend and it is hanging in her house in Wales.

This hare is now in Wales

   I am a huge fan of handmade things, baskets, knitting, sewing, patchwork and cross stitch are some of my favourites. I have made many special gifts over the years using these crafts and  wish I had more time to sew.    The stash of fabric is ready and waiting for some lovely patchworks. In the meantime I can start and finish little projects like the lavender cushions and  I so enjoyed using the fabric knowing it is my drawings of the hares, makes it even more special.

My hare drawings on the lovely "peony and sage" linen  which I sewed into a lavender cushion

I came home with the branches of red berries and some dried seed heads. I felt they were a reflection of my walk as I kept seeing images of the tall sculptural plants along the hedgerows.

They are here pictured in my hand. I tried to capture that feeling of the dried cow parsley seed heads and the branch of  bright red berries.

 I used a dip in pen and sepia ink for the seed heads and then painted the red berries with a paint brush and acrylic inks.  It feels rather like a lino print and a little different from my usual work but I enjoyed doing it and had fun.  Red berries tells me it is getting near to the festive seasons, and i will let them dry and use them for decoration later in the year.

Hope you like the picture.  I bet you all like the Hares more!  Thank you for your lovely comments. Next time it will be  my 200th post so  I will be having a  little give away, so please join in and some one will win a prize by me.                Millyx

The fabric with my hare drawings, made into lavender cushions by me.

They are lovely and smell wonderful  around the house.