Exploring Urban Ecology through Art & Architecture
Under the Rivets is the title I gave to my Chapbook and is a homage to Nathaniel Collins who was the only person to have died in the making of the Tyne Bridge. My thoughts were around the notion of Nathaniel rescuing a fallen kittiwake - don’t ask me why it just sort of came out!
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A major piece of public art unveiled in Olney - Lace and Grace was an elegant and thought provoking piece dedicated to the lace makers of Olney and John Newton who was the rector of Olney and wrote amazing Grace.
When my dog, Jess, stared up at a squirrel amongst a bed of dog’s mercury I began my nature journalling journey.
I was recently lucky enough to be asked to run a nature journal workshop at Rose Castle near Carlisle. Apart from the fact it is an amazing place, full of ancient history, and a friendship that can be felt in the walls, reflected in the grounds and manifested by the welcome.
Nature Journalling at Derwent Bank for HF Holidays began with a walk around the lovely grounds of this beautiful location in Keswick, Lake District. We will be spending two days creating nature journals, looking at and enjoying nature. Our motto: N-O-E-L: Notice - Observe - Empathise - Learn. And Noel means “to be born” so we are looking at everything through “new born eyes”.
Welcome to Alnmouth - I am soon to be teaching here for HF Holidays - see this link for the HF Holidays website. I will be showing artists how to create a themed nature journal and will offer some tips and tricks on how to draw what you see.
Small, precious, almost invisible, vital and fragile and more threatened than tropical rainforests. This is the description of the Celtic Rainforests of Britain. But at least there is still some left and this nature journal chapbook explains something of this fully formed world.
Rose Castle Nature Journal weekend. An exploration of built and natural heritage of this historic location surrounded by beautiful countryside.
The course of workshops at the Great North Museum at the Hancock brought forth Monsters, budgies, parrots, turtles, tortoises, harvest mice, puffins and a host of other creatures, plants and stories inspired by the archives.
The latest course at the Natural History of Northumbria’s nature reserve in Gosforth saw us create our own nature journals through a guided and accessible drawing session. The resulting journals will now be accessioned into the archives held at the The Great North Museum at the Hancock.
This was a lovely nature journal session at North Shields Library and this little message from one of the artists was so touching. The session involved my little chat about chapbooks, Enid Blyton and how eggs get their patterns. Basically me blethering on for a bit! then a nature walk and straight back into the library to draw.
The last of the workshops for the Highlights Tour took place on the Threshing Barn in Greencroft this week and was a wonderful way to finish off this season. the artworks created were so lovely and offered such variety too.
Highlights Tour continues with some fantastic nature journals created by the attendees. Why does everyone say to me they can’t draw and then proceed to create brilliant illustrations?
Under the Rivets is the title I gave to my Chapbook and is a homage to Nathaniel Collins who was the only person to have died in the making of the Tyne Bridge. My thoughts were around the notion of Nathaniel rescuing a fallen kittiwake - don’t ask me why it just sort of came out!
Exploring the nature of Newbrough and creating beautiful nature journals. The town hall was the perfect venue for us to base ourselves and with the nearby woodland providing inspiration and resources we were all able to create wonderful little journals.
This May I spent two days Nature Journalling on the Isle of Wight centred around Newtown Nature reserve with the National Trust and some lovely artists who created wonderful pieces of art and are now on their way creating their own nature journals.
Allendale Village Hall hosted the latest Highlights tour this weekend and I was joined by some fantastic artists who created some lovely nature journals.
Who are these workshops for?
Well it varies so much and includes confident artists as well as people who “say they aren’t artists”! But they walk away with beautiful little journals and the confidence to continue with their nature journal journey. One lady was a really confident artist this weekend but had a little block about adding colour. I was able to help here through this so that she could continue creating her lovely sketches but with the addition of colour on them.
The two sessions of nature journalling at Quirky Workshops took place on Wednesday and as usual I was surrounded by very talented artists who put their own spin on the day. The sessions are really about me passing on my tips and secrets as well as my stories about the wildlife around us. I love to share my own special observations of everything I see from a tangle of worms to sexton beetles falling in love.
Creating a nature journal is not a difficult thing to do and is so rewarding. For many people the fear of “spoiling” the sketch book is a barrier to them starting their journey. My workshops are designed to take the fear away and remove all barriers to creating your own nature journal. you do not need to be an artist to observe and record nature and may people come to me saying they “aren’t artists” but go away with beautiful little nature journals and a new found confidence and belief in themselves.
The first session of the exploration of the archives took place this week and we used the Chapbook format that I have developed for nature journalling - this allows us to create a lovely little concertina piece of art.
The first of our Highlights Tour workshops saw us in the lovely village of Barningham for a Shortcut to Nature Journalling. We had a wonderful group of artists who created some lovely nature journals full of colour and joy.
It was Family Day at Forest Hall Library today and we all had a lovely time drawing the simplest of things. I provided my unique little concertina nature journals which I have made just for this purpose. These little journals are a great way to get started in nature journalling.
Another lovely nature day with some fantastic artists and lovely people. We enjoyed a half day of doing something really simple and nourishing - drawing nature and loving nature.
Another shortcut to nature journalling at Forest Hall Library. Despite being a cold January start we all managed to find something beautiful to draw.
The new season of Nature Journalling is upon us with the first of the love.nature series of nature journalling sessions.
When the Stars through down their Spears by William Blake was the starting point for my Chapbook. This seemed to be an appropriate cover page for my creation story.
Ovington Trees Project invited us to host two workshops in Ovington Village in Northumberland. This was attended by adults and children from the local community. the whole day was so lovely and thanks to the homemade cakes and pastries was a pleasure to be a part of.
The Birds of Wayside and Woodland is a fantastic bird book from a great series of books. You can often pick these up in charity shops such as Oxfam but also from World of Books (WOB).
There is a great introduction by Enid Blyton who also edited the book too.
Read this for a good starting point for starting your own journal. This is just my little list and once you get started you will have your own way of doing things. The important thing is to make a start - even if it is just making a list of the things you see.
Queens Hall Arts Centre Drop-in nature journal sessions finished the season today - and in grand style with a great turnout and some lovely illustrations and journals.