Colours of the Month - August

ok - just kidding.

Putting eleven colours together can be a bit of a juggling act between selecting colours that I've found in plants etc. and which represent in some way how the month might feel to me, also how well the drawings work together, as well as keeping it simple.

I started August's colours yesterday - the day was gloomy, nothing was working and eventually I turned the whole thing into the black and white above and gave up on it for the day. While it should be noted this August has felt quite wintry and at times monochromatic - this notebook is after all about colour! So... I came back to it today (refreshed) and here's what I decided on - in all its August glory...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Agapanthus Blue

Most of these sketches for my blog, I draw in a "legendary" Moleskine notebook which are ridiculously expensive but beautiful to use. Inside it says "used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries" including van Gogh and Picasso - so it feels as though you can really achieve great things within them!

The downside of the A3 notebook is that the rather wonderful (Honesty seed pod) cream surface, rubs away to white when you use an eraser on it - I wonder if van Gogh had that problem (somehow I don't think so).

These are the colours from the statuesque Agapanthus (variety 'Luly'), flowering profusely this week - from the palest blue of a perfect flower, turning to deeper blue and pink as the flowers fade, finally the uniform green of the stem and leaves with deep purple at their base...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the Season - Hot Poker yellow

These Yellow Hot Pokers (Kniphofia 'Bees Lemon') were more startling in their structure when they were just opening, but I missed that brief opportunity to draw them in their younger state. Happily, I see beauty in half dead and even completely dead plants (incidentally I find the music of Leonard Cohen quite uplifting) and the soft shade of brown from the dead flower heads next to that yellow of Summer easily makes up for their less sprightly form.

Tricky to draw - I started at the stalk about a quarter way down from the top and worked outward from there, very absorbing and a good way to unwind...

p.s. thanks ever so much to Judith who dug up some of her plant and left it on my doorstep thinking I might love it - I do..!

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...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Treriefe House & Cornwall Design Fair

Back to my seasonal colours very soon - but thought I'd share a few photos from the Drawing room at Trereife House where I was invited to show my work.

The style of the room is Queen Anne from the early part of the 18th century (very Jane Austen!).
I left the fabrics on the rolls, there but in a temporary way. It was very successful.

Thanks very much to the Le Grice family for their generous hospitality.

Budgie Love cushion (well - the room is used for wedding receptions).

The perfect chair for the Monterey Cone to sit on.

Bald Eagle print looking rather stately.

and a little bit cross?

Red Squares fabric contrasting against the green cushions and rolling onto the rug.

Rosetta and Twine runners on Mahogany.

Lastly, not from the house but a detail from my stand in the exhibition tent itself. That particular piece of Twine fabric is now on its way to Maine and the birds flew off to very good homes too.

and look whooo was featured on Elle Decoration fb page about the fair..!

Cornwall Design Fair

I'm heading off to Cornwall tomorrow for the Cornwall Design Fair! Started by Hidden Art Cornwall in 2006, it's taking place in the fabulous grounds of Trereife House.

Looks as though I'll have a whole Parliament of Owls with me not to mention the Convocation of Eagles, as well as a Budgerigar or two squeezing in...could be quite a noisy trip!

(two colour screen prints from our rather cross birds series!)

So looking forward to meeting everyone at the private view on Thursday evening and during the Fair itself which continues from Friday 17th to Sunday 19th August..Hope to see you there!

Colour from the season - Olive leaf green

Awarded to Olympic victors (!) the Olive branch has been a symbol of peace and victory for thousands of years since it's origins in early Greek culture.

Using a dip pen and ink and line drawing is a great way to fully appreciate the simple form of the Olive branch. Drawing in this way without sketching first in pencil you have to look really hard and draw what's there, not what you think should or might be there. Sometimes I find I'm holding my breath with concentration. The dip pen brings its own free expression to the drawing.

I'd imagined the leaves would have more blue in the green, but these colours match the underside of the leaf and the stronger upper green of the older leaves exactly, shown next to the grey browns in the bark - peaceful colours..!


...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Anemone red white & blue

It's not often I feel so patriotic, but I'm enjoying the Olympics - from the brilliant opening ceremony, onwards - so despite being madly busy at the moment, I just had to make time to flag up some red white and blue colours to wave wildly in my notebook!

Seemed to me that these (almost seasonal) energetic Anemones exactly fitted the bill...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.