Colour from the season - Pepper green

Sorry if anyone has a soft spot for peppers! this sweet Italian variety namely Corno Rosso is a bit strung up. Not enough sunshine in North Devon this year to turn it even slightly red - even in the greenhouse (I know the feeling!)

As green is set to be hugely influential in the design world in the next year or two (according to trend forecasters Global Colour Research), I thought I'd make a few colour notes of my own as a useful 'Greens' reference...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the Season - Lavender green

...dilly dilly
(or, those are the words that spring into my mind next to Lavender green!).

The two main shades of green sampled from the Lavender leaves in my garden. A simple notebook page - and very calming to draw...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Planet Rose Red

Time to change the subject. Enough of dead things, at least for the time being and a focus on something splendidly alive.

Walking with Chip and daydreaming on Planet Sam a couple of days ago, the sheer beauty of this late flowering rose brought my attention back to earth.

Researching what it might be, I came across names such as High Flier, Crimson Sky and Crimson Cascade (Crimson Cascade the most likely match by the way), but somehow attaching such pedestrian names as these to this incredible, slightly frost burned, deeply saturated crimson red rose  - just spoiled the romance of it.  So I've called it Planet Rose red...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Jay blue

This handsome Jay measured a foot long from head to tail! A member of the Crow family yet so much more colourful. Still warm when I found it, its eyes were open and had an unexpected intensely pale blue iris.

Had we been driving along that stretch of road a few minutes earlier or later, it would almost certainly not have been there. In the short time it took to pull over, a Crow tried to carry him off lifting him out of the ditch into the path of oncoming traffic. So, a rare opportunity to study and make a note of the truly extraordinary colours that I found in the plumage of the Jay...

These exquisitely drawn prints by the French artist Edouard Traviés are in Treriefe House, Cornwall. I saw them when I exhibited my work there in August during Cornwall Design Fair and found them inspirational.

Another Traviés image - of a Jay (c. 1854).

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook

Colour from the Season - Great Tit yellow

Not all my colours have been exactly seasonal. I've drawn feathers, lichen, shells etc. when I've discovered interesting and beautiful forms and colours and thought them worth recording. My dad loved birds and often encouraged me to draw them. Since his death earlier this year, by chance, I've been given a number of dead birds to draw. While it's sad that these birds have died, it's an opportunity to draw and document them and learn about their anatomy through studying them, which would be impossible in quite the same way from a photograph.

This is a Great Tit, sent to me last week by a friend who found it in their studio, quite a bit bigger and more aggressive looking than a Blue Tit. I drew him last week before going for a short holiday (camper vanning!) in St. Ives. On the last stretch of road before arriving back home today, lay a dead Jay...

The first pencil and acrylic sketch.



















The second (one handed) sketch.

finished second sketch - again acrylic and pencil.

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...from my seasonal Colour sample notebook.

Colours of the month - September

Autumn is here and it feels like the chance of an Indian Summer has probably passed, nights are drawing in and there's a chill in the air. I thought I'd focus on some of September's more fiery colours to warm myself up a bit.

Sloe black and blue, if you're making Sloe Gin or Vodka this year, now may be the time to do it; Blackberry reds, green and of course black; Chrysanthemum's burnt reds; Dahlia (My Love) whites and finally the warm brown of the Bulrush...

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the Season - White Poplar white

This might seem a miserable little twig to add to my notebook pages - but I carried it all over London and then it spent two days in the car - let me explain!

Last Saturday, I happened to be on Hampstead Heath in London. If you haven't been there, I can tell you that the views from Parliament Hill across London are spectacular - protected by law in fact.
Down the hill, along a bit and I looked up because a White Poplar in the late afternoon sun caused me to stop to absorb the incredible beauty of its leaves and colour. This half dead and partially mildewed twig has little of that moment where Parrots (yes, really) were flying across a blue sky (yes, really!) and a breathtaking and contrasting industrial skyline on the horizon. I wanted to remember something of that moment, hence the twig.

The white is not quite white - it's the whitest tree in the landscape yet branch and leaf are in fact very very pale grey green...

(we spend so much time looking down and across - don't forget to look up!)

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Bulrush brown

This Bulrush is in fact a Reed Mace, as everyone (apparently) misnames it, I thought I might as well too.

Whichever name it goes by, the sun was glancing off the burnt sienna heads and rich ochre leaves of this smaller slightly less invasive version in a friends pond in Bristol, so thanks Marion for letting me cut one off (there were only six). Fabulous colours for an interior design project perhaps ?! - that gold ochre is incredible!

A new profile photo as friends thought they were on the wrong blog/were worried about my sanity - so minus the specs (for the time being)...

(whilst listening to the album 'Here' by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - just got blasted with rainbow colours on their site - watch out for that!)

If you like this post - you can subscribe to Planet Sam by email :) here.

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Posy - Agapanthus, Bluebell Dahlia

Blue and white have been at the forefront of my mind this week. I've been almost too busy to draw breath let alone a plant in my notebook, so thought I'd share some blue and white things instead...

first of course the posy (for the romantically inclined!)...

Next this inspiring platter by the gifted ceramic artist Jacqueline Leighton Boyce - one of my favourite blue and white possessions...

I love the sentiment on this Rob Ryan plate given to me by a friend...

The satisfaction this week checking a (Rosetta Glory) fabric order on my print table...

Last but by no means least (so excited!) - my new "project" I'm picking up this weekend. In need of a bit of tlc...

(maybe I'll wear blue and white)

If you like this post - you can subscribe to Planet Sam by email :) here.

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Posy - Sweet Pea, Calendula and Rosemary

Sometimes there are no words...

(attachable /detachable label)
...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Colour from the season - Arum berry orange

Wow! These fiery red/orange and contrasting green berries are dotted all over the woodlands in Devon at the moment, they are the sensational September colours from an Arum Maculatum.

Top of the stalk are the ripest red/orange berries descending into yellower shades of orange; next an in-between mix of orange and green as an unripe berry ripens; then there's a very vivid green berry and lastly the (seemingly!) gentler green of the stem. (I held the stem when I was sampling the colours and my fingers went a bit numb).

The colours of the hood and spathe can be found in my notebook (Willy Lily red - April 2011) here. Very poisonous - best not to eat these..!

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

Posy - Chrysanthemum, Honesty and Hazel

I often make my own cards, but increasingly I send a lot of emails which can feel impersonal, so I've been putting together a few little posies of plants and flowers I've drawn to add as attachments. After reading Vanessa Diffenbaugh's lovely book 'The Language of Flowers' I thought it might be even more personal/relevant if my flower attachments had meanings. I've decided to share some of these with the people who follow my blog - hope you like them...

Attachable /detachable label (on reflection!)

...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.

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..!

If you like this post - you can subscribe to Planet Sam by email :) here.

...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.

Colours of the month - July

You may have heard - it rains a lot here in the U.K. We may or may not discuss the rain a fair amount as a nation - but one thing's for certain, thanks to the rain it's a very verdant landscape! Highlighting a few favourite greens from my July seasonal notebook.

Meadow grass green picked from high upon the coastal cliffs; A whisper of pink and a magical green from the Clover; Tart Gooseberry greens; Summer's blue and dune green of a Sea Holly; and just had to include lots of Mint green - looking as fresh as it tastes...

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...from my seasonal colour sample notebook.