A drawing commissioned for a bird lover turning 85. Three of his favourite birds are positioned around the number 85. The drawing was framed and small copies were used as invitation cards for his birthday celebration. 

I enjoyed the challenge of combining numbers with birds. The number 85 is suggested as wood and I positioned the birds in harmony with the shape of the number. Collared doves live mostly in trees, I therefore placed this bird higher up. Lapwings (left) and oyster catchers (right) are meadow birds. They are elegant birds and it is always a joy to spot them foraging or breeding in meadows.

Notice how the bill of the dove resembles the shape of number five flag. The lapwing on the left and the black-white oyster catcher both stand with their legs on both sides of the number, as if they hold the 85 in position. Both chests of the birds follow the curve of the number five and eight, in case of the lapwing, it takes over the curve of the eight. The dove stands proudly on number five.

Paula Kuitenbrouwer

at Etsy & @mindfuldrawing on Instagram
Netherlands

Journal - Nature - #Uskathome

Journal - #Uskathome - Nature - Urban Sketchers of Wilmington - my tiny yard consists mostly of grass, but the wee garden I have provides the 'Nature' I see in what is considered 'my backyard.'

Sketching My Way Around the Links

For years I gave playing the game of golf a go.  I loved the scenery and happened to see a lot of the courses we played with my particular game...  I came to look on golf the same way Mark Twain did - a good walk spoiled. 

Then, the last 5 years I played, I began to bring my sketchbook and watercolor pencils with me.  My husband and I would always play with 2 other men.  I had time to sketch little bits of things when they were on the tee box.  I immersed myself into what I loved and would forget the last lousy shots made.  This practice helped me take 10 strokes off of my game!!!

I no longer play the game, but do join my husband in the cart with my plein air setup.   

These two small studies were started while the foursome finished one hole and teed up on the next.  I finished them from memory as we rode along.  

My little lap desk was purchased at an office supply store.  They also come in a light aluminum.  Their original use is for workers in the field that have forms to store inside.  When closed it acts like a clipboard.  I use blue tack to hold my brushes and small mixing palette.  Lots of clips to hold things in place.  It can be a bouncy windy ride around the courses!

PINE TREE STUDIES

It's been far too long since I posted here as I've been concentrating more on textile art but I thought a catch up from my trees sketchbook might be interesting.  This is a drawing of a part of the bark from my pine tree, done while sitting next to the tree last autumn. 

I had also made a rubbing to try and understand the structure.

Then I made a hand stitched appliqued piece using odd scraps of fabric and yarns, which is now stuck into the book opposite a sketch of the needles.

Journal - Wisteria -- Lin Frye - North Carolina

Journal - Wisteria -- Such a heady, wonderful scent!

Journal - Splash and Splatter Azaleas - Lin Frye - North Carolina

Journal - Splash and Splatter Azaleas

locked in - apricot tree. Concetta Flore

Dear friends, as you know Italy is in lockdown, as many countries prepare to be, due to the Coronavirus drama. It is reaping many victims in my country up north, especially in the most polluted industrial areas.
We aren't allowed outside except for shopping and real necessities- in a way, we're all in quarantine.
Lucky me, I live in a tiny flat with a less-than-tiny garden in Rome, and the weather has been lovely and warm (going to turn cold any time, poor blooms).
So I sketched my apricot tree, a very very old one; apricot trees  aren't supposed to live more than 45/50 years approx, but this one put up a new shoot from its rotting trunk, and is still delivering delicious fruit every year. I love it, and will feel bereaved when it will finally lose its battle with fungi.

Here's its portrait in watercolor.
Keep safe and healthy, and keep social distances if you can choose to!