Birds

After enjoying painting the hare I decided to paint a grey wagtail from a photo I took in Norfolk when we were cruising.  My first painting was a straighforward depiction of the little bird which was standing on an underwater rock.  

My second painting was very different and was a bit of an experiment with the shades of grey which I don't use very often.  The greys were all a mix of burnt sienna and ultramarine.  

My other birds are photos starting with a heron standing on the reservoir bank when we were out last week.  

A little reed bunting that I took yesterday while we were out on the canal.  

A chaffinch on the path during our morning walk, the girls were very restrained in keeping their distance while I took the photo!

Pigeon Post

Here's one of the resident pigeons, well hidden among the leaves. The pair have been swapping over nest duty for about a week now, so probably another week or so to wait.

I've been working on a woodland theme, without too much of a plan. This little patch was woven to start with, but then I just kept adding bits I liked. At the moment all the edges are raw - the pieces are kept in place with very tiny backstitches. I'll probably oversew the edges by hand with embroidery silk.

Some more work on the woodlands theme. Once again, none of these patches have been finished off because I haven't figured out how I want to join them yet. The pale woven bits make a nice contrast to the bright blues, greens and oranges. At the moment, all the patches are spread out on my sitting room table, so I can fiddle them about into new combinations whenever the mood takes me.

Nasturtiums and a hare

Since seeing Alison Ingram's wildlife paintings I have wanted to create a painting inspired by her style and this hare is the result.

To see Alison's art click on this link.  Alison Ingram gallery

The nasturtiums have been coming along, I decided I needed some variety with the flowers so have tried embroidering the outline on one of the green hexagons.  I will add some more outline flowers as the piece progresses.  

Early morning walk

The sun was shining this morning so I took my camera on our early morning walk.  Here are the results.

A heron takes off across the misty canal.

Looking up the canal

A dandelion puff.

Frosty brambles.

Sunlight on a ploughed field.  The lorry and van in the background are on the very quiet M62.

This hare came running towards me and stopped to wash it's face when it got close to the hedge.  

Hawthorn flowers.

It's no wonder the walk took longer than usual!

Tawny Dragon

Another crochet creature has arrived. This time it's a dragon, which required a bit of fiddling about with the patterns, especially for the nose and wings. He's the sort of dragon you might find poking about in the garden, I think, mild-mannered and harmless, with a tummy of very undragonly squishiness.

Here he's sharing the rocking chair with Dog, just so he can show off his tiny wings.

I've also been working on using up scraps to make small appliques. This squirrel is hand-appliqued with several different embroidery threads, an effect I really like. I'm making up a batch of woodland motifs like this, with the idea of combining them into something bigger ... eventually.