Blogs - Page 5 of 15 - Lizzie Harper

Here are the blogs I’ve written over the years. Subjects range from step by step painting tutorials, to botanical anatomy, to current projects.

They appear in the order they’ve been written. However, if you scroll down the page you’ll find they have also been organised into categories to make browsing a little more focused.

There are even some guest blogs in amongst. I hope you enjoy them, and do please feel free to leave a comment.

Save the Bees: How to Make Your Garden a Bee Haven

Posted on 24th January 202019th June 2020 in Uncategorised

Save the bees and make your garden a Bee haven! This week’s Guest article provided by Oscar Owens. There are very few small creatures that make the headlines, but bees are one of them. Unfortunately, it’s almost always negative news. That’s why people keep asking: ‘how can we make our garden a safe haven for […] Read more

Illustrating Butterflies Workshop

Posted on 10th January 2020 in Painting workshops

Illustrating butterflies is wonderful, but has its challenges. I recently taught a two day workshop to Northamptonshire Botanical Artists’ Society which focused exclusively on painting these gorgeous insects. Introduction to Butterflies We began with handouts and an introduction to the variety of insect life. Touching on complete and incomplete life cycles, we also learnt their […] Read more

Flora Margarine in Sweden

Posted on 3rd January 202023rd March 2020 in Current projects and news

Flora Margarine Repackaged Flora in Sweden have recently re-designed their packaging. And I’m more than excited to say that the new margarine tubs and associated products feature my illustrations of White and Red clover! The new designs have been done by Pond Design for Unilever, and I think they look really good. There’s a […] Read more

Pied Wagtail Illustration

Posted on 20th December 2019 in Zoological step by step

Pied Wagtail The Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba yarrellii is a common garden and urban bird here in Wales. I love the way they trot about, wagging their elongate tail up and down and cocking their black-capped heads inquisitively to one side. We have a regular garden visitor who spends a lot of time scampering from […] Read more

Sycamore Tree step by step

Posted on 6th December 20196th December 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Sycamore trees can have distinctive shapes, and be well loved by those who recognize them. This is why I was commissioned to illustrate a large Sycamore tree growing in the churchyard of All Saint’s Church in Slingsby, North Yorkshire. The tree that dominates the graveyard was to be the centrepiece of a new interpretation board. […] Read more

Technology: Six things you can do to help live a greener life

Posted on 22nd November 201910th February 2020 in Uncategorised

Guest blog is by Mark Harris of Awareness Toolkits who wanted to share information about making greener choices when it comes to the technology in our homes. As ever, illustrations are by me. Technology: Six things you can do to help live a greener life Living a sustainable lifestyle doesn’t mean you have to eschew […] Read more

Botanical Illustration of a Brassica Leaf

Posted on 8th November 2019 in Illustration techniques

An Introduction to Brassicaceae Actually, before I start this blog I need to clarify the title, “Botanical Illustration of a Brassica leaf”. The leaf I’m discussing is that of a Yellow Mustard plant, Brassica juncea, a species of Brassica. The colours of Brassica leaves are very similar across many members of the family. The […] Read more

Pen and Ink Illustrations of Trees

Posted on 11th October 201924th February 2022 in Illustration techniques, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

The Living Wisdom of Trees: Commission In the summer, I completed more than a hundred pen and ink illustrations of trees for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder. The commission involved illustrating 54 species of fully grown tree, along with details such as blossom, leaves, or fruit. Illustrating the botanical details was […] Read more

Pen and Ink Illustrations of Tree Details

Posted on 11th October 201911th October 2019 in Illustration techniques, Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

The Living Wisdom of Trees: Commission In the summer, I completed lots of pen and ink illustrations of trees and their details for “The Living Wisdom of Trees” by Fred Hageneder. The commission involved illustrating fully grown trees, along with details specific to each species such as blossom, leaves, or fruit. I’ve written a […] Read more

Illustrating a Coastal Hay Meadow Landscape

Posted on 27th September 201914th October 2019 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a Hay Meadow: The Commission A recent commission to illustrate a hay meadow landscape down on the coast of Devon was a wonderful job. The client is North Devon Area of Natural Beauty (NDAONB) and the illustration will be used on an interpretation board on site. Currently, the area is scrub land; it’s over-grazed […] Read more

Foraging with Kids at Hay Festival

Posted on 28th August 2019 in Painting workshops

Foraging with Kids Workshop at Hay Festival: Setting up Back in May, Adele Nozedar and I ran a workshop at Hay Festival. We aimed the workshop at children and their parents, and included foraging and drawing activities. We were also there to promote out book, Foraging with kids, and had a lovely banner that […] Read more

Mixing Neutral Tints and Colours

Posted on 10th August 2019 in Illustration techniques, Uncategorised

What are Neutral Tints? Neutral tints (or colours) are grey hues which don’t carry any dominant shade. They are, as the name suggests, neutral. In 1887, a neutral tint was defined by Winsor & Newton as, “‘A compound shadow colour of a cool neutral character.” So a blue-grey or a grey with a pink […] Read more

Desk with finished botanical illustration, sweet peas, and paint box

Step by Step Everlasting Sweet pea botanical illustration

Posted on 26th July 201924th January 2023 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Sweet peas are beautiful flowers, and a joy to paint. This blog is a step by step guide to painting the Two-flowered Everlasting Sweet Pea Lathyrus grandiflorus. About Sweet peas Members of the legume family; Sweet peas are classed alongside peas, gorse, beans and lupins. Lots of food crops are members of this family; alfalfa, […] Read more

Field studies council non native invasive plants of Britain chart

Botanical illustrations for Non-native invasive plants chart

Posted on 12th July 201912th July 2019 in Current projects and news

The Field Studies Council has recently published it’s latest chart; an overview of the non-native and invasive plant species seen in Britain and Ireland. I did the botanical illustrations, and loved the variety of species on offer. In this blog I’ll talk about how I completed some of the illustrations. I was given a species […] Read more

Ringlet Aphantopus hyperantus and meadow brown aniola jurtina butterfly natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Save our Butterflies: Gardening for butterflies (2 of 2)

Posted on 28th June 201911th August 2019 in Current projects and news

This is a Guest blog by DIY Garden. Illustrations by Lizzie Harper. How Butterflies help in the Garden Butterflies and moths are not only beautiful garden viditors, they are vital pollinators. Whereas bees get covered in pollen, butterflies take a smaller amount on their slender legs. They travel greater distances than bees, flitting around like nomads instead of […] Read more

Botanical Illustration: Rosehips

Posted on 31st May 201921st May 2019 in botanical terms

This brief blog is due to my my awe on discovering that Rosehips are not, as I’d always assumed, true fruits. In autumn, roses produce hips. These come in a wide variety of shapes and colours, some showy and some much more discrete. The basic anatomy of all these varied rosehips is the same. […] Read more

comparison of flower and painting of the periwinkle

Step by Step Periwinkle flower botanical illustration

Posted on 17th May 201917th May 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

I’ve always loved periwinkle flowers, Vinca major. The blue is such a delicate shade, and I relish the juxtaposition between the dark, glossy leaves and the powdery blue petals. I thought I’d do a quick step by step on how to go about mixing the colours, and illustrating this flower, not least because blue flowers […] Read more

Invasive & Japanese Knotweeds: Telling species apart

Posted on 3rd May 20193rd May 2019 in Botany: Telling species apart

Invasive and Japanese knotweeds are incredibly successful plants. Originally from Japan, China and Taiwan, they escaped from ornamental gardens, and have become established across the UK. They’re especially common in urban and brown-field habitats, and love railway embankments and the damp soils of water ways. One of the most difficult aspects of controlling them is […] Read more

What’s the difference between Virginia creeper and False Virginia creeper?

Posted on 18th April 2019 in Botany: Telling species apart

Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia and False Virginia creeper Parthenocissus inserta are common and decorative. They are favourites with gardeners, who train them to grow up walls of houses and pubs where they give cover and autumn colour. They’re vigorous climbers, deciduous, perennial, and develop woody stems. They are also classed as an invasive plant species […] Read more

How Art And Drawing Can Combat Stress

Posted on 22nd March 2019 in Uncategorised

This week’s blog looks at some of the health benefits and reduction of stress levels to be gained from drawing and painting. Many thanks to Hassan Khan for this guest blog. Long tailed tits painting in progress Stress Going through a lot of stress? Feeling as if your adrenaline levels are soaring? Your pulse is […] Read more

Telling Gunnera species apart

Posted on 8th March 20198th March 2019 in Botany: Telling species apart

Gunnera is an extraordinary looking plant. With its gigantic leaves, and ability to form enormous clumps that dwarf us, it’s easy to identify. But can you tell your Gunnera manicata from your Gunnera tinctoria? If not, here’s a quick guide. I learned this recently, whilst working on new illustrations for the Field Studies Council who’ll […] Read more

Step by Step: False Virginia Creeper

Posted on 22nd February 20195th April 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

Whenever I paint a plant, I tend to use the same approach. This blog is a step by step look at how I paint the False Virginia Creeper, Parthenoccissus inserta. Pencil Rough Once you’ve assembled your reference (preferably from life as it’s much easier than working from photos), draw up a pencil rough. This needs […] Read more

Telling Cotoneasters apart

Posted on 22nd February 2019 in Botany: Telling species apart

My recent botanical illustration work for a Field Studies Chart (as yet unpublished) on Invasive species included 5 species of Cotoneaster. Telling these plants apart can be a real headache, but I’m going to give it a go, and share my thoughts. I’m more than happy to be corrected in the comments section below! Cotoneasters are really […] Read more

Step by Step Rowan berry

Posted on 10th February 201912th February 2019 in Botanical Illustration step by step

If you’re doing a botanical illustration of a cluster of fruit, the first thing to do is figure out how to tackle one lone berry. In this case, it’s the beautiful bright orange Rowan berry that’s under the spotlight. I have a Rowan, or Mountain ash tree in my garden. Not only do the clusters […] Read more

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