Sketchbook pages

FOR have commissioned several sets of invasive species over the years, and favour the sketchbook approach.

For me, this is a treat.  Sketchbook studies incorporate all the important aspects of a plant that help you to identify it.  However, you can pick and choose which elements to work up to a finished level.  This gives me an enormous amount of freedom to play about with composition, and to focus on aspects of the plant that really interest me.  There’s a gallery of these on my website, and many originals (including the Heath star moss) are available to buy.

Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus for FOR

Illustrating Moss

I’ve illustrated moss before, and always enjoy it.  These plants are so totally different from the normal vascular species I illustrate, and that’s one of the things I love about them.  Their details are tiny, which also appeals to me.  Luckily, I’ve got lots of books on moss (such as Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland by Atherton, Bosanquet, and Lawley) which are invaluable.

Red bog moss Sphagnum capillifolium

Anatomical details that need including are the shoots which emerge from the main body of the moss, sometimes known as the protonema.  Spores and the shoots bearing them (sporophytes) need to be recorded, along with the spore capsules and their hoods (calyptra).  Individual gametophyte shoots also need illustrating. Stems (also referred to as the caulid or axis) and individual leaves (phyllids) need detailing, along with information on the cellular structure of the leaves.

There seem to be quite a lot of different terms for the same structures, depending on which bryologist you ask.  For this reason, do excuse any botanical mistakes I might make in this blog!

Sphagnum capillifolium details

Illustrating these elements requires pretty full on dives into my moss books, and often the community of bryologists on Twitter or the British bryological society help out.  One day, I need to get one of these lovely and eminent botanists to write a guest blog on the theme “Introduction to Mosses”.  It’d be invaluable for me, as well as other moss-dabblers!

Heath star moss: Specimen

The first thing to do is to get my hands on some actual Heath star moss.  I’m extremely fortunate to know one Ray Woods, a top moss expert, who lives nearby.  Despite the world being in Covid-19 lockdown, he found some Campylopus introflexus on his greenhouse roof and sent it to me.

Next, I drew it up in pencil and, once I got the ok from the client, could apply some colour.

Heath star moss: Is it wet…or is it dry?

One of the quirks of this particular species is that it looks totally different when it’s wet and when it’s dry.  When wet, it has a bright green, star-like appearance.

Wet Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus

When it’s dry it looks almost black, and very scaly,  Each phyllid (leaflet) has a long, glassy tip.  These bend at sharp angles when they’re dry.  Tons of these tiny “leaves” with their white, spindly points makes a patch of Heath star moss look almost hoary.  This was an absolute pain to draw, but become easier to understand, visually, once I got some colour on the illustration.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus

The two illustrations above are of the exact same specimen.  I didn’t have a lot of the moss, so only broke off a fragment and allowed it to dry in the airing cupboard.  The rest I kept moist as I needed to illustrate details of the spore capsule and phyllids, which are easier to manage when wet.

Heath star moss: Individual shoots

As well as a clump of moss, I needed to include details of the individual shoots when wet and dry.  The main focus here has to be the points.  I’m tempted to call them awns, as one would do if talking about grasses, but am pretty sure they have their own specific name somewhere….  These tips are always bent, but become very recurved when the moss is dry.  It’s a diagnostic of the species; if these spines recurve more than 90 degrees then it’s probably the Heath star moss.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus shoots

I also include top views of the shoot (also referred to as a fascicle.  See, I told you there were lots of different words for the same things!), although this didn’t help much with the dry specimen.

To ensure botanical honesty, these illustrations are both pf the exact same fascilce.

Heath star moss: Cellular details

The next challenge was to look at an individual phyllid.  I had access to good microscopic images from the British bryological society, and thanks to Ray I could also get my compound and dissecting microscope out on real specimens.  Knowing I was working with the correct species is more reassuring than I can possibly tell you.  I am forever indebted to ray who has often given me labelled specimens of moss.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus microscopic details

So here is an image of an individual phyllid, and its margin under a higher magnification.  I was keen to have the spine clearly included.  Below are some of the British bryological society reference photos I was able to use.

The shape of the cells at the edge of the phyllid is often species specific (as in this case), hence including the detail.

Heath star moss: Sporophyte

Illustrating the sporophyte was much easier.  My specimen had a few spore cases, so I had a look at them under the microscope.  I couldn’t identify or get images of any spores, but decided that didn’t matter too much.  The shape and colour of the spore capsule was the main thing.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus sporophyte

I think the stems (caulid or axis) might be more wiggly and curled up when the specimen is dry, but as I didn’t see mention of this in the literature I decided not to make that a focus.

Heath star moss; Habit sketch

The easiest part of this sheet was completing the habit sketch.  I had photos of clumps of this moss, and I had my specimen.  I’ve also got a decent idea of what the limestone substrate it’s growing on looks like.  It was a simple matter of collating these resources.

I added a yellow leaf for scale, and decided pretty fast that the habit sketch would be of the moss when it was wet.  Drawing it dry had already made me come close to despair.  In any case, it looks lovely when it’s wet and far less appealing when dried out.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus on stone

Conclusion

When the sheet was done, I was really pleased.  It included all the required details, and hung together (more or less) as a composition.

When I illustrate moss, I take one contact lens out so I can see the detail.  I leave the other one in.  A week of doing this left me with my head spinning (but no headaches, luckily).  I was relieved the commission was complete.

Without Ray and the British bryological society there’s no way I’d be able to illustrate mosses.  And I absolutely am on the look out for someone with the skills and willingness to write a guest blog here on the basic anatomy of moss.

But for now, I just look forward to the next time an email pops into my inbox, asking for an illustration of another species of moss.

If you’d like to see how FOR have used my sketchbook studies, please take a look at the PDFs available on their website.  There’s a list at the bottom right.  Telling which species is which is tricky though, my Swedish isn’t any good at all!

The post Heath Star Moss Sketchbook study appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

This one of the Cow parsley,  Anthriscus sylvatica, was recently done for FOR in Sweden.  It accompanied a large sheet of sketches of the same plant.  To learn more about Cow parsley, and how to identify it, check out my blog.

There’s also a Youtube film that accompanies this blog; please find a link at the end of this blog, or click here to access it.

You’ll notice that this habit sketch is less accurate than many of my illustrations.  This goes with the territory.  There’s only so much detail you can cram into a 20cm tall illustration of an entire plant, and individual petals and leaf veins don’t get a look in.  However, if you want to show a whole plant, rather than one portion of it, then a habit sketch is the best way to do this.  Alternatively, you can use a much larger format and work on a plant portrait which will be more accurate and less impressionistic.

Completed habit sketch of the Cow parsley

Habit sketch:  Pencil rough

The first thing to do when confronted with a habit sketch is to learn as much as you can about the plant.  I gather lots of specimens, and consult various botany books.  these include A Flora of the British Isles by Clapham Tutin and Moore, The Wildflowers of the British Isles by Garrard and Streeter, the pen and ink drawings of Stella Ross-Craig, Collins Flower guide by David Streeter, and (in this case) the BSBI Handbook: Umbellifers of the British Isles.

Once the plant and botanical information is collated, I draw up a pencil rough that shows each important element to its best advantage.  I use mechanical Pentel P205 pencils with an H or HB 0.5mm lead.  I draw directly onto my watercolour paper, in this case hotpress Fluid 100 by Global Arts.

One of the reasons why I use Fluid 100 is because it’s quite good at allowing you to erase your pencil lines after you’ve painted on top of them.  Various papers will, or won’t be good for this.  The way I paint means that it’s important that a paper will give up the graphite but not the paint pigments once I’ve completed an illustration.

Cow parsley pencil rough (with basal rosette and stem details)

Are leaves alternate or opposite?  Are upper leaves noticeably different from lower ones?  is there a basal rosette of leaves?  How are the flowers carried on the stems?  What does the root do?  All this information needs to be given by the illustration.

Habit sketch: Leaves

Once the client has approved the roughs, you can start adding colour.  I begin with the leaves, outlining them in green.  Winsor and Newton are my favourite watercolours, and I use pans topped up with tube colours.  I mix sap green, some cobalt blue, and a bit of cadmium yellow light together.  I keep the paint quite thick and dry at this point.  Carefully, using my trusty Series 7 sable brush (size 1), I follow the pencil lines of the leaf edges.  This approach is the same as I use when painting ferns and bracken.

Outlining the leaves

I observe my plant carefully, and add some variation to the green hue.  The central leaf is a little paler and brighter green than the others – I add yellow to the mix and outline it with this new colour.

Different greens are used to outline the leaves

Habit sketch: Top washes on leaves

Once these initial lines are dry, I add water to the greens to make them lighter and more dilute.  Then, using the same brush, I pop blobs of this watery green onto the leaves.  I love the crisp edges watercolour gives if you allow very wet paint to dry, and this is the effect I’m after here.

Watery green top wash is applied very wet

Because of the midrib veins and the way the leaves are structured, you’ll often see one side of a leaflet is darker than the other.  This needs to be included in the habit sketch.  You can either do this by going over the darker, shaded side with two layers of top-wash; or you can use a different and brighter colour for the top-wash on the lighter side of the leaflet.

Putting the first wash onto only one side of each leaflet

In this case I’ve done both.  I added some yellow to the top-wash, and covered the entire leaflet with this mix.  (I’d made sure the first and darker wash was completely dry first.)  Allow the paint to dry completely.

Two different colours of top-wash used on the leaflets

Habit sketch: Painting the stems

I actively enjoy painting stems because it’s so easy.  Mix up the right colour (as always, check with the plants in front of you.  It’s so important to keep referring to the plants you’re illustrating if you want to get details such as form and colour right).  This is a sap green plus a little yellow ochre, perhaps a touch of blue, and plenty of a clear bright yellow such as Cadmium light.

Then just outline the stems, following the pencil lines.  You can apply a little more pressure to one side of the stem than to the other.  This helps suggest a light source, and shadow.  Traditionally in botanical illustration, the light source comes from the top left, so the heavier lines are to the right of each stem.

You can also add ridges, furrows, or textures with simple lines if that’s appropriate for the species you’re working with.  With Cow parsley, the stems are ridged, prominently so towards the base of the plant.

Outlining the stems

Once the illustration is completely dry, dilute the colour you used for the stems with plenty of water.  Then simply put this watery wash over your stems and allow it to dry.

Putting a watery top-wash onto the main stem

Habit sketch: Painting the flowers

With habit sketches, the precision and detail of each flower is compromised in an effort to represent the entire plant.  So there are no individual petals to portray, just the frothy mass of flowers that constitute each umbel (or flowering head).

Illustrating white flowers is really hard – you need to show their form without making them look like they’re another colour.  For more on this subject, check out my blog or my Youtube film.  In this case, the shadows cast by each umbel are going to be key, and will be what we use to represent some tonal depth.  As with the leaves and stems, out light source is from the top left; so the shadows will fall from the right hand side of each umbel.

To ensure the flowers look clean and white, I mix a light blue.  Cerulean blue is light and bright enough.  Dilute it to a very pale tone, then pick out the shadows with the tip of your brush.

Adding shadow to the flowers

I work from the top of the plant downwards.  this helps me avoid resting my hand in wet paint and smearing the illustration.  Series 7 brushes are expensive, but they justify their cost by holding their tips.  When you’re applying tiny amounts of pale paint to the nooks and crannies of an illustration, the accuracy you can get from your tools is really important.  For more on my choice of paintbrushes, click here.

Applying blue to show shadow in the central flowers

Habit sketch: The root

The root tends to be included in a habit sketch, specially if it’s an important diagnostic feature of the species.  Please note that it’s illegal to uproot flowers in the wild – I happen to have cow parsley growing in my Aunt’s garden, and she was happy for me to unearth a few plants to get at the roots.

Illustrating these tap roots couldn’t be easier. In exactly the same way as you tackled the stems, outline the root.  I mixed some Vandyke brown with yellow ochre.  Remember to pick out the texture and root hairs, too.  Once dry, dilute the mixed colour and pop the watery top wash over the whole root.  Done.

Putting a top-wash on the Cow parsley taproot

Habit sketch: Adding shadows

Now the illustration is more or less complete, it needs shadows to bring it to life.  I favour a mix of purple and cobalt blue, sometimes with a dash of Vandyke brown.  Using this, and being really careful not to go too dark too fast, I pick out the darkest shadows.

This is an important stage.  Judicious application of shadows can help clarify muddy or messy areas of a sketch.

Adding shadows to clarify a leaf’s structure

I always put shadows below each flowering head, and frequently pick out the tips of leaves to help the eye find the edges of the illustration.

Again, because the scale of the illustration shows an entire plant, you’ll find it hard to accurately represent the shadow details on each portion of each leaf.  This is one of the drawbacks of a habit sketch.  I often find myself trying to pull in more detail than is possible.  there has to be an element of “giving the impression” of a plant when it comes to habit sketches.  I’ll admit to struggling with this looseness at times.

Fixing mistakes

Inevitably, sometimes when we paint we make mistakes.  Quite often I’ll think that a stem I painted is too wide, or perhaps a top-wash has overflowed an edge.  There’s no need to despair.

Using white gouache to fix mistakes

I use Winsor and Newton white gouache, permanent white, to fix my mistakes.  I use it really thick, straight from the tube or mixed with a tiny amount of water.  It helps sharpen up messy edges, or will hide a mistake.  It should be noted that using this is fine for your own work and for work that’s going to be reproduced (it doesn’t show up on scans); however, if you plan on selling your original artwork then the use of white gouache is frowned on.

Conclusion

And that’s it!  The illustration is finished.

Last step is to erase the underlying pencil lines.  If you’ve got a good hot press paper, you should be able to do this without damaging any of the paint (no, I don’t understand why this works either).  I’d suggest going easy on the rubbing out around the flowers as the only marks suggesting them are the pale blue shadows and the pencil.  A tougher approach can be used on the stems and leaves and root.

Hopefully, this illustration immediately suggests an entire Cow parsley plant growing in the wild.  Habit sketches tend to accompany much more detailed botanical illustrations which help clarify exact structures of stem, root, leaf, fruits, and flowers.  I find them pretty hard to illustrate, but exceptionally useful when it comes to identifying wild flowers in the field.

And now, I hope, you’ll have some idea of how to go about creating your own illustration of an entire plant; your very own habit sketch.

Completed habit sketch of Cow parsley with paint box

To see a real-time film of me completing this illustration and discussing the process, please check out the film below.  Thanks.

The post Habit sketch of Cow parsley: step by step appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Sketchbook studies

All the botanical illustrations I do for FOR are in a sketchbook format.  I love working this way; it gives me the opportunity to include tons of details alongside a larger illustration of the whole plant.  Over the years I’ve figured out what elements I need to include for each plant, so can figure out the composition before getting started.  In general, details of flowers, fruits seeds, roots, and a cross section of the stem is needed.  These elements need to be accompanied by a habit sketch, a full colour image that shows the entire plant growing, and close ups of any unusual characteristics that the plant may have.  I always include written notes, as much to jog my own memory as to help the viewer.

Cow Parsley Sketchbook study Anthriscus sylvestris

Another appealing thing about the sketchbook studies is that you can leave parts of the illustration unfinished.  This gives me the opportunity to get into really intense detail on things like an individual leaf, or one bract.  The pressure to have the entire drawing completed in full colour is gone, which makes the process more relaxing.

Cow Parsley in the spring

For those of you who have been in the British countryside in early June, you’ll already know all about the Cow parsley.  If frothes up along hedgerows, spilling tiny white flowers out into rarely-used roads and paths.  At the same time, the May blossom is out, so you often have the wonderful sight of lots of white blossom curving down from the shrubs and trees, being met by the Cow parsley flowers growing upward from margins of fields and lanes.  It’s very beautiful.

Drawing the Cow Parsley

Umbellifers, like Cow parsley, are a real challenge to draw.  I’m sure I’ve moaned about the challenges before in blogs on Hogweeds.  The problem is that the plant is often really tall and leaves spread widely from the stem.  However, each element of the plant is tiny.  The flowering heads are made from hundreds of tiny individual flowers.  the outermost ones are zygomorphic, meaning their outermost petals are a different shape to those of the internal flowers.  The leaves are divided, or pinnate.  Sometimes divided several times over, as with the Cow parsley.  This results in very beautiful and feathery leaves.  But combining the size with the detail is very difficult, hence my aversion to all members of the Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) family.  I love the way they look.  I live in fear of being asked to illustrate them!

This commission came in at the height of Cow parsley season.  I spent a morning gathering perfect plants, taking photos, and considering the best approach to the illustration.  Once home, I pinned an entire plant up against the trampoline in the garden, with a sheet behind.  I always take photos at the same time, sadly plants don’t live forever and some wither within hours of being picked.

Cow parsley set up to draw in the garden

Cow Parsley: Flowering times and leaves

Identifying Cow parsley is easy, mainly because of when it flowers.  It’s the earliest of these white-flowered umbellifers to bloom, especially in the southern UK.  And it’s certainly the most common.  Look for it from early April through June; by July all you’ll see is some basal leaf rosettes and seed-heads.

Cow parsley sketchbook study done back in 2015

The leaves set the plant apart from other common and similar species, such as Hogweeds.  They are 2-3 pinnate, which means they’re divided into leaflets, then each of these leaflets is sub divided.  It gives them a feathery, fern-like appearance. They tend to be a muted spring green, although can be tinged red or yellow when stressed by drought.

Cow parsley leaf variety and plant overview to show difference between small upper and large lower leaves

Leaves either grow from a basal rosette at the bottom of the plant, or alternately up the stem.  Lower leaves are borne on long, broad stalks, higher up the plant the leaves have far shorter and thinner petioles.  The big basal leaves can be up to 30cm, with individual divided lobes measuring 10 – 30mm

Cow parsley: Stems

Stems are gently ridged, and hollow.  They don’t have blotches of colour like some other Apiaceae species.  The stems can grow from 50 – 150cm, making this quite a tall plant.  Stems tend to be slightly downy at the top, and hairless down by the base of the plant.

Cow parsley stems

Cow parsley: Flowers

The frothy flowering heads of this plant family are umbels; these are lots of little groups of flowers carried on stalks or rays.  Each umbel has 6 – 12 of these rays which are about 2cm long.  The arrangement of flowers has males in the centre and hermaphrodite flowers around the margins.  Unless you’re inclined to get your hand lens out, this won’t be immediately obvious, although you’ll certainly see a difference in size between the inside and margin flowers.

Cow parsley flowers and detail of a small umbel seen from above

Each flower has 5 white petals and is 3 – 5 mm across. A whole umbel measures 10 – 60cm, but there’s plenty of variety.

There are no bracts right below the flowers, but some appear lower down.  Sepals are there but are so tiny as to be inconspicuous.  There are 5 stamen and 2 thin stigma.

The outermost flowers are zygomorphic which means their petals are of different sizes.

Cow parsley: Fruit

Fruit are 6-9mm long and carried in pairs.  They start green and become brown at maturity.  Each one has a short beak-like tip.

Cow parsley seeds

Conclusion

Why do I love Cow parsley so much?  Well, it’s a combination of factors.  The delicacy of the frond-like leaves is visually very pleasing.  The mass of scented flowers smell of the countryside.  And the way Cow parsley lines lanes and hedges is a harbinger of warmer days, and long golden hours spent revelling in an English summertime.  So, for all of these reasons, and despite the issues with detail and scale, I’m happy to go on learning and drawing this gorgeous plant.

Illustration completed for FSC guide to Flowers of Walks & Waysides

Please see my step by step Youtube film below

The post Cow Parsley: All about an Umbellifer appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

This is the third in my series on common trees, and this time it’s the Ash tree under the spotlight.

The Ash Fraxinus excelsior is one of our commonest trees, and is steeped in folklore.  It’s easy to identify, and the timber is extraordinarily strong and versatile

Identification: Tree shape

Ash trees have domes crowns, and grow up to 40m.  In winter, they can be easily recognized as the ends of branches and twigs turn upwards.

They also have distinctive matt, black buds which would be hard to mistake for any other species.  Ash grows in woodland, fields, and many other habitats.  It’s one of the commonest British trees with over 150 million mature trees in the UK (The Conversation, 2019).

Identification: Leaves

Leaves of the ash are opposite. Each compound leaf comprises 9 to 13 short-stalked leaflets up to 7cm long, in opposite pairs.  There is always one lone leaflet at the tip.  This arrangement is called “Odd-pinnate”.  (For more on compound vs simple leaves, have a look at my blog).  Leaflets have long tips and small teeth on the margins (for more on leaf shape and margins check out my blog).

Identification: Flowers

Flowers of the ash emerge before the leaves (which are often amongst the last to unfurl in spring).  Female and male flowers are carried on separate twigs, are without petals, and look like little purplish tufts.

Identification: Fruit

Like the Sycamore, the Ash has winged seeds, or samara (for more on samaras, which are basically just winged achenes, check out my blog.  These are borne in clusters, with a single wing.  Like Sycamore, ash seeds spin to the ground in a most satisfying manner.

Identification: Bark

Twigs are grey, and the tree bark is greyish-green.  It becomes rough and fissured in older trees.

Similar Species

Several trees have similar odd-pinnate leaves, but should be easy to distinguish from the Ash.  These include Elderberry Sambucus nigra, which is smaller, has highly scented frothy blossoms, pale bark, and lots of juicy purple berries in autumn.  Walnut Juglans regia, tends to be a more substantial tree.  It too has compound leaves, although these tend to be a paler green than the Ash.  Walnut flowers are carried in green catkins, and the fruit is (of course) the edible walnut.

Elderberry Sambucus nigra

Mountain ash or Rowan Sorbus aucuparia is another similar species.  However, it tends to be much smaller than the ash, has frothy white blossoms, and carries wonderful clusters of orange berries.  The leaves have sharply serrated margins, and are blunter than ash.  Leaflets are stalkless.

Rowan Sorbus aucuparia

History

In Scandinavia, Ash was worshipped as a sacred tree and Odin (the most powerful of the Norse gods) was said to have carved man from a piece of ash.

The Tree of the World, an enormous mythological Ash, appears in Nordic mythology.  Also known as Yggrasil, its branches, trunk and roots entwined heaven, earth, and the underworld.

Ash was said to ward off witches, and a piece of ash carried in the pocket would ward them off, as well as keeping you safe from goblins and snakes.  Farming tools made of iron and ash would protect the crops from witchcraft.  Burning ash logs would chase the evil spirits from a room.  Ash growing with Oak and Hawthorn signified the realms of the Fairy folk and otherworldly spirits.

Medicinally, passing an ill child through a cleft in an Ash would help healing.  If you had a break or rupture, splitting a sapling and passing the patient through it would help.  You bound up the tree (and, one assumes, the patient) and when the tree had healed, so too had the patient.

Uses

Ash keys are edible if you boil them a few times, then pickle them.

However, it’s the wood of ash that makes the tree so valuable.  It’s almost white; and incredibly durable, flexible, and pliable.

Items made from ash include sledges, furniture, oars, tool handles, skis, hockey sticks, and even form part of the Morgan car.  Rob Penn wrote a rather wonderful tree about the plethora of things that could be made from just one ash tree, “The Man Who Made Things out of Trees”.  My other half makes gravel bikes using ash, and has plenty to say about it’s natural shock-absorbing capacities, and beauty.  If it seems unlikely, take a look at his website, Twmpa Cycles.

Threats

As with all British trees, ash are cleared when hedgerows are grubbed up and habitat is lost to development.

This amazing tree is also under serious threat from Ash dieback.  This fungal disease is projected to wipe out 95% of our ash trees, in a similar way to the eradication of Elm when Dutch Elm disease appeared. It’s estimated this loss could cost the UK up to£15 billion (The Conversation, May 2019).

The fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (previously known as Chalara fraxinea) affects the ash in a number of ways.  It causes the leaves to wither, and the crown of the tree to thin.  It also causes legions and cracks in the bark which allow the entry of other pathogens.

Young saplings will succumb quickly, but older trees hold out until another agent, such as Honey fungus, attacks it in its weakened form.

Ash dieback symptoms

There is no cure or treatment for Ash dieback, and it seems likely that our love for imported plants explains why the fungus is now ravaging the countryside.

For more on Ash dieback (also known as Chalara or Chalara dieback), check out the Forestry Commission website, and for information on the economic affects have a look at The Conversation’s article.

Conclusion

 The ash is a beautiful tree, and common across the UK.  Its wood is incredibly useful, and its folklore many-layered and interesting.  The fact that such a part of the British countryside will soon become a rarity causes me a great deal of pain.  All I can suggest is that while many of our ash trees remain, get out into nature and enjoy them.

Little owl Athene noctua with Ash leaves behind

References for this blog include the excellent “The Greenwood Trees” by Christina Hart-Davies, and the Reader’s Digest “The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain” (out of print but commonly available second-hand), and Collins Flower Guide by David Streeter.

Take a look at my other blogs on British trees, the Oak and the Sycamore.

The post Trees: Ash appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Identification: Tree shape

The tree grows to 35m and has a domed outline, with dense foliage.  Trees often have heavy lower branches.  It’s a deciduous species, and grows fast in a wide range of habitats, including windy and salty areas.

Identification: Leaves

Sycamore have large, distinctive five lobed leaves, 6 – 17cm wide.  Upper lobes cut through the leaf to around the mid-point, while the bottom lobes may not be fully separated from the rest of the leaf.  Margins are bluntly toothed (for more on leaf margins see my blog https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2013/11/leaf-shape-margins-venation-and-position/).  The upper surface of the leaf is a dark green in mature leaves, paler underneath.

Leaves frequently have black spots, known as “tar spot”.  This is caused by the Rhytisma acerimun fungus and seems to do no harm.

Leaf stalks are frequently flushed a striking scarlet.

In autumn, the leaves tend to turn pale yellow to ochre, and often are still flushed with green when they fall from the tree.  For information on how to illustrate an autumn Sycamore leaf, check out my blog.

Identification: Flowers

Flowers appear at the same time as the leaves, and are tumbling racemes of tiny yellow-green blossoms, each panicle from 5 – 20cm long.

Both sepals and petals are small and yellow-green, and the first flowers to appear are males, with 8 stamens.  Once fruits begin to form, the male flowers borne on the same panicle will bloom.  This avoid self-pollination.

They are a good source of pollen and nectar to visiting insects.

Identification: Fruit

The winged seeds of the Sycamore may well be the most instantly recognisable aspect of this tree.  They’re paired, but separate and spin as they fall, earning them the nickname of “helicopters”.

The angle between the two seeds is acute and narrow (Compared to other Acers) – this is relevant in distinguishing it from other maple species.

Identification: Bark

Bark of the Sycamore is grey-ish and cracked.  It matures to a pink-brown colour.

Similar Species

The Norway maple Acer platanoides and Field maple Acer campestre are also pretty common in Britain, but the species are easy enough to tell apart.

Norway maple is a smaller and thinner tree than the sycamore, with a maximum height of 27m.  It has paler, spikier leaves, and longer petioles.  Flowers are borne in upright racemes, and appear before the leaves.  The Norway maple fruit have a wider space between them than the Sycamore.

Field maple                   Norway maple                       Sycamore

Field maple is smaller than Sycamore, reaching 26m.  its leaves are smaller, and bluntly toothed, and have five lobes which are less deeply cut than Sycamore leaves.  Flowers are borne in erect clusters.  The winged fruit are very widely spaced, almost in a straight line.

Field maple                   Norway maple                       Sycamore

History

Sycamore was only introduced to the UK at the end of the 15thC, so would have been a novelty to King Henry VIII as he went hunting with his courtiers.

Because it can tolerate wind, it was often planted near houses and isolated farms.  There it would not only act as a wind break, but also cast a deep shadow that would keep the dairy cool in summer.

On a more sombre note, Sycamore were used for gallows in the West of Scotland, earning them the moniker “dool trees” (“grief trees).

A Sycamore planted nest to an Ash warned coachmen of a crossroads ahead.

Beneath a Sycamore tree in Dorset, the Tolpuddle Martyrs met in 1834.  They formed a society that would demand wages which didn’t leave them and their families starving, and were transported to Australia for their pains (but were pardoned and returned home 2 years later).  The tree still stands and is known as the Martyr’s Tree.

Uses

Sycamore wood is pale, easy to work, and resistant to warping.  It’s also fast growing, with trees being ready for felling at 60 years.

Furniture makers and wood turners use the wood, and it makes attractive rippled veneers.

It’s been used to make milk buckets as it didn’t flavour the milk.  Sycamore wood rollers in textile mills didn’t splinter, so the cloth remained without snags and undamaged.

It’s also been used for musical instruments, especially violins

Conclusion

Although it’s a relative new-comer to Britain, Sycamore trees are now widespread in many habitats.  It’s useful for timber, holds a place in history, and is pretty easy to identify.  And the winged seeds are always fun to fling into the air, and watch as they spiral neatly back down to earth.

References for this blog include the excellent “The Greenwood Trees” by Christina Hart-Davies , and the Reader’s Digest “The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain” (out of print but commonly available second-hand)

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The English oak Quercus robur truly is an iconic tree.  English Oak is also known as the Common oak, and the Pedunculate oak.  Across the fields of Britain, lone oaks stand in meadows, and form thick woodlands rustling with wildlife.  Oaks produce hard-wearing timber.  They are thoroughly bound up in religion, folklore, and mythology.

Identification: Tree shape

Oak trees are sturdy, and old trees can have a girth of up to 17m.  Their large branches grown from a short trunk, with a large crown.  Trees can grow to 37m tall.

Identification: Leaves

Oak leaves are very distinctive, with 3 to 5 pairs of unequal, blunt lobes.  They’re alternate, and have little or no stalk.  Either side of the leaf has four or five lobes.  At the base there are little flaps or “ears” which give a curved shape, known as auricles.  The underside of the leaf is hairless.

Identification: Flowers

Oak flowers are small and may well have evaded your attention.  They’re yellowish green and borne in catkins.  Male and female flowers are carried in different catkins.  Female ones are erect and have 2 to 4 flowers, which are flushed red.  These will be pollinated by the end of May and develop into acorns.  Male catkins droop and consist of more blooms.  Flowers are wind pollinated, hence their small size and lack of showy petals.

Identification: Fruit

Everyone can identify an acorn.  Most of us have pretended to be one when very small, growing into a large oak tree.  Acorns are actually nuts surrounded by a cup-like structure known as a cupule.

They’re 2 – 2.5cm long, and grown in clusters of 1 to 4.  English oak acorns are carried on long, stiff stalks.  In autumn, the acorns turn from a pale bright green to brown, and fall in their masses to the ground.

Sometimes, acorns are afflicted with Knopper gall.  This is caused by the tiny gall wasp Andricus quercuscalicis and cause the acorn to become twisted and distorted.

Identification: Bark

Bark starts out smooth and shiny. It becomes finely vertically fissured and cracked with age.

Similar species

There are several species of oak in the UK, but only the Sessile oak Quercus petraea shares the rounded lobes of English oak leaves.  It can be told apart from the English oak in various ways.

Sessile oak leaves have flat bases, lacking the auricles of the English oak.  Leaves have clear stalks, whereas the English oak leaves have almost none.   Sessile oak leaves have hairs on the midrib vein on the underside of the leaf.  They have 4 to 6 pairs of equal lobes.  English oak leaves are glabrous below, and lobes are uneven.  Sessile oak acorns have no stalk, and are shorter and fatter.  The acorn of the English oak has a long stalk.

Other species of oak have spikier leaves, or leaves with less distinct lobes.  These include the Scarlet oak Quercus coccinea, Red oak, Quercus borealis, and Pin oak Quercus palustris.  There’s also the  Lucombe oak Quercus x hispanica, Turkey oak Quercus cerris (with its’ furry acorn cups), and the Hungarian oak Quercus frainetto.

History: Building

Oak has long been used for building as it is extremely durable and strong.  Shingles, beams, and steeples across Britain are built with oak.  Salisbury cathedral boasts the tallest spire in England.  It is supported on a lattice work of 2641 tons of thirteenth century oak beams.

Oak was used for wheel spokes, ladder rungs, and shipbuilding.  Henry VIII’s warships were made from oak, much of it coppiced.  It took up to 3,000 mature oaks to build one ship.  Oak trees were grown into curves to supply “compass timber” for the bow and keel.  In fact, during the reign of Elizabeth I, laws were passed to promote the planting of oak and to limit its felling.

Curved timbers were also used in cruck frames, called for by house builders.  Half-timbered houses are built with oak frames.

The Three Tuns pub in Hay-on-wye

The high tannin content in oak bark has meant it’s been used for tanning leather for thousands of years.

History: Folklore

Vikings saw the oak as the tree of their god of thunder, Tor.  It has also been dedicated to other thunder gods; Jupiter, Zeus, and Thunor.  Oak is often struck by lightning which explains the connection.

Symbolising health and long life, bride grooms would carry acorns in their pockets.  Couples would get married under oaks until the church banned the practise.  Instead, married couples would race from the alter to the oak, and dance around it for luck.  Dreaming of oak suggested good health.  Christian preachers read and gave sermons under oaks.  King Charles II hid in the hollow oak at Boscabel house (in the village where I grew up), to escape the parliamentarians.

History: Food & Medicine

Acorns were ground into a flour to make bread before the cultivation of wheat, and were vital provisions for pigs which roamed free in the forests.

The bark of oak was made into a gargle for sore throats, ground acorns made a snuff to treat nosebleeds.  There are suggestions that oak leaves may have been used to treat diarrhea.

Oak apple galls were (and indeed still are) ground up to make a beautiful and permanent ink.

Uses

Oak is still used today for building, notably in oak panelling and furniture.  Its’ hard-wearing properties make it ideal for flooring, and oak veneers are popular.  Whisky barrels are still made of oak, and it’s a good choice for fence posts and firewood.

Threats

There are threats to the sturdy oak tree, alas.  They get cleared when hedgerows are grubbed up and habitat is lost to development.

They also are prone to Oak sudden death, or Ramorum dieback.  This is caused by the oomycete fungus Phytophthora ramorum.  The disease causes bleeding, dieback, and canker. Luckily for the English oak, this disease seems to cause more death in its’ American cousins.  Unfortunately for British forestry, it has spread to Japanese Larch where it is doing untold damage.

Oak are also susceptible to other diseases such as Acute Oak Decline (AOD).  This leaves dark cankers and causes crown thinning and death.  For more on AOD and other tree pathogens check out the Forestry Research site.

Conclusion

The English oak is such a glorious tree.  Nothing beats its gnarled shape, sentinel in a field or meadow.  Oak woods are an extraordinary habitat for animals ranging from insects to deer.  These deciduous woodlands create space for other wild flowers to grow and thrive.

Over the centuries, oak has been used in religion and spirituality, as medicine, for ink, barrels, house building, and warships.  Acorns have fed untold herds of pigs and provided bread.

This common British tree has been many things to us, and remains a glorious plant and an important iconic tree.

References for this blog include the excellent “The Greenwood Trees” by Christina Hart-Davies , and the Reader’s Digest “The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain” (out of print but commonly available second-hand) , and Collins Flower Guide by David Streeter.

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I’m very fond of these plants; that warm, mauve blue coupled with the glossy green leaves makes for a pretty garden plant.  It was a pleasure to spend time comparing the Lesser periwinkle, Vinca minor (a problematic invasive species in Sweden) with the Greater periwinkle, Vinca major.

Another appealing aspect of the Periwinkle species is that telling these two species apart isn’t nearly as tricky as some plants can be (see Comparing Hogweed Heracleum species, and Comparing Goldenrod species  for a taste of what I mean!)

Size

Lesser periwinkle is, as the name suggests, smaller than Greater periwinkle.  Although both have a spreading growth pattern, and put out vegetative stems, all aspects of the Lesser are a little smaller than that of Greater.  In both cases, these trailing stems help the plant colonise new areas, and can form pretty thick ground cover in ideal conditions.  This isn’t surprising, the trailing stems can be up to a meter long!

Lesser periwinkle, V. minor

Lesser periwinkle has one, (rarely two) flowers at each axil.  Greater periwinkle has up to 4.

Leaves

Lesser periwinkle leaves are around 4cm long, whilst those of the Greater periwinkle are almost twice the length, averaging 6cm length.  There’s a clear difference in leaf shape too.  Lesser periwinkle has elliptical leaves with a pointed tip.

Working on illustrating leaves of V. minor

Greater periwinkle leaves are heart-shaped (or cordate; for more on terminology of leaf shape check out my earlier blog).

Lesser vs Greater periwinkle leaves

The petiole, or leaf stalk is noticeably longer in Greater, up to 20mm.  Lesser periwinkle leaves lie far closer to the main stem, with petioles no longer than 3mm.

V. minor plant and illustration showing small leaves and short petioles

Finally, the leaves of the Greater periwinkle have tiny hairs at their base.  These are absent in the Lesser periwinkle.  I did spot these hairs, but it took some doing, and was an instant diagnostic.

I did have the challenge of only having a variegated species of Vinca minor to work with, disregarding the paler blotches can be quite tricky.

Stems

The stems of both plants look similar, being hairless and green, or flushed crimson.  However, Lesser periwinkle stems can root along their length, while Greater periwinkle tend only to root at the stem tips.

Lesser periwinkle showing roots along stem length (not only at tip)

Flowers

Lesser periwinkle flowers are smaller than those of its cousin.  They average 2.5cm across, whereas those of Greater periwinkle are around 5cm wide.  Both periwinkle species have five slightly unequal petals.

Lesser periwinkle flowers

There’s a difference in petal colour, too.  V. minor flowers are a paler and pinker blue, sometimes almost a lilac hue.  V. major flowers are a darker blue-purple.

Lesser vs Greater periwinkle flowers

I was incredibly lucky to find both periwinkle species in flower as I illustrated them, it would have been hard to get the colours right without the flowers right there.  The V. major flower was noticeably smaller than those blooming earlier in the summer, but as long as you’re aware of these seasonal differences you can compensate.

Obviously, it’s vital to keep specimens fresh as you draw them.  I rather enjoy the classy tone the Babycham glass gave to proceedings…

Classy reference

Calyx

The calyx is the outermost part of a flower, which is frequently green and often divided into sepals.  In the periwinkles, it helps differentiate between the species.

V. minor has a smaller calyx (0.5cm long) which is hairless, and has blunt tips.

Calyx of V. major are twice the size, and have pointy tips.  They are fringed with hairs which are absent in the Lesser periwinkle calyx.

Calyx of Lesser periwinkle vs Greater periwinkle

I’m not lying when I say spotting the differences in hair distribution, even under my dissecting microscope was a challenge.  But then I only had one or two calyx from each species to examine.  Looking for such distinctions is always easier when there’s a glut of fresh material to examine!

Conclusion

Before looking at these plants in detail, I didn’t even realise there were two species of periwinkle!  It’s lucky that telling them apart was so straight-forward, and that I managed to get my hands of live reference before autumn closed in.

So if you want to know if that plant in your garden is Lesser or Greater; look our for leaf shape and stalk length, flower size and colour, and get that hand lens out on the calyxes.

This unframed original illustration is available to buy for £125, if you’re interested do drop me a line on info@lizzieharper.co.uk.

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Habit sketch of Lupin, Lupinus polyphyllus

Research: Gathering reference

The first step is to co-ordinate and gather information.  I know that there need to be sketches and notes on leaves, flowers, and seeds.  Along with a habit or growth sketch, there also has to be a comparison between Lupinus polyphyllus and the garden lupin Lupinus x regalis.  Lupins hybridise readily which adds confusion when figuring out differences between species.

My normal reference books don’t cover these species, as neither are common garden escapes in the UK.  (Flora of the British Isles by Clapham, Tutin and Moore (3rd ed) and New Flora of the British Isles by Stace are excellent for information on wild plants.)

Luckily, Collins Flower Guide by Streeter, and The Wildflowers of the British Isles by Streeter and Gerrard include visual and written descriptions.

Online resources are good too.  There’s NatureSpot, the Invasive Species Compedium, and Kew’s Plants of the World online.  In a pinch, you can look at Wikipedia as well, but it’s important to be on the look out for mistakes.

I take notes from lots of sources, then amalgamate them into a list of details to include.

Research: Gathering images

Once the written research is done, I know what specific details I need to get photos or illustrations of.  In an ideal world, the lupin would be in flower and I could draw from life, but at the time of writing (spring) nothing is in bloom, and certainly no lupins.

I use the same visual and online references as before, always cross-referencing photos with written notes and other images of the plant.  It’s so easy to label a photo incorrectly, and I’d hate to perpetuate the error.

Thumbnail sketches

With all the reference sorted, I start plotting how the image will look on the page.

I plan where the central lupin illustration will sit, then add the details around the edges.  I have to leave space for written notes as well as for the images.

Thumbnail sketch with information and images required

Details of the Lupin and materials

I use the same materials I always use.  Winsor & Newton watercolour paints, a propelling P205 Pentel mechanical pencil, Winsor & Newton series 7 brush (size 1), and I’m working on Fluid 100 hotpress paper.

The leaves are made of 10 to 17 leaflets, each being 2.5 – 5cm across.  The petioles are twice as long as the leaflets.  These leaf-facts can easily be added to the main plant.  I add water droplets as one of the things I always notice is how silvery they look in the centre of each leaf.

Finished piece: Leaves of the lupin

The flowers are showy, carried in terminal racemes.  Each one is 12-14 mm long.  The calyx is two-lipped.  The style is curved, the stigma is capitate (shaped with a blob at the top),  Stamens are monadelphous (the filaments are fused into a tube).

Seeds are legumes (like peas and beans), in flattened pods.  Pods are silky and become browner with age, and there may be contractions between the seeds.  Seeds are mottled, with 5 to 9 appearing in each pod.

Finished piece: Seeds and seedpods of the Garden Lupin

Comparison to Lupinus x regalis

L. x regalis has smaller and thinner leaves.  This can easily be shown with two leaflets presented as line drawings, side by side.

Comparison line drawing of the leaflets of two lupin species

The flowering spike looks different, chunkier and more compact.  Flowers are bunched up towards the top.  Each flower has a prominent claw on its keel.  Unlike L. polyphyllus, L. x regalis has 9 to 15 leaflets per leaf.  The petiole is shorter.  Flowers can be orange or yellow; these colours don’t occur in L. polyphyllus.

Pencil rough of flowering spike of L. x regalis

This is pretty straight-forward.  Along with the leaflet comparison, there will need to be a habit illustrations of L. x regalis with orange and yellow blooms.

Deciding where to place different elements

It’s important to help the eye travel around a composition, and to keep similar bits of information near one another.  Heavier illustrations, such as the habit drawing, need to be at the base of the page, to anchor it.  Because of this, I place this at the bottom right.  As a result, the details and illustrations of the seeds and pods fit in the bottom left.

The top left is used for flower cross sections from different views, and notes explaining the fusion of stamens.

The lupin sketch is wider at the base, so there’s room for written notes next to the flowering spike. There’s also room for the comparison notes.  The line drawing of the two leaflets fits in here, as does a study of a Lupinus x. regalis flower.

Pencil rough of the Garden Lupin, awaiting colour

The habit sketch of L. x regalis needed to be changed as the client wasn’t sure it felt right.  I rubbed it out, and the sheet instantly felt far easier to view.

The colours of the L. x regalis are far brighter than the gentle blues of our main lupin, so I decide to do the habit sketch on a separate sheet.  This means the eye won’t be distracted from the blue flowers, and makes the main lupin sketchbook sheet a more attractive finished piece.

Comparison of Lupinus x regalis and Lupinus polyphyllus flowering heads

The two flowering heads can sit alongside one another thanks to pasting them into position with Photoshop.

Applying watercolour

Once drawn up, I decide what medium to use for each part.  These decisions change as I paint.  The cross-sections of flowers were going to be simple line illustrations.  Colours, yes, but without detail or tone.  However, once I got onto them I enjoyed painting them so much that I was loathe to stop.

Lupin flower cross sections and different views

Similarly, I planned to have two of the three leaves in graphite.  I changed my mind at the last minute as I feel the balance between colour and monochrome worked better with two leaves in green.

The green was tricky to mix.  It was based on cobalt green, with yellow ochre and cadmium yellow light.  There was also a touch of Vandyke brown and purple.

Lupin leaf

I adore the blue of the lupin flowers.  It’s a mix of Cobalt blue, a touch of purple, some opera pink and a drop of Doctor Martin’s Hydrous inks.  These inks mix in with watercolour and give a real kick to any colour.  The blue used here was Ultramarine.

The line drawings of the two leaves worked, and showed the differences in size and shape.  I normally do such drawings in pencil, but will use the technique of a coloured line drawing again.  As always, all painting was done with my Winsor & Newton series 7 brush.

Scale drawings

The final step was to provide a scale illustration, showing the size of the lupin plant next to a person.  I hate illustrating people, and am not good at it…  Providing a pen and ink and a full colour version gives some choice to the client.  I prefer the line drawing, and I’ll be interested to see which one the client ends up using.

Scale drawing of Lupin

The finished piece

Finally, it was complete.  All the elements had been researched, laid out, annotated, and illustrated.  I hope this way of conveying a lot of information is as useful to others as it is to me, it’s a helpful combination of written and visual facts.

Finished Garden Lupin sketchbook study page

The clients like the illustrations, and have already shared some of the information boards that they’ll be using at a horticultural conference.

I hope this blog gives an idea of how you go from the name of a plant, to a finished study.  Of course the information you need to include varies from species to species, but the lightness and flexibility of the sketchbook format is something I’m very fond of.

Lupin sketch in situ

The post Garden Lupin Sketchbook study appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Project overview

There are eleven plants in total, and each species needed certain aspects illustrating.  In all cases I need to supply an image of the plant, details of leaves and flowers, and a habit drawing with a person for scale.  With plants where disambiguation was an issue, there also has to be precise images that show differences between similar species.

Small balsam Impatiens parviflora

Research

The hardest part of this project is finding the right reference.  In the middle of winter (when I worked on this project), there’s no chance of finding so much as a lone leaf growing.   I rely heavily on photo reference.  Some of the species on the list are not plants I’m familiar with (such as the Persian Hogweed), and I find myself entering Swedish plant names as I quest for the perfect image.

Persian Hogweed Heracleum persicum

Species Illustrated

I won’t go into the trials and tribulations presented by each plant here. The learning curve is steep and I learn a lot, fast.  The trickiest element is finding ways to show comparisons between similar species.  How do you put two stems, two flowers, a habit drawing, and a leaf outline of two plants onto one sheet of A3 paper?  There’s a lot of work relating to composition, and numerous sheets of scrap paper get covered in thumbnail composition sketches.  (Lots of my blogs, such as the one on Winter Jasmine include information and examples of doing such thumbnails).

Canadian Goldenrod Solidago canadensis pencil Rough

Approach to illustrations

The client wants sketchbook style illustrations, which is an approach I really enjoy.  I add enough information to give an understanding of the plant.  I avoid creating a finished and polished botanical illustration of each plant.

The focus is a line drawing of the whole plant, with a few leaves illustrated in full watercolour.  There’ll often be a graphite study of a leaf.  I might include a line drawing (in paint or graphite) of the leaf venation.  Other details, such as cross sections of flowers or information on fruits, will go around the central image.

Exploded seed pod and seeds of Small Balsam Impatiens parviflora

The species comparisons also go around the central image.  Below is an image of the Goldenrod sheet as a whole.

Canadian Goldenrod Solidago canadensis sketchbook sheet

And here’s a close-up of a comparison between the flowers of two similar species of Goldenrod flowers (seen in the top left of the larger sheet).

Comparison of Goldenrod Solidago species flowers

These sketchbook studies have an immediacy that pleases me.  I love the luxury of being able to be a little more experimental in what I include, leave out, or merely hint at.

Milkweed Asclepias syriaca showing how you can merely suggest leaves with a sketchbook study

Showcase of illustrations

Below is a selection of the finished illustrations.  My favourite is the lupin because it’s so unusual to be given a bright blue flower it work on.  The one I enjoyed least was the Tree of Heaven – painting dark glossy leaves is tough and getting the bark details right was a challenge.

Skunk cabbage sketchbook illustration

Lupin Lupinus polyphyllus sketchbook illustration

Japanese Rose Rosa rugosa sketchbook study

Japanese Hop Humulus japonicus sketchbook illustration

Tree of Heaven Ailanthus altissima sketchbook illustration

Re-use of existing illustrations

I’m vigorous in hanging onto my copyright when I work, and this job is yet another example of why it pays off.  (For more on this, look at my blog on doing the illustrations for Flora Margarine).  Several of the plants on FOR’s list were one’s I’d already illustrated.  The Himalayan balsam and Japanese Knotweed were done years ago for Gridline Magazine.  Further details of Japanese Knotweed was completed for “Unearthing the Truth” by Nicolas Seal.  The Japanese rose had been illustrated for “The Garden Forager” by Adele Nozedar.

All of these images needed supplementary details illustrating; seed pods, seedlings, stands of the plant in winter.  However, the Japanese Rose needed a complete re-draw.  However, this not only made the job speedier to deliver, but also saved the client on costs.

Scale Drawings

I’m alright at illustrating plants.  Becasue I’m used to it I know how to make the illustrations work out well.  The same can not be said of my attempts to illustrate people.  So there’s a mental block there that means any time I try to illustrate someone’s face, things go wrong.

The brief calls for scale habit drawings, using a person to show comparative sizes of the plants.

I use my long suffering husband as my “person”, and try to paint his face.  Certainly, I have to tweak it on Photoshop, and the finished product doesn’t look great.  Providing the person as a pen and ink line drawing, and in full colour gives the client options.

Although the figure illustrations aren’t a success, the information they convey about plant size is helpful.

Conclusion

Thanks to re-using illustrations and clear directions from the client I finish the commission ahead of schedule.

I’m paid, and learn new facts about plants I’ve not illustrated before.  I have a whole new batch of original illustrations which I can sell via my online gallery.  (Just enter the plant name into the search box).  And I remember how fortunate I am to have a job which I adore.

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Bloomsbury needed a few simple illustrations for their upcoming publication, “Gulls of the World” by Klaus Olsen.

These were to be pen and ink line drawings for anatomical reference.  They’ll be reproduced in black and white.  The art editor provided me with lots of reference to work from.  I love working in pen and ink, so this was a treat.

As with all job, its vital not to infringe anyone’s copyright by making a replica of an existing illustration.  With a little additional research and the reference provided, it was easy to create these images.

They were to be an overview of gull anatomy in flight, on the ground, a wing, and two gull heads.  One head with the common black cap and one without.

Anatomy of a gull in flight

I used my trusty Pentel P205 mechanical pencil to draw up the illustrations, choosing to do this onto watercolour paper (in this case Fabriano classico, but the new and less wonderful stock – for more on this see my blog on botanical illustration hot press papers).  Then I used a permanent ink felt tip (in this case a Uni pin fine liner 0.1).

Gull body anatomy

There was no need for shading or stippling.  However, I felt the illustrations needed a little more body.  I used very light watercolour washes to point out the differences in feathers, and areas of the bird that would be in shadow.

Gull wing anatomy diagram

Gull head diagrams

This wash was particularly useful with the gull heads as they made the illustrations less flat.  It allowed me to give the distinctive black head to the second image whilst avoiding heavy ink lines.

Head anatomy

Black headed gull anatomy illustration

Completing all these illustration took a little over a day.  Luckily Bloomsbury were pleased with the result.  In theory all they now need to do is to add a few labels and annotations, and to settle the invoice!

As I say, jobs like this only come up every now and then.  Although they sound simple, they are bread and butter to a freelancer, and very gratefully received.

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