Whilst recently researching the wildflower families, I fell down a fruit-shaped rabbit hole.  And it is because of the amount of variety shown in the fruit of the Rosaceae, or rose family.

Japanese rose Rosa rugosa

For more on what makes a plant a member of the Rosaceae, check out my recent blog Wildflower families: Rosaceae.

Where to start?  There’s a lot of variety, and taking a look at my Fruit variety and terminology blog might help.

Rosaceae Fruit: Aggregate Fruit

Rosaceae fruit are one to two seeded, and often form together into aggregates, or aggregate fruit.  Think of a blackberry or a raspberry.  Each of those little lumps (or drupelets) houses a seed.  They clump together to form what we see as one fruit, although it is an aggregate of many.  Think how many seeds you find when eating one blackberry!

Jersey Post copyright 2027 Jersey bramble Rubus caesarius

If you have time to spare, have a look at my step by step blog on painting a blackberry.

Rosaceae Fruits: Drupes

Some other Rosaceae grow drupes.  A drupe is a fleshy fruit which has a thin skin and grows around a central hard stone.  Inside the stone (or pip, or kernel) is the seed.

Plum Prunus prunus fruit

Plums and cherries are drupes.  In the states, the term “stone fruit” is used.  This refers to any soft fruit with a woody stone, such as apricots and peaches.

Peach Prunus persica with stone (and seed) removed

Rosaceae fruits: Aggregates of Achenes

Some have aggregates of single-seeded achenes.  Some of these have spines which catch onto fur for seed dispersal.  These are actually called awns, and are formed from the persistent remains of the style.

Piri Piri bur Acaena novae-zelandiae seedhead and individual achene with awns

Other examples include Herb bennet, Geum, and Mountain avens.

Water avens Geum rivale showing flower and seed head with awned achenes

Others, like Meadowsweet, twist their achenes together into a spiral.

Potentilla seed heads look a lot like those of the Ranunculaceae family, an assembly of achenes borne in a globe-like arrangement.

Rosaceae Fruit: The Pseudo-fruit (Rosehip)

Rosehips are not made from the carpels of a flower.  The seeds within are formed from carpels, with their thin coats.  But the red or orange fleshy part of a rosehip is called a hypanthium.  It is just a fleshy shell, housing the real fruit, the achenes (formed from carpels), each bearing one seed.  The hypanthium is formed from swollen receptacle flesh.

Japanese Rose Rosa rugosa rosehip cross section

The receptacle is the part of the plant where the flowering parts are attached, not the female flower parts themselves.  Receptacles lie below the flowering structure, and explains why we see that distinctive brown bit at the “bottom” of a rosehip.  They are the remnants of the calyx and other flowering structures, and if you look closely you can sometimes see old stamens.  Which makes that the “top” of the pseudo fruit, I suppose.

Rosehip anatomy diagram

Rosaceae Fruit: The Pome

One of the most commercially important Rosaceae, the apple, carries its’ seeds in a Pome.  A pome is a swelling of the receptacle, not the carpel.  It is built of several hypanthium (enlarged receptacle) which have grown together.

At the centre of this we find the pericarp which contains five to thirteen seeds (it’s commonly known as the apple core), depending on how successful pollination was.

Diagram showing the structure of the Pome (apple)

So next time you eat an apple or a pear, remember that the distinctive brown bit at the “bottom” is the residual flowering parts, specifically the calyx.

Pear sprig with blossom and fruit Pyrus communis

For more on pomes, check out this blog from Where the spruce eats.  To be sure you can tell your pome from your drupe, take a look at this blog from Toronto botanical garden.

Rosaceae Fruit: The Strawberry

The strawberry bears its’ seeds on the outside, and in fact every yellow seed is a strawberry fruit.  The fleshy part (which we eat so cheerily) is made from swollen receptacle tissue, rather like the apple (a pome).

Wild strawberry Fragaria vesca with external fruits and seeds on a swollen receptacle

However, the big difference is that the seeds of the strawberry are on the outside not the inside, and it is the only fruit which does this.  It is therefore not only delicious but also remarkable.

Conclusion

This blog is far from exhaustive, and I have no doubt I could find enough to write an entire blog about the core of an apple.  I hope this serves as an introduction to the variety and fascinating structures of the fruit of the  Rosaceae.

Sketchbook study of the Dog rose Rosa canina

The post Rosaceae Fruit appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

This series talks about some common wildflower families.  For basic terminology, look at my  the basics of botany blog, and another on different fruit types.  For more on scientific names, how they work, and why they matter,  look at What’s in a name 1 and part 2.  Take a look at  the other families I’ve looked at so far, the  Ranunulaceae (Buttercups), Caryophyllaceae (Campions), and Brassicaceae (Cabbages)  I hope to add more families over the coming months.

Rock cinquefoil Potentilla rupestris

I know a little about wildflowers,  but I am an amateur, and not a trained botanist.  So although I’ll try and get stuff right, if you see a mistake, please let me know.

Wildflower families: Rosaceae

The Rose family has 107 genera and over 3100 species globally.  Flowers have five or ten petals, and often have an epicalyx (see below).   Leaves have stipules, and tend to be alternate.  There’s a vast array of fruits in this family, from plums and apples to strawberries, Mountain avens with its dry achenes in one head, to Lady’s mantle with a lone seed in a receptacle.  As well as Roses, other Rosaceae garden flowers include Cotoneasters, Pyrocanthus, and Geums.  Our most common fruit crops are Rosaceae, and lots of highly varied wild flowers are in this family, including Cinquefoil, Meadowsweet, and Agrimony.

Entire leaved Cotoneaster Cotoneaster‌ integrifolius and other Cotoneaster species

(For more on telling Cotoneaster species apart, not a fun occupation, please check out my blog).

Rosaceae overview

Plants in this family have alternate leaves with stipules at their base.  A stipule is like a tiny leaf that grows in pairs at the base of a leaf stalk, next to the stem. Flowers have five or ten petals, lots of stamens, and can be solitary or in racemes. The name Rosaceae comes from the Latin for rose, Rosa.  There’s a suggestion that the name is far more ancient than that, possibly dated back to ancient Persia where ornamental roses were first grown.

Copyright Jersey Post: Roses Nostalgia Rosa Nostalgia

Some members of this family reproduce asexually, without seeds.  Strawberries do this with runners, while Raspberries, Blackberries, and some roses put up suckers at some distance from the parent plant.

Barren strawberry Potentilla sterilis showing a runner

Rosaceae Leaves

Rosaceae leaves are often lobed, with toothed or deeply notched margins.  (For more on leaf margins, look at my blog).  Some may be very deeply lobed, like Tormentil.

Tormentil Potentilla erecta

Some Rosaceae have compound leaves made of an array of smaller leaflets rather than simple ones  (For more on simple versus compound leaves check out my blog).  You can tell if a Rosaceae leaf is compound or simple by looking for a stipule.  You’ll only stipules at the base of a leaf, so if you look at a Rosaceae “leaf” and see no stipules, it could well be a leaflet.  Examine a rose leaf (compound, of many leaflets) or a Blackberry (likewise) and use the stipule position to decide where the stalk of the entire leaf (not that of a leaflet) attaches to the plant.  The shape of leaves, if not the size, is pretty consistent across the whole plant.

Agrimony Agrimonia eupatoria clearly showing basal stipules

Stipules can be tiny to really large, smooth to toothed.  Often the stipules can prove confusing as they resemble part of the main leaf.

Rosaceae Flowers

Rosaceae flowers are regular, with radial symmetry.  They have five petals, which tend to overlap, and five to ten sepals which also overlap but mostly do not fuse.

Blossom of Pear Pyrus communis

Some Rosaceae have an epicalyx, a whorl of bracts just below the calyx.  You can see this in the Cinquefoils and the Strawberry.  If you look closely at the green “top” of a strawberry, you can see the sepals, the epicalyx in a circle below them, and you may also see some residual stamens, clinging to the inner edges of the calyx array.  There’s a good blog on this, by The botanist in the kitchen.

Wild strawberry Fragaria vesca showing calyx and epicaylx

Flowers grow in compound clusters at the ends of the stem, known as cymes or racemes.  However, they can also be solitary.

They are bisexual with lots of stamens surrounding one or many free carpels.  The stamens, should you care to examine them, grow in whorls of 5 or more, but this can be really hard to see.  They bend inwards towards the flower.

Individual Hawthorn blossom Craetegus monogyna showing incurved stamens

Carpels (the female reproductive organ of a flower, consisting of a style, an ovary, and a stigma) tend to be superior, growing above the flowering structure.  In some species, they are Perigynous, meaning the flowering parts grow around the edge of the receptacle where the pistil (the tube down to the seed, through which pollen has to travel to fertilize the ovule and form a seed) is housed.  Cherries and roses are perigynous. For more on ovary positions look at my blog on the ovary.

Cherry Prunus avium

Rosaceae Fruit: Aggregates, Drupes and Achenes

There is an extraordinary amount of variety in the fruits of the Rosaceae, and I’ve ended up putting my research here into a separate blog which I’ll publish in a week or two.  Below is a summary.

Rosacea produce one to two seeded fruit, but that’s where the similarities end.

Consider the variation.  Like the Ranunculaceae, some species have assemblies of achenes. Some achenes have spikes to help dispersal, such as the Geum and Avens species.  Or have achenes twisted together so they look like a “mister whippy” ice-cream, a beautiful effect shown by Measdowsweet.

Assembled carpels of the Mountain avens Dryas octopetala

Some familiar soft fruit, like the blackberry and raspberry, are made of lots of individual fruits.  Each a little “blob” is called a drupelet, and contains one or two seeds.  These are known as aggregate fruit.  From the position of the calyx, you can tell these have developed from superior ovaries.

Copyright Jersey post 2017 Blackberry Rubus fruticosa

Drupes are formed when ovary tissue swells to become fleshy, enclosed in a thin skin.  At the centre of this you have a hard stone, a woody coat for the seed within.  Peaches, plums, cherries and apricots are drupes.

Plum Prunus prunus

Apples and pears are pomes.  A pome is formed from the receptacle, the area below the flowering structure.  This swells and within it you find the apple core with five to ten pips.

Somerset redstreak apple Malus domestica

Strawberries attach their fruit to the outside of a swollen receptacle.  The fleshy red bit isn’t a fruit at all.  The fruit is each of the tiny yellow seeds embedded in the red flesh.

Strawberries Fragaria × ananassa

Rosaceae: Other species

As well as the fruit discussed, Rosaceae contains the Lady’s mantle, Silverweed, Cinquefoil, Piri-piri bur, Rowan, Sorbus species, Cotoneasters, and (of course) roses.

Piri Piri bur Acaena novae-zelandiae

Conclusion

I hope this blog on the Rosaceae wildflower family was of some interest.  What a varied family!  I hope to do more of these blogs over the coming weeks and months.  References include my FSC botany course, the Common Families of Flowering Plants by Michael Hickey & Clive King, and information from Naturespot.

Rowan Sorbus aucuparia sprig with berries and blossom

The post Wildflower families: Rosaceae, the Rose family appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Completed Autumn fruits guide

Species to illustrate

As I had already completed some of the illustrations, I didn’t need to paint all 42 species featured.  However, there were a lot that either needed doing fresh, required a new illustration, weren’t in full watercolour, or had to have more details provided.  This gave me a healthy list of 18 illustrations to do.  the Guelder rose below is fine, but is in pencil so could not be used on a full colour guide.

Autumn fruit in the spring

My main problem with this job was the timing.  I was commissioned in January with all the illustrations needing completing by the end of April.  There aren’t many fruits and berries around in springtime!  However, there are plenty of pine cones, so I began by illustrating those.  Literally, the low-hanging fruit.  And the easiest of these was the Spruce.

Norway spruce Picea abies cone

Working out of season is by no means unusual, and there is plenty of online reference.  Websites such as Kew’s Online flora, Naturespot, iNaturalist, and old illustrations dating back centuries are invaluable.  (It’s vital not to simply copy photos or illustrations, as this is infringing copyright and is also illegal).  I refer to my sketchbooks.  Many years ago I worked on some sketchbook tree sketches for a series of postage stamps.  Species like the the Sweet chestnut, ash, and lime proved mighty helpful for this job.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa sketchbook study

I also have boxes of stuff in the attic, including ash keys and conkers.  Very handy.

Ash Fraxinus excelsior keys

Leaves

As well as the fruit, leaves needing illustrating.  This was much simpler, although I avoided choosing the freshest of leaves as they tend to be a brighter shade of green.  There is almost nothing that gives me greater pleasure than spending a day illustrating a leaf from life.

Small-leaved Lime leaf Tilia cordata illustration in progress

I got my hands on Field maple, Lime, Wych elm, Sweet chestnut, and Sycamore leaves.  The Elm involved some acrobatic clambering, and it took me three or four days to find a local Sweet chestnut tree.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa illustration in progress

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Horse chestnut

The trickiest species were those with unusual seed cases.  The spines of the Horse-chestnut, combined with the need to capture that rich, shiny mahogany conker colour was a case in point.  Having to figure out the geometry of the spines was key.  Which ones pointed in what direction, and where would the shadows fall?  Much easier if you have a conker case in hand.  (For more on this, see my blog on working from photo reference).  Because I couldn’t be totally certain of the play of light and shadows, I kept them muted which always reduces the impact of an illustration.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum

The conkers themselves were easier, once I decided how to approach them.  Laying down lines which were then topped with concentric circles of paler colours proved to be a satisfactory approach.

Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum conkers

The final illustration is something I’m pleased with, especially considering the bits of it that I invented!

Horse chestnut conker completed

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Spindle

The spindle is a thoroughly extraordinary tree.  Its’ leaves go an astonishing shade in autumn, and the fruit are bright orange within hot pink seed cases.  Sadly, this is a species I had not got a sketchbook study for, so I was working from an amalgamation of about 30 different photos and old engravings.

The geometry was a challenge, figuring out how the berries were held by the pods.  But it was the colours that were hardest to capture, as they varied a great deal between photographs.

Spindle Euonymus europaeus  berries detail

Some of the reference showed the leaves as a rich crimson, others seemed to suggest they were bright orange, or hot pink.  Obviously, leaf colour varies from plant to plant and leaf to leaf.  But finding a happy medium here was tough!  I ended up giving details of venation in reds and pinks and uniting the leaf with an orange top wash.

Spindle Euonymus europaeus leaf detail

I must have done something right, the original illustration has been sold and now graces a wall in London.

Completed illustration with my paint box

Challenges of illustrating autumn fruit: Sweet chestnut

I liked painting the leaf of the Sweet chestnut as I had my sketchbook to work from, and living leaves.  I wish I could say the same for the seed case.  Although I had a few old seed cases in the attic, they had all dried and turned brown years before.  The geometry of the prickles is really hard to untangle, so I ended up working closely from photos.  I worked from the outside in, then added depth to the shadows between the spines.

Sweet chestnut in progress

I found myself wishing that FSC had been able to use my pen and ink with top colour illustration, done a couple of years ago.  The medium looks very different though, and they were right to ask for a new pure watercolour image.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa pen and ink illustration

The chestnut itself was fine as I’ve got plenty of sketchbook notes on this.  It is also a lot easier to capture than that nest of bright green prickles.

Sweet chestnut Castanea sativa

Easy species to illustrate: The Alder

Marvellously, some species hang onto their fruit.  This is true of the Alder.

Alder illustration in progress

Yes, the woody cones have long since shed their seeds, but there they are, still in place on a branch.  It was extremely easy to pick a few sprigs and work closely from life on this one.

Alder Alder glutinosa

Easy species to illustrate: The Field maple

The field maple gave me everything.  Not only were the leaves out in abundance, but for some reason a lot of the winged seeds were already pretty well developed.  This made my job very simple, (although it did concern me in terms of climate change.)  Field maple grow in hedgerows, so I could reach my reference without stretching and clambering up onto fence posts.

The pinky red flush on the stems and outermost edge of the young winged seeds is a real joy to paint.

Field maple Acer campestre sprig

Easy species to illustrate: The Sycamore

I already had most of the elements of the Sycamore completed.  All we needed was the seeds.  The angle of the paired seeds is less horizontal than the Field maple, and this is one of the species specific traits that needed recording.   I chose to illustrate a fresh pair of winged seeds, and a much older, dark brown seed.  The latter has been sat on the windowsill in my studio for about three years, slowly degrading, so I was glad to finally get around to illustrating it.

Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus

This leaf was done for FOR Sweden last year.  In Scandinavia, Sycamore is considered an invasive species.  It was only introduced to Britain in the late 1500s.  For more on Sycamore, look at my tree blog.  There’s also a step by step blog explaining how to paint a leaf in autumn and an accompanying film, and another on illustrating a Sycamore tree.   No wonder I didn’t find illustrating this species tough, it’s clearly one I’ve been drawing and studying for ages!  I hadn’t even realised until I wrote this blog.

Sycamore leaf Acer pseudoplatanus

Easy species to illustrate: The Scots pine

In truth this was in no way easy.  the easy part was having access to both the pine needles, past illustrations, and pine cones.  The geometry of the pine cone is a thing of genius.  Until you want to draw it.  It’s all very well channelling your inner Fibonacci spiral, the fact that each facet of the cone projects outwards makes it a beastly subject to draw.  There’s a good blog on the geometry of pine cones from Awkward Botany.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris completed with cones, paintbrush, and reference

Below is a close up of the cones.  I wanted to show how the scales open wider with age, releasing the seeds, and what a high level of variation there is between individual pine cones.  For more on the Scot’s pine, check out my blog.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris

My favourite Autumn fruit illustration: The Guelder rose

The most fun of all the illustrations was the Guelder rose.  I had plenty of reference to work from and I know how to paint glossy red berries.  I love capturing the shines and highlights.  The green of the leaf is a bright colour, easier to work with than the blue green of a pine needle or muted green of a Field maple.

Detail of Guelder rose Viburnum opulus berries

I was also really pleased with the finished painting, which is never guaranteed.

Guelder rose Viburnum opulus leaf and fruit

Autumn Fruit: Conclusion

This was a great project to work on.  Yes, had I been commissioned in autumn it would have been easier, but despite it being the wrong end of the year I still enjoyed it.  I look forward to seeing the finished fold out guide over the next few months.  And to not having to paint chestnut seed cases or pine cones again anytime soon!

London plane Platanus × acerifolia leaf and seeds

…and here it is, the finished FSC Autumn fruits guide, available to buy direct from the FSC online shop.

The post Autumn fruits appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Cannock chase berry: Parent species

Hybrids are, according to Collins dictionary, “A hybrid is an animal or plant that has been bred from two different species of animal or plant.”  In this case the parents are the European blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus; and the Cowberry or Lingonberry Vacciuium vitis-idaea.  Blueberry and Cowberry are found in profusion on Cannock chase, a wide area of heathland in the West Midlands, and occassionaly, this very rare hybrid, only found on this one heathland site, will appear too.  Hybrids commonly share characteristics from both parents, and this is true in the case of the Cannock chase berry.  The situation is complicated by the fact that different individual plants will show more or less characteristics of the parent species.

European Blueberry

The Blueberry is easy to recognise when it’s in fruit.  It has black berries which look purple or blue, thanks to a waxy bloom.  These ripen from a reddish hue.  Fruit are produced every year (and are delicious).

European blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus sketch of berries

Flowers are round and pink, and grow from the leaf axils, either individually or in pairs. They have 2 Bracts, and no Bracteoles.  Inside the flower, the stamens have hairless filaments.  For more on the anatomy of flowers, check out my diagram.

Blueberry leaves are deciduous, shedding every autumn.  The leaf is thin, bright green and thin, oval, with a sharp tip.  The base of the leaf is slightly indented, or heart shaped.  Leaf margins lie flat, with small teeth.

European blueberry, Vaccinium myrtillus

The stem is green, with clear ridges, and is hairless.

Cowberry

Cowberry has bright scarlet fruit, free of bloom. They don’t necessarily appear every year, and are round like the blueberries.

Cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea fruit

Flowers are a very pale pink, and are in clusters at the end of stems.  There will be between 5 and 10 flowers per stem.  They’re bell-shaped, and less rounded than the Blueberry.  If you get a hand lens out, you’ll see that the filaments of the stamens are slightly hairy.  There’s one Bract and two Bracteoles.

Leaves are evergreen, so they don’t shed in autumn.  Once ever few years, the plant will shed its’ foliage.  This means in the winter it’s really easy to spot Cowberry, little green shrubby bushes at foot height in the heath.  The leaves differ from Blueberry by being tougher and thicker,  they’re a darker shade of green, and feel more leathery.  The margins have far less obvious teeth, and leaf edges are curled back on themselves.  At the leaf tip, the margins sometimes appear concave, emarginate.  The base of the leaf is rounded to flattened.

Cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Stems are brown below, green higher up and less strongly ridged that the Blueberry.  They also tend to grow less crooked than Blueberry branches.

Bracts vs Bracteoles

The niceties of botany mean in this case it’s important to know the difference between Bracts and Bracteoles.  This is because the comparative numbers of these structures in comparing our Vaccinium species can help tell the species apart.

According to the online Dictionary of botany, a Bract is, “A leaflike organ subtending an inflorescence. Bracts are sometimes brightly coloured and petal-like, as in poinsettia Euphorbia pulcherrima.” So bracts appear below the flower clusters.  Meanwhile a Bracteole is, “A leaflike organ subtending a flower in an inflorescence that is itself subtended by a bract .”  In effect, the difference is where the leaf-lie structure appears.  If you’ve got a cluster of flowers, it’ll be a bract at the base of the cluster, and a bracteole at the base of each individual flower.

Lesser Water Parsnip Berula erecta bract vs bracteole

Cannock chase Berry

So now we’ve met the parents, let’s meet the star of the show, the Cannock chase berry.

Cannock chase berry Vaccinium x intermedium

We begin with the fruit.  This isn’t produced often, and is a mix of the parents; reddish purple.  Looking at all the photos, I’d suggest it looks a little more like a Blueberry than a Cowberry, but the colour is certainly a lot redder.  The photo by “Bits on Twigs” on Flickr was the most helpful reference I found.  I chose only to provide the berry as a side vignette since they appear so sporadically.

Berry of Cannock chase berry Vaccinium x intermedium

Flowers are in the leaf axils, not in terminal clusters.  They’re a sort of rounded bell shape (see?  perfect mix of rounded Blueberry flowers and bell-shaped Cowberry flowers), and pale pink.  The stamen filaments aren’t hairless (Blueberry) nor are they hairy (Cowberry).  Nope.  They’re bang in the middle, being gently downy.

There’s one Bract, and a pair of Bracteoles on each flower.

Leaves are semi-deciduous, not evergreen.  Yes they shed, but not every year.  They’re somewhere between Blueberry and Cowberry leaves.  A mid glossy green, neither thin nor thick and leathery.  The thickness and glossy surface may make it hard to see the individual leaf veins  Margins are slightly curved back on themselves.  There are some margin teeth, but they’re small and not ubiquitous.  The leaf bases vary.  Some are heart shaped (like blueberry leaves), some are flatter or wedged (like Cowberry leaves).  Some of the leaves are rather elongate, and their tips are rather blunter than those of the Blueberry.

Leaves of Cannock chase berry Vaccinium x intermedium

Stems are a mix of the parent species, too.  They tend to be green like the Blueberry rather than brown like the Cowberry.  Stems are a bit hairy (Blueberry stems are hairless, Cowberry stems are hairy).  And there’s some angling and ridging going on, like the Blueberry, but it’s not as pronounced.

Stem of Cannock chase berry Vaccinium x intermedium

Conclusion

As you can imagine, getting these three species confused is really vey easy, not least because the Cannock chase berry produces fruit so infrequently.  The main source for my research on these three species is the BSBI Plant crib, an extraordinary erudite, accessible and free online resource.  The pdf for Vaccimium species is here.

Amazingly, late on in the process, I was sent some dried and fresh specimens of the plant to waork with which made life a whole lot easier.  the berry was dried out, but the leaves were, fresh, glossy, and beautifully easy to work with,

Other useful resources are iSpot (good for all wildflower identification), and some amazing botanists on Twitter.  In particular, the photos so generously shared by Alex Prendergast and JoParmenter made my life a lot easier.  Thankyou.

For more on other botanical delights of Cannock chase, please check out my blog.

Cannock chase berry with actual sprig of leaves, and my trusty paintbrush

The post Illustrating the Cannock Chase Berry Vaccinium intermedium appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Holly tree Ilex aquifolium

Religion

Holly is a plant traditionally associated with Christmas, but do you know why?

The name derives from the old English word ‘holegn’ which means ‘to prick’.  This is a very fitting for name for a tree with hard, pointy leaves. The Druids regarded it as a symbol of fertility and eternal life, and thought it to have magical powers.

Christians adapted many pagan beliefs to fit into their religion, so holly was adopted as a symbol for Christmas. The sharp, pointed leaves are held to represent the crown of thorns worn by Christ, the berries represent his blood, and the evergreen nature of the plant is a metaphor for life after death.

Decorating with holly

The tradition for decorating homes with holly began with the ancient Celts, who believed the bright decorations brought them good luck. This was continued until the present day (perhaps because it’s hard to find other plants with colour at this time of year?).  ‘Deck the halls with boughs of holly’ is a popular Christmas carol that dates back to 1862. The English words are well known, but it is derived from a Welsh melody called ‘Nos Galan’ or ‘New Year’s Eve’ with somewhat different words but a generally similar sentiment.

Holly Ilex aquifolium leaf

Holly and Llyn Celyn resevoir

On the subject of Welsh, the Welsh word for holly is ‘celyn’.  The word occurs in many place names, most notably Capel Celyn (Holly Chapel). This place was a rural community to the north west of Bala in Gwynedd, Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn valley.

The village and other parts of the valley were flooded in 1965 to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn, in order to supply Liverpool and Wirral with water for industry.  This was despite almost unanimous Welsh political opposition and protest.

The flooding of the village inspired a Manic Street Preachers song  ‘Ready for Drowning’ and Enya’s song ‘Dan y Dŵr’ (Under the water).  Cofiwch Dryweryn (‘Remember Dryweryn’) is a motto referring to the drowning of Capel Celyn that urges Welsh speakers to remember the destruction of a Welsh-speaking community and to safeguard the language.

The most famous instance of this motto is as graffiti on the wall of a ruined stone cottage by the A487 at Llanrhystud, outside Aberystwyth, which has come to be regarded as a ‘national landmark’ and is regularly repainted.

Holly as a name – for Welsh and English speakers!

The popularity of the name Celyn has risen over the years, and as a result Welsh people (and others) give the name to young boys as part of their family heritage.

In English, the name became popular in the Victorian era when a trend emerged for naming baby girls after flowers.  In the Victorian language of flowers ‘holly’ means domestic happiness. Tell that to Holly Willoughby, Holly Hunter, Holly Valance – or Buddy Holly!

This is all a long way from Lizzie’s beautiful illustrations of our native Holly plant. However, it does go to show what cultural associations our wildlife have.

Holly as a dioecious plant

To return to the plant itself, Holly is dioecious.  Dioecious comes from the Greek for “two households”, meaning that each individual holly plant is either male or female. To guarantee berries, bushes of each type are needed to be found together.  This allows cross-pollination to occur.  Bushes laden with berries at Christmas are always female, while those without might be male, or an unfertilised female. Confusingly, the garden variety Golden King is female, while Golden Queen is male; which just goes to show that even plant breeders can get it wrong!

Holly Berries

The bright scarlet berries attract many birds; especially thrushes including blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings, mistle thrush, and song-thrushes. The berries are very hard and bitter in autumn and early winter due to the mildly toxic compounds they contain. As winter progresses, hard frosts serve to break down these chemicals. In late winter and early spring, when hedgerows are otherwise looking bare, the berries become more palatable. The berries still retain some toxicity, so birds eat just a few on each visit. Frequent visits with just a few berries eaten means that seeds are deposited in droppings in different places.  This expands sited for, and chances of germination. Isn’t nature brilliant?

The old folklore suggesting that “lots of holly berries on bushes, means it’s going to be a harsh winter” is thus a bit off the mark. It more likely means it hasn’t been a hard winter so far? Merry Christmas!

The post Holly: History, Folklore & Wales appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Drawing blueberries

Coming up with the initial drawing was tricky.  it had to fit the layout of the product’s box, and the commissioner wanted lots of berries; far more than one would normally see in nature.  Every time I submitted a pencil rough an email would ping back – “more fruit!”

Anyway, we finally came up with something that worked.  The next step was to make the berries look really juicy and delicious.

The illustration was done on a decent heavyweight cartridge paper, in this case Daler Rowney Smooth Heavyweight (220 gsm/135lb).  This paper (like many others) shows up slightly grey on scans, which I correct for at a later stage.  This explains why there’s a slight cast to some of the images in this blog.

Pencil rough of the blueberries (later rotated)

Showing shine

A good way to show the ripeness of fruit is to emphasize the shine on its surface.  Of course, when drawing on the page, this means making sure there’s plenty of white paper left to act as shine.  You also need to make sure there’s a good contrast between the dark of the fruit and this highlight.

Once you establish your light source, it’s worth plotting in lights and darks with a pencil line.  I tend to put a circle around the area of highlight, a little larger than I want the final shiny area to be.

Next you have a choice.  You can build up the dark areas of fruit with thousands of tiny ink dots in a process called stippling.  This looks amazing, but takes forever.  Or, you can take a short cut.

Short cut to dark fruit

I colour in big areas of the fruit, where I know the deepest shadows lie.  My permanent ink pen is used for this (I currently favour Unipin but any thin-nibbed pen with waterproof and fade proof ink will be fine).  Use a pen with an 0-5 nib as I want to block in large areas. The larger nib is faster, and also provides more consistent cover.

I outline each blueberry, then block in the darks as solid crescents of black ink.  I try to keep the edges a little scruffy as this will make the next step less time consuming.

Blueberry sprig with darks of the fruits plotted in

Blending the darks and the highlights

The next step is to make a natural transition between the dark areas and the highlights.  This is where the endless act of stippling kicks in.  Making lots of tiny dots to represent a tonal value.  What you’re after is a smooth transition from the solid black to the white.  As you encroach into the white, be sure the dots are further apart.

Be careful.  Stippling is cruel.  If you stop concentrating you may end up with dots on top of each other, in an area where you’re looking to represent a light tonal value.  This can look clunky.  In fact, you can see where this has happened in the illustration below.  The central berry has a dark spot on the bottom edge of the highlight.  This immediately draws the eye, and the whole edifice of pretending to represent light and dark with ink spots threatens to crumble.

You can see why the rough edges of the black areas are important.  They give a rugged margin that you can naturally build on, as you reach into the high-lit region of each fruit.

You may also want to soften the external edge line of each blueberry.  Do this by adding tiny dots along the inside edge of the line.

Illustration in progress showing the pen nib and the fruit which have vs those which have not been stippled.

Balancing the illustration

Once you’ve given each blueberry this treatment, take a step back.  You may find they’re all too light.  In which case, work back into the fruit, darkening the stippled areas and shrinking the regions of highlight.  Berries which are tucked behind foliage of other fruits will appear a little darker.  To draw the eye, you’ll probably want your central blueberry to have the most light on it.

Blueberries with completed berries

Finishing up and applying the technique to other subjects

Once the fruit are done, you can move onto the leaves, which are a little trickier.  These need to give information about the way light falls on the veins.  A youtube video I recently posted, discussing how I drew the leaves and catkins of the Downy Birch in pen and ink might be of use here.

Completed illustration of the Blueberry sprig

You can illustrate anything in pen and ink using this same technique – cherries, beetles, cows…..  The image below is a detail of the back of a cow.  I took the photo in the middle of illustrating the animal, to show the process.   Solid black, stippled areas of darker tone (at the top).  These fade out to white where the highlights are.  You can also clearly see the pencil lines I mentioned earlier.  These show where the lighter areas of the subject are.

Detail of a cow showing the technique in practice

And below you can see the finished illustration, with that back detail in context.

Cow pen and ink illustration

Below is an illustration of another dark fruit, the cherry.  Again, it’s the same technique. When seen this close up, you can see what an easy technique it is to execute.  Colour in blocks.  Do heavy dots round the immediate edges.  Do lighter dots where you move into highlights.

Cherry detail

And then, when you zoom out, you can see how effective the technique can be.  Behold!  Shiny fruit!

Completed pen and ink illustration of cherries

To be honest, it’s a similar approach when it comes to showing shine on fruit when you use watercolour.  Block in the darks, then blend outwards into the untouched paper of the highlights.  For more on this, please check out my blogs on showing shine on Hawthorn and Rowan.

Good luck illustrating, and don’t worry if all the stippling leaves you feeling dotty.  It’s a common afflication!

The post Blueberry: step by step Pen and Ink illustration appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Paintbrushes

As with all of these posts, it’s vital to stress that what equipment one uses is a very personal choice, and we often finesse our techniques according to the equipment and brands we use and like most.  I’d love people to add their own favourites in the “Comments” section at the end of this blog, then the post would serve as a much more balanced resource for artists starting out, or for established practitioners looking for new ideas.

There’s also a section where I test several synthetic sable brushes, looking for an alternative to real sable ones.  There’s a film of these trials on Youtube.

Since writing this I’ve done a second comparison blog which you can find here, and associated film here.

Illustrating Rowan Sorbus aucuparia

Paintbrushes

I absolutely love, and have always used, Winsor and Newton series 7 sable paintbrushes.  They’re expensive, yes, but I’m yet to find another brush that comes close to their quality.  They hold plenty of paint.  Their points stay true and tiny.  They rarely shed, and when they do it’s a discrete one hair at a time.  The paint on the handle doesn’t peel or crack off and fall onto whatever you’re doing.  The metal part (the ferrule) never rusts.

Series 7 brushes with another vital tool of the trade, a hand lens

You can get them in “Miniature Painting” and “Round”; I’ve tried both and tend to go for the round ones, simply because that’s what I’m used to.

Size of paintbrush

Size-wise, I do almost all my illustrating with a number 1.  I have a stash of about 10 ready to go at any given time, and work through something like one every 6 weeks.  As I say, they don’t shed much, but inevitably they do suffer from the wear and tear of daily hard use.  There’s no need to dispose of these worn brushes, just use them for more detailed work.  After all, in effect they’ve turned into a smaller size 0!

Comparison of two Number 1 paintbrushes; above is a new one, below is one I’ve been using for 4 weeks

I use the larger number 2 size for looser washes, and have a number 4 and a number 6 for when I do big washy backgrounds (in my landscapes).  These bigger brushes still have good points, and can hold loads of paint, so doing a big area of sky, forest, grass, or fields is possible.

Using a number 4 brush for background washes

As well as my worn and thinned number 1 brushes, I also use the tiny 000 and 00 sizes for painting in almost invisible hairs, and details within flowers.  The tips of these are the ones that make people think you’re almost mad to use them, but they’re vital when getting the minutae down.  I used 00 brushes a lot when illustrating a series of mosses.

A 00 size brush alongside a pencil for scale, and illustration of Woolly fringe moss Racomitrium lanuginosum

Other brands

I know there are other brush brands out there, some of which I’ve tried and some which I haven’t.  A lot of other botanical illustrators really like Rosemary brushes – they didn’t work brilliantly for me, but they’re probably worth trying.  They certainly are good quality, and are significantly cheaper than  Series 7.

I once had a comment questioning the ethics of using sable brushes, and it is true that these brushes are made of sable hair, a species similar to a pine marten.  As a vegetarian committed to all sorts of ecological and environmental causes, I would certainly appreciate having a top-quality, animal-free alternative brush, so if anyone knows of one, please leave a comment.

Completed sketchbook study of hawthorn berries Craetegus monogyna, completed with a well-worn Series 7 no. 1 brush

Synthetic alternatives to Sable

Having written this blog, and following very useful feedback from other illustrators, I decided to try out a handful of high quality synthetic sable brushes.  Not only are these more ethical for a vegetarian such as myself, but they’re also a darned site cheaper!  I filmed these trials, here’s a link.

All the brushes were round number 1 size.

Comparing the points of the three new synthetic watercolour brushes.

The three brands I compared were Winsor & Newton synthetic sable, Rosemary and Co. Spotter Red Dot, and Princeton Aqua elite.  None were appalling, and one came close to equalling my beloved Series 7 brushes.

Synthetics: Winsor & Newton synthetic sable

I was surprised that this brush looked scruffy on removal from its’ tubing.  Working with it, although it did have a point and did hold paint, the brush was too long.  This meant I couldn’t achieve the tight control I require.  The stray hairs didn’t help sell the brush to me.  The handle was comfortable.  Price wise, I found them selling at £5.80 each, or on sale for £4.06.

Close up of the Winsor & Newton synthetic sable brush, with the leaves I painted using it

The very tip of the brush also had a noticeable “hook” which made it hard to get that sharp point.  With the Series 7 brushes, if I roll them into a tip in the wet paint, the point is exquisite.  With this dowdier cousin, I couldn’t get the frighteningly crisp point I look for.

Synthetics: Rosemary and Co. Spotter Red Dot

This brush was definitely my favourite of the synthetics I trialled.  The brush shape didn’t appeal at first – the point of the brush looks short and dumpy.  However, the point was very sharp, and it worked well in wet and dry paint.  it was only when using the brush with extremely wet and pale washes that the point held less well.

Close up of the Rosemary and Co Red Dot synthetic sable brush, with the leaves I painted using it

I was really impressed by this brush, and at a price point of £3.40 each they would be excellent alternatives to a Series 7 brush for those on a budget.

Were I to commit to getting sable out of my life, this is certainly a contender for a replacement.

Synthetics: Princeton Aqua elite

The Princeton Aqua elite had a decent point.  Again, it was absolutely serviceable.  However, the brush felt like it had lateral compression.  It felt flattened, with the associated slight splaying of the point that a flattening brings.   I almost felt that the nib was too long.

Close up of the Princeton Aqua elite synthetic sable brush, with the leaves I painted using it

This feeling of the brush being too long also made me feel uncomfortable using it.  I had to focus and concentrate to ensure I got the crisp lines I was after.  I felt slightly less control that I wanted.

However, as with all things, this could be because I’m used to a shorter-shaped brush.  These things are so very personal.

The price for this brush is £5.80; exactly the same as the Winsor & Newton synthetic sable.

Synthetics: Conclusion

Having tried all three brushes, I attempted finishing the test illustration with them.  It shows how very set in my ways I am that within half an hour I had reverted to the Series 7 brush.

Completed illustration (initially used as a synthetics brush comparison test piece)

These synthetic alternatives are all good.  the Rosemary & Co. brush is excellent.  If I were to commit to sable-free illustration, I’d certainly be investing in some of these Red dot brushes.

Comparison of synthetics and Series 7

Price wise, for anyone on a budget I will heartily reccommend these brushes.  One of my Series 7 brushes costs up to three times the price of one of these – a cool £17.10 cost price (2021 prices).  They can be got on sale for £11, but even at discount that’s a much bigger outlay than for the £3.80 Rosemary one.

For much more detail on this comparison, do check out my Youtube film.

Zen Art Fineline Minature brushes: Trying out a freebie

I was recently sent a set of  ZenART fineline minature paintbrushes to try and review by the manafacturers.   Obviously, the company sent them to me for free, looking for a good review, and some decent social media feedback. I’m a little cynical, so I tried them without a great deal of conviction. It’s important to have full disclosure about these things, I think…

They came in a cardboard box, and inside is a lovely canvas carrying thingy, all bound in red ribbon. There’s a great assortment; riggers, filberts, and angled brush, and several round ones. I only use round ones, so those are the ones I can speak for.

I’m surprised to say they were really good, and potentially a welcome alternative to my beloved Winsor & Newton series 7 brushes. They held their points, didn’t splay, had decent wells to hold paint, and produced consistent tiny lines. The number 2 was good for pale top washes, holding lots of paint and having the required sharp point. Accuracy was good with the number 1 and the 5/0.

They are also synthetic, which is an excellent thing in terms of my feelings about using animal hair to make brushes.

However, by the third of fourth day of use, the tips had become slightly blunted and weren’t holding the crisp point I require.  In every other respect they remained really good; they didn’t shed any hairs, rust, nor discolour.  The paint on the handle remained in place and didn’t peel or crack.  For me, the loss of tip is a deal breaker.  I would suggest folks who don’t need such a precision-perfect tip could do a lot worse than go for these (very reasonably priced) brushes, but if you need a very crisp point then for me, they haven’t made the cut.  But definitely worth a try.#

Synthetic brushes: A hint to help fix hooked tips

This tip has come in from Rebecca, who left this suggestion in the comments section.  Many thanks for sharing it with us.  “Hooks that develop on synthetic bristles can often be remedied by dipping the bristles about half way into a cup of water taken off the boil. Take care not to get the ferrule or upper bristles wet with water this hot or it may affect the glue. The timing varies from 10-30 seconds based on the brand and size. Gently reshape the tip on your thumbnail after heating. While I don’t expect that is an annoyance one would want to deal with during a long painting session, it will at least restore the brush to a usable condition for lighter tasks.”

Conclusion

So there you are.  The easiest of all these equipment blogs.  What paintbrush do I use?  A Winsor and Newton Series 7, size 1.  And no, they don’t pay me or give me free brushes to say this (however, if someone working for the company is out there and has a whole load of brushes they want to get rid of….?)

Mulberry Morus nigra with paintbox and Series 7 brush

Other alternatives are the Rosemary brushes (which some people adore) and the Zen art minature fineliner brushes reviewed above, both of which are a lot cheaper that W&N.  But thus far I’m still to find a real potential replacement for my Series 7s.

You can order these brushes direct from Winsor and Newton, or from your local art shop.  If that’s not possible, look for good online art suppliers like Jackson’s, Cass Art, London Graphics Centre, or Ken Bromley.  In the US I believe Dick Blick  to be a good art store.

The post Equipment: Paintbrushes appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna is one of the commonest trees in the British countryside, ranging from the far south to all but the most northern areas.  Although there are tons of mature hawthorn trees, both in woodland, fields, and uplands;  you also see it in hedges and scrub-land.

This tree provides one of my favourite sights in mid-winter.  A branch of hawthorn, still heavy with crimson berries, festooned with the pale ashy greys and greens of lichen is a thing of real beauty.

The trees can live for hundreds of years, often all that’s left of a long-vanished hedgerow.  Sometimes growing in harsh climates, their twisted and gnarled shapes make individual trees into landmarks.

Identification: Tree shape

Hawthorn trees are a modest 2 to 10 metres tall.  They have a straggly habit, often with emergent branches.  They often appear alone, perhaps on a limestone outcrop, or in the middle of a field of grazing sheep.

Having been used for centuries as a hedging plant, they frequently appear along field margins; both within hedges, and as remnants of hedgerows which have long since been neglected.

They’re easily identified by their spiny branches.

In winter, these can be confused with the branches of the Blackthorn Prunus spinosa which also bear spikes, although Blackthorn branches tend to look darker and more condensed than the hawthorn.  Also, the buds of Blackthorn grown on the spines themselves, whilst those of hawthorn emerge from the same point as the spines.

In summer and autumn, it’s hard to mistake a hawthorn for any other species.  The distinctive leaves, white flowers, and crimson berries make it a simple tree to identify.

Identification: Leaves

Hawthorn leaves start out as a vivid, pale, spring green.  They become tougher with age, ending up a dusty dark green colour.  Undersides of the leaves are paler.  The leaves are deeply divided, and toothed.

They’re about 6cm long and are often asymmetrical from the main rib.  Leaf shape is highly variable, even between the leaves on one branch.  Leaves turn yellow in autumn, before falling, leaving the berries behind.

Identification: Flowers

Flowers are white or pink, with five petals.  Anthers are a pinkish colour, turning to purplish or brown.  These flowers appear in May (hence the hawthorn’s other name) and form frothy masses in the hedgerows.  They grow in flat-topped inflorescences.

Their smell is sickly sweet, and flies love it.  Lots of people think it smells a bit unpleasant, and reminiscent of death.  This is no surprise, the chemical trimethylamine appear both in corpses and in hawthorn blossom.  In fact, people used to say that the flowers smelt very similar to the stench of bubonic plague.  This probably accounts for the custom of never bringing hawthorn inside the house.

Identification: Fruit

The berries of hawthorn are crimson, with yellow-orange flesh.  They’re referred to as “haws”.   Each one has one big pip in its centre.

The haw skin is shiny, and can be anything from vivid scarlet to an almost purplish deep crimson in older berries.  The fruits are a great source of vitamin C, and can be made into jelly.  More importantly, they provide vital nutrients for birds such as Redwing and Fieldfare, especially in the depths of winter.

Identification: Bark

Hawthorn bark is grey brown, with lots of small scales.  As hawthorn is so prevalent, you may well see it in hedges and waysides where the plant may not be large enough to have a proper identifiable tree-trunk.

Similar species

The Midland hawthorn Craetegus oxyacanthoides can easily be confused with the common hawthorn.  Differences are that the Common hawthorn has flowers with only one stigma, whereas the Midland hawthorn bears two.  And (logically), the Common hawthorn has only one seed per fruit, whereas the Midland hawthorn has two.  Berries of the latter are a brighter red, and more rounded.  Midland hawthorn leaves are rounder, and less deeply cut.

Habitats vary too.  Midland hawthorn is more of a tree than a hedge species, and is more tolerant of shade.  It likes chalky soils and is often found deep within shaded woodland.

Most garden cultivars are Midland, rather than Common hawthorn.

History: Folklore

Hawthorn is thick with foklore and superstition.

I have a friend from Ireland who was furious when I put a hawthorn log on the fire, and opined that the “wee folk” would come and get me.  He was dead serious, and from the look on his face that was NOT something one wanted to happen, so I took the log off again.

There are many tales of Fairy queens and supernatural beings living in hawthorn.  To damage any part of the tree, especially of a lone tree, could bring down their fury with disastrous and fatal results.

As mentioned above, the smell of hawthorn is similar to that of a corpse, so it was not brought into the house.  To do so would be to invite illness and death in.  There’s a possibility that this referred especially to the Midland hawthorn, which was more prevalent in the 16th – 18th centuries and has a stronger smell than the common species.

However, boughs of May (hawthorn) would be put outside houses, and decorated with wild flowers.  Having the flowers outside was clearly not seen as a bad thing.

Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1752, the month of May arrived a little later than it does now.  The timing of the hawthorn blossoming probably dove-tailed more accurately with the start of the month, and with May day.  The old adage, “cas’t ne’er a clout [vest] til May be out” refers to the blossom, not the end of the month.

History: Religion

There are many associations with pre-Christian religions.  Westminster Abbey is built on a site called “Thorney island”, after a sacred grove of hawthorn that grew there.

It’s the sixth tree of the Celtic Ogham religion, associated with love, protection, and the heart.

The flowers, coming as they do in the full burst of spring, have long been associated with fertility.  The Hawthorn tree was the precursor of the maypole.  Blossoming occurred around the time of the Celtic festival of Beltane.  Weddings often occurred at the same time, and there are records of boughs of Hawthorn being put on the beds of newlyweds to bring love and fertility.  How this tallies with the fear of inviting illness and death is unclear.

On May day, the May queen and the Green man would unite and bless the land with fertility for the coming year.  Hawthorn blossom played an important part in the ceremony.

Interestingly, the link between faith and the hawthorn did not stop with the onset of Christianity.  The crown of thorns and Moses’s burning bush are said to be hawthorn.

There’s also the legend of the Holy thorn of Glastonbury, planted by Joseph of Aramathea, who owned Jesus’s tomb.  He was also Mary’s uncle, and happened to be travelling with a chalice of Jesus’s sweat, and one of Jesus’s blood.  As you do.  Stopping, he thrust his staff into the ground where it grew into the Glastonbury hawthorn.  This plant (not, of course, the original tree) still grows on Glastonbury tor, and flowers twice a year; once in May and once at Christmas.  What Joseph used to replace his lost staff is lost in the mists of time.

History: Food & Medicine

Hawthorn leaves were eaten, referred to as “bread and cheese”, and haws were used for jellies and wines.

Medicinally, it was used in tincture to aid a whole slew of complaints: heart-trouble, anxiety, and loss of appetite.  In traditional Chinese medicine, it’s used to lower blood pressure.

Uses

Hawthorn has been used since the 16th century, when land enclosure first took off, as a hedging plant.  It forms spiky, impenetrable barriers.

It’s wood is hard and pale, and is used for wood-turning, veneers, and tool handles.  It burns at high temperatures, so is good for fire-wood and charcoal.  As long as you’re not worried by the folklore and superstitions, that is…

Young leaves are edible, as are the berries.  Berries are best made into jams and ketchups as they may cause mild stomach upsets in some.  Buds are delicious in salads.

It is a wonderful plant for both birds and insects. Not only can birds feed off the berries in winter, but the growth habit and thickets makes a perfect space for building nests.

Long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus in amongst Blackberry and Hawthorn blossom

Over 300 species of insect rely on the Hawthorn.  Moths relying on it range from the Lappet moth Gastropacha quercifolia, which resembles dead oak leaves as an adult, to the Light Emerald Campaea margaritata.  The latter turns up in my house on late summer evenings, and is a beautiful animal.

Bees, flies, and wasps pollinate the flowers and rely on the nectar.

Small mammals such as the Dormouse also eat the berries, which are packed full of anti-oxidants.

Hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius with berries, (but not Hawthorn berries)

Hawthorn is a popular and wise choice for those wanting to encourage wildlife to their gardens.

Threats

Increasingly, hedgerows are being grubbed up to allow access to more efficient farm machinery.  Old hedges, which need a lot of maintenance, ore often replaces with barbed wire.

Hawthorn can be affected by fire blight, gall mites, and aphids.  However, there’s no suggestion that the hawthorn is about to disappear from out landscape, which is a big relief.

Conclusion

Hawthorn is common, and easy to recognise.  It’s flowers and berries make it a well loved tree and shrub, and it’s usefulness in hedging can’t be underestimated.  Providing a haven for wildlife, a wealth of history and folklore, and bearing edible leaves and berries; there’s a whole lot to recommend this tree.  It’s also very beautiful.

Sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Trees for life, the Green Parent, and Naturespot.

The post Trees: Hawthorn appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

All illustrations in this blog are copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017 and must not be reproduced without the express permission of Jersey Post.

For other step by step botanical illustration blogs, click here.

First draw your blackberry

First, make sure your drawing of the blackberry is botanically correct, and you’re clear as to the size and shape of each of the druplets.  A druplet is one individual part of an aggregate fruit such as a blackberry or raspberry.  (For more on fruit definitions, check out my blog.)

Pencil rough of the Jersey bramble Rubus caesarius.  Copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

I draw up my subjects with a mechanical pencil.  I like the Pentel P205 with an H or HB lead.  In this case I’ve painted on Fabriano Artistico.

Adding the leaves, stems, and background

First, I needed to put in a pale blue background wash.  I used Cereulean blue Winsor and Newton watercolour diluted with water, then allow this to dry fully.

Blackberry with background painted in                       copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

I like to paint leaves and stems first, and to save the fun part of an illustration til the end, in this case it means painting the berry comes last.

Blackberry with buds and leaves completed.              copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Painting the Berries

The first step is to mix a good dark purple, and using a very fine tipped brush (this is my trusty Winsor and Newton Series 7 (number 1) paintbrush, outline the edge of each drupelet.  This colour is a mix of purple, Alizarin crimson, and Winsor blue.  I tend to favour Winsor and Newton watercolours, from pans.

Outlining each drupelet of the blackberry                   copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Next, have a look to see where the light falls on the fruit, and plot in the shape of that highlight on each individual drupelet.  Be sure to leave the highlighted areas free of paint; your whites (and highlights) are the untouched paper.  Look for the distinct shapes of these bright areas, outline them with your paintbrush.

Drawing the shapes of the highlights on each drupelet   copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Colour in the areas which are NOT your highlights with the same purple black as before.  Remember to leave a thin crescent of white paper around the edge of each drupelet, this makes each part look ripe and round.

The dark areas of each drupelet are coloured in with a rich purple-black                         copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Adding colours to the berries

Mix up a pale Cobalt blue, perhaps with a touch of black or purple in. Making sure you don’t consume the areas of white, paint a margin of this next to each area of dark paint.  This makes the gradation between dark shadow and bright highlight look more realistic.

Put a margin of pale Cobalt blue around each highlight    copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Do this for each drupelet, and remember that on the shadowed side of the berry there’ll be less white gleaming in the light, so make the margin colour a touch darker.

Each drupelet now has a blue sheen                         copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Mix up a wet magenta; I used Cobalt violet and Opera rose.  Using it in different levels of dilution, pop a thin margin of this pink on the right hand side of the central shine of each drupelet in the berry.

Add magenta, very wet, to the fruit                           copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

This adds the warm red to the blackberry without compromising the shiny black of the fruit.

All the drupelets have had pink added                       copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Before putting final tweaks to the berry, I want to paint in the red and green unripe blackberries which are also on the sprig.

Blackberry with red and green berries unpainted         copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Adding highlights

Using a thick-ish mix of Permanent white gouache (I like Winsor and Newton gouache), apply a hairline of this to the outside perimeter of each drupelet, pressing a little harder when passing next to the highlighted parts.

Adding white gouache highlights to a drupelet            copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

Breathe a sigh of relief, you’ve painted a shiny blackberry.  Now you can eat your reference!

This is the final artwork of the Jersey bramble for the Jersey Post “Fruits and Berries” series of stamps; and one of my favourites in the set.              copyright Jersey Post (www.jerseystamps.com) 2017

I hope this breakdown of the process involved in getting blackberries painted is helpful, they truly are a lovely botanical illustration subject to tackle.

For more on creating the “Fruits & Berries” issue for Jersey post, have a look at my blog.

The post Step by step: Blackberry appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The fruits and berries that needed illustrating were the Dewberry Rubus caesius, the Elderberry Sambucus nigra, the Wild strawberry Fragaria vesca, the Jersey bramble Rubus caesarius, Sloes Prunus spinosa, and Black bryony Dioscorea communis.

All the botanical illustrations in this blog are copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017, and must not be reproduced without their express permission.

Sloes artwork for one of the stamps                                copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

This commission gave me the chance to wander the countryside around Hay-on-Wye, gathering specimens to paint; luckily the job came in during the autumn months!

Desk whilst illustrating the Dewberry stamp artwork

I also illustrated a First Day cover (an illustration for the corner of the First Day Cover envelope); this was a sprig of Hawthorn berries Crataegus monogyna.

Hawthorn berries; botanical illustration for the First Day Cover of Jersey Post’s stamp issue-copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

Here’s a detail of some of the wonderfully prolific and vibrant red berries this sprig of Hawthorn carried.

Detail of Hawthorn berries                                              copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

Illustrating Black Bryony

One of the plants I painted was the Black bryony.  You often see the startling orange berries of this plant in hedgerows.  It was important to show the variation in berry colour; green through yellow to an orange red.  I also had a lot of fun with the tendrils that this plant grows.  I love using these to help when composing an illustration.

As always, painting the leaves began with a layer of tiny paint marks, building up and marking the areas of dark.

Painting the first layer of green on a Black bryony leaf copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

Next, I put a yellower and more dilute mix of green over the entire leaf.  I use Winsor and Newton paints, and a Winsor and Newton series 7 paintbrush.

Brighter green wet wash applied to the leaf.  Copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

The angled stems and tendrils get plotted in next.  As always I leave the fun berries to the end.

Painting in stems and tendrils of Black bryony                   copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

The berries needed to look bright and smooth, so I spent a long time building up the colour with endless tiny brush strokes in orange and red, following the shape of the fruit.

Final illustration of Black bryony                                      copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

Illustrating the Elderberry

Another lovely plant was the Elderberry. I love the crimson of the stems of this plant, especially in contrast to the shiny black berries.  Getting the shine right on each berry was a challenge.

Paining each Elderberry                                                  copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

It was a tricky plant to arrange in the format of a postage stamp, and required the positioning of the leaflets behind the berries, always a difficult task.

Elderberry artwork                                                         copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

Presenting the illustrations in context

Another part of the commission is to illustrate the Presentation pack, the shiny decorated sleeve in which newly issued postage stamps can be delivered.  This features Rowan berries Sorbus aucuparia, Sloe Prunus spinosa, Bramble Rubus fruticosus, and Goji berries Lycium barbarum; all of which grow wild in Jersey.

Presentation pack with Rowan, Goji, Sloe and Bramble      copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

One of the things I like to do mid way through a job such as this, is create a mock up of the stamps to ensure they look alright as a series, and to be certain the text and images work well together.  Here is the rough of the stamp layout, an aid to the commissioners when they look at these detailed roughs and decide what feedback is required.

Layout of stamps at Colour rough stage                           Copyright Jersey Post (www.Jerseystamps.com) 2017

The published stamps, first day cover, and presentation pack arrived in the post just this week.  To say I am delighted with how they look once the designers have produced the issue is an understatemant, they’ve done a fabulous job with my paintings!

This job was a joy, I really love working with Jersey Post, they give interesting subjects, long lead times, and treat their artists really well – what more could an illustrator ask for?

The post Botanical Illustrations of Fruit for Jersey Post appeared first on Lizzie Harper.