hay Archives - Lizzie Harper

Bird’s-foot Trefoil: An Excellent Plant

Posted on 4th January 2023 in Botany: Telling species apart, Current projects and news

Bird’s-foot Trefoil: Where to find it? This blog is in praise of a small, common wildflower which grows in grasslands. It spreads across the ground, and is low growing (rarely higher than 20cm). It favours sandy soils, but is tough and grows in a wide selection of substrates, and is able to grow in […] Read more

Hay Festival Mug Design

Posted on 3rd June 2022 in Current projects and news

Hay Festival approached me early in the year, to see if I could come up with a design for the Hay Festival 2022 commemorative mug. I knew it was a big ask – a landscape full of local flowers and animals with Hay bluff behind, and plenty of references to the festival. I also knew […] Read more

Illustrating a Coastal Hay Meadow Landscape

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

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

Illustrating a Cross section of Hay Meadow

Posted on 31st July 201814th January 2019 in Current projects and news

I had a wonderful natural history illustration commission recently, for BBC Countryfile Magazine. Their article in the June 2018 issue, “The Secret Life of the Hay Meadow” by Phil Gates , needed an image of a cross-section through a busy and idealised hay meadow. They also needed a selection of grasses commonly found in hay meadows. I […] Read more

Doing Botanical Illustration at Hay Festival

Posted on 28th May 201513th December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

Natural history illustrators are not used to being in the public eye; so the idea of drawing botanical illustrations live at Hay Festival of Literature had been making me nervous for some time. However, I’m proud of the illustrations in Adele Nozedar’s book “The Garden Forager” and since we’re good friends, thought it would be fine to “perform” […] Read more

Wildlife from a Canoe on the River Wye

Posted on 15th August 20142nd December 2018 in Scientific Illustrator out and about

I’m a botanical illustrator, scientific illustrator; and a mum. Sometimes I can combine these roles AND have a wonderful day out. This happened recently as the family canoed from Glasbury to Hay-on-Wye (where we live). Sunny day with a canoe and the kids on the river Wye Beautiful demoiselle from the canoe The first thing we noticed […] Read more

Natural History illustration at Hay Primary School

Posted on 9th May 201430th November 2018 in Painting workshops

A couple of weeks ago, Hay school (our local school) had a “World at Work” week.. This encourages school parents to come along and explain to the children what their jobs entail. Talking about being a Natural History Illustrator I went along to talk about my career as a Scientific illustrator. I begin by explaining what I […] Read more