Justine is a keen gardener and has a wonderful collection of dahlias in her garden. She picked a few to put in my bedroom in tiny coloured glass bottles. One morning we sat together in her sewing room and while Justine prepared notes for her beading class I drew these lovely flowers with the sun shining through them.
Another plant in the garden is a kiwi growing over the wall by Justine's back door. It has plenty of fruit but they are very small and rather sour to eat but fun to draw and try to depict the fuzzy surface.
We went for a walk over Leith hill, a well known beauty spot in Surrey which we used to visit when the children were small and I spotted this amazing red mushroom in the grass in a clearing as we climbed a slope. It is actually only the size of a yew berry and has the same translucence. I had to kneel down on the ground to get close enough to take the photograph. The girls thought their Granny was a bit crazy taking photos of mushrooms and their beliefs were confirmed when I found a tall boletus with a slug half inside the underside of the cap and carried it some distance through the woods till I had some bright enough light to take a few more pictures. I will post the drawing here as soon as I have found the time to draw it.
I was really amazed at the autumn colours in England, well ahead of the trees here in France. In fact we don't see much colour here by the coast as the salty air dries the leaves before they have a chance to turn red. I brought a couple back to draw and paint in watercolour as they are so nice to draw round the shape and then use a bit of artistic licence in the colouring. This one here is as I picked it up but there are more pictures to scan later... watch this space!
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