Every sketch a story

Australia is a land of birds. They are numerous and diverse, with almost half of them being found nowhere else on Earth. I could easily spend a year just painting and describing my own personal encounters with different birds, but I'll keep it to a two page spread for brevity: Left page, top left. My … Continue reading Every sketch a story

Draw, paint, repeat

It would make sense to me to fill a whole sketchbook with sketches and paintings of giraffes - I just love their ears and lumpy faces, their earthy tones and big dark eyes. Drawing them gives me joy, but I also love illustrating many other subjects, and besides, this homemade watercolour sketchbook is for all … Continue reading Draw, paint, repeat

Challenges of nature journaling

One of the challenges of any nature journaling for the purposes of learning is finding a balance between enjoyment and enlightenment. So far I'm achieving both, but not without some conscious decision-making. This has not been a passive sketching project. There are thousands of species of ferns, from many different groups - many I've never … Continue reading Challenges of nature journaling

Ferns: a continuation of a visual journal

I have an appreciation for the diversity and charm of ferns, but I'm not a botanist, so defining their form isn't always easy - understanding their taxonomy and phylogeny even less so, but that matters less to me than the act of journaling. My homage to ferns is mostly meditative, and it is lovely to … Continue reading Ferns: a continuation of a visual journal

More bovines, plus some wonderfully weird goats

Living bovines (from the family Bovidae, subfamily Bovinae) come in many shapes and sizes. Some of them could be mistaken for antelopes, which occupy a seperate subfamily (Antilopinae) within Bovidae. From musk ox to ibex and barbery sheep, members of the subfamily Caprinae, on the other hand, are unmistakable and just a bit more difficult … Continue reading More bovines, plus some wonderfully weird goats

Bovine appreciation

I have been busy with painting doors and walls, and making concoctions on with a newly installed cooker so there hasn't been a lot of time for art. Nevertheless, I managed to find a little time at night for journaling; I decided to draw something simple, but enjoyable - sketches of bovine heads in coloured … Continue reading Bovine appreciation