Inspiration from the Outer Hebrides

My family and I were in South Uist last week, one of the islands of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. We experienced every type of weather imaginable, but the big skies, low sun and autumnal colours of the land were inspirational. The landscape seemed to change with every passing moment as clouds passed, changing the light and bringing an unparalleled drama to everything we saw. The wind didn't stop the entire time we were there (with the exception of when we loaded into the car at 5:30am to catch the ferry to leave), but it didn't stop us exploring the hills, ruins, lochs and beaches of this incredible place. Inspired by the seaweed and my new love of watercolour, I did these two paintings while we were there.

Ascophyllum nodosum is known as knotted wrack. I
collected this sample from a beach on the island of Eriskay.

Fucus vesiculosus goes by the common name bladder wrack,
named obviously for the gas-filled bladders that give floatation
to this seaweed. This particular specimen was much more red than
other samples I have seen, hence the colouration.

I have a new obsession

Timing couldn't be worse. I am up to my eyeballs in work and my husband is away so I'm flying solo parent for a while. However, like any obsession, these things become insignificant and all that matters is when you can next indulge yourself. This is how I currently feel about watercolours. I have no training in art and until very recently, stayed pretty clear of watercolour as a medium because it is thoroughly unforgiving. However, I recently took a course at the University of Bristol Botanic Garden and now I'm hooked. It's obviously a work in progress, but I'm thoroughly enjoying exploring this new medium. Here's a few snaps of the products so far...

Unfinished...this is the oak I started during
the watercolour course.

Little maple leaf - the product of family art night on Friday.

Autumn colours - the latest product.

Digging up some old cards

Every now and then I feel inspired to do an original design card. I was sorting through some old computer files recently and came across two examples I thought I would share. The first was a card I made for Morgan to hand out to his friends at nursery. It was inspired by a play the children put on and included a very eclectic array of characters. The children loved it because they could recognise the characters.

The second is a watercolour I did of my Azure Kingfisher photograph that I sent to my Grandmother. She loved it (as grandmother's do) and last I saw, it had a place of honour in her living room.

Just a little crabby....

This is a female fiddler crab I sketched out and coloured in with watercolour while my son Morgan was painting.

Giant Australian Cuttlefish

Just finished this painting today. It was inspired by a cover photo on an old Australian Geographic, which just screamed out WATERCOLOUR!

The giant Australian cuttlefish (Sepia apama) is a master of disguise. The skin of cuttlefish is made up of  layers of different cell types - chromatophores, iridophores, and leucophores - that give it an infinite array of colours. Chromatophores are literally little balls of colour that are so tightly bound up that they are invisible. However, when the muscles attached to the pigment cell is flexed, it stretches the ball out into a disc of colour. The muscles are wired directly to the brain so that pigment changes are instantaneous as information is perceived by the eyes and transmitted to the brain.

Iridophores lie beneath the chromatophores and contain multiple tiny platelets that reflect light, producing the iridescent and metallic colours. Beneath the iridophores are leucophores, which reflect the predominant light in the environment (i.e., they appear white in white light, blue in blue light etc.).  Besides the very impressive colour displays, cuttlefish are able to add another dimension to their camouflage, by creating protrusions in their skin with papillae, they can also mimic textures as well as colours.

Aquilegia vulgaris

From our back garden; Aquilegia vulgaris, commonly known as columbine. I don't have much to say about this other than it felt good (and challenging) to work with watercolours again. Also, I have an all new respect for botanical artists!

A rolling stone gathers no moss

A very quick watercolour for Illustration Friday's word of the week PROVERB. I chose the proverb A rolling stone gathers no moss because it is something my grandmother always used to say to me. Of course, these days my interpretation is much different. I figure, moss grows quickly, so why not roll while you can!

Vacant

Illustration Friday - for the October 31st theme "Vacant". Are your current living quarters feeling a little cramped? See something better, but just aren't sure they are vacant? I just had to do the hermit crab...what a perfect example of something always looking for vacancies!