Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
These boughs of a Horse Chestnut*, snaking out over the Middle Lake at Nostell Priory have been polished by generations of young explorers so that the scaly bark resembles the skin of a serpent.
*Not London Plane, as I’d said in the original version of this post. I went back and checked the buds and they’re big, brown and sticky.
Today is the first day of spring, at least meteorologically speaking, but, with a cool breeze this afternoon, the temperature here in the back garden is a wintry 45°F, 7°C.
As a change from Apple Pencil and iPad in the comfort of my studio, I decide to spend an hour drawing in the garden.
The Noodler’s Ink in my Lamy fountain pen won’t dry when it’s so cool, so I move on to a UniPin fine line fibre tip.
Perhaps encouraged by the supermoon – which was 10% brighter than the average full moon – a blackbird was singing at 2.30 this morning.
Long-tailed tits feed on the fat-balls a couple of yards away from me as I draw the hellebore.
A wood pigeon flies overhead, spots me and veers away.
A blue tit eyes me suspiciously from the feeding pole.
The fibre tip isn’t fluid enough for me to work as quickly as I’d like on sketch of a log pile by the holly hedge, so I try my Lamy Safari fountain pen. Lamy ink isn’t waterproof, so it runs into my watercolour but I try to make the most of the effect.
Snowdrops do well around the pond and under the hedge at the end of our garden.