Richard Bell's nature sketchbook since 1998
We’ve had this pelargonium for more than a year, so it’s not surprising that its now looking leggy undernourished, but the leaf-scarred stems make it more interesting to draw.
Drawn in Procreate with the ‘Technical Pen’, a plain no-nonsense virtual pen.
75℉ 27℃, front garden: The tall alliums are attracting small to medium-sized bumblebees.
Our Phalaenopsis orchid, also known as the moth orchid, is doing well on the kitchen windowsill. It probably appreciates the sometimes steamy atmosphere. We’ve kept it in the transparent plastic pot it came in as it’s important for the roots to be exposed to light, although the transparent pot is inside a plant holder, so it doesn’t get the full sun.
After a year, our zonal pelargonium is beginning to look a bit leggy.
Drawn in Procreate on the iPad using the Tinderbox virtual pen from the Inking section. Having got through all three of my PenTips 2 soft Apple Pencil tips, I’m now back to a plain Apple Pencil tip but the canvas texture of the PenTips Magnetic Matte Screenprotector is working well for me, an improvement on drawing on the iPad’s glass screen.
I struggled to identify this flower, photographed with my iPhone as we walked around Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Idle Valley reserve a couple of weeks ago. I think what’s happened is that greater stitchwort flowers are growing up amongst the foliage of some kind of cranesbill.
It was drawn in Procreate on the iPad but if I’d been drawing from the actual plant in my sketchbook I might have realised that they’d got mixed up.
Unless you can suggest the identity of a plant with stitchwort-type flowers and cranesbill-style leaves?
With snow on the ground today it’s been good to think about May time for a my next Dalesman nature diary.
Barbara’s brother John has seen the outside world just once in the last month on a brief wheelchair tour of the Hospice grounds so he asked us to photograph some of the spring flowers that are currently coming up in our garden.
The rest of the garden is ready for a bit of a spring clean but the crocus, daffodils, irises, winter aconite and pulmonaria give a welcome burst of colours.
Flamingo flower (Arum family) and New Zealand Cabbage-tree Palm (Asparagus family, so not a ‘true palm’ of the Arecaceae family) at the Hospice.
Drifts of snowdrops, winter aconites and a variety of hellebores at Brodsworth Hall this morning.
There are a few bright spots of colour beginning to appear on the raised bed behind the pond.
With the afternoon light starting to fade I went for the easier option of photographing them and drawing from my iPad.
This is my first drawing with my refreshed Winsor and Newton watercolour box which I’ve filled with botanical subjects in mind and so far it seems to be working.