Rowan and maple leaves.
Rowan and Maple
Tag: Rowan
Rowan
I’ve done so much black and white work recently that I thought it was time to return to base and go back to brown Lamy pen and my Bijou watercolours to draw this rowan leaf from the front garden. Unfortunately my Pentel Water Brush is all but clogged up now, so the watercolour wash is a bit limited.
Rowan Buds
Our neighbour Sandra tells us that she’s been enjoying watching our rowan, which she looks out on from her kitchen.
‘It’s beautiful, I’ve been watching it come into bud and it started from nothing just a few weeks ago.’
‘I like it at this stage,’ I tell her, ‘just as its opening up.’
This prompts me to draw the buds because most are already well on their way to unfurling. I notice that there’s a complete package in there: the unfolding leaves are protecting a flower spike.
It’s done well because last autumn we gave it a good trim back. We’d missed doing this in the previous autumn when my mum was in hospital and the tree which is about twelve feet tall was making a break for freedom, sending out vertical shoots to another three or four feet above the crown. We also cut out some of the crossed branches to allow more light and air in amongst the branches.
When I say ‘we’ I’m including Paul the gardener who comes and helps us out occasionally and offers expert advice. Not all of which I take because I aim to be 100% organic: no glyphosate here, thank you, even though it would save us an awful lot of work.
I’ve got a pair of tree lopping shears with a telescopic handle, so I’m taking that as the height to trim it to. I know that it could soon tower if not over the house at least as high as the gutters, so I’ll make sure to give it a light trim again this autumn.
3.55 p.m., 49°F, 9°C.
Rowan and Sumac
AS I WAS saying the other day, Sumac (left) seems to be out of step with the seasons; since I last drew it, 
some of its leaves have turned reddish, others have fallen but it has also come into frothy, cream blossom.
The Rowan (right) is changing colour too; it has already taken on an autumnal yellow cast. It doesn’t seem long since the blossom was coming out, followed by the berries, which were eaten by the local Blackbird as soon as they turned orange red.
Tilly
Tilly, the Welsh collie at the Rickaro, is getting more at ease with customers in the bookshop and spending less time hidden under the desk.