Hello and welcome to the next edition of my newsletter, on art and the seasons.
At first, I thought this new seasonal period didn’t fit the gloomy forecasts here in Scotland. However, we have enjoyed a surprisingly clear, and pleasantly bright, few days.
I debated focusing the few-flowered Garlic, as it has not only arrived in the past five days, but it has begun to flower, allowing me to properly identify it! Despite its name, the few-flowered Garlic - alium paradoxum - is a wild leek. It smells like garlic, though, causing it to be confused with its native cousin.
Few-flowered Garlic/Leek is edible, though can grow alongside other Spring ephemerals, which are not. It is, unfortunately an invasive species, first introduced to the UK in the late nineteenth century.
The few-flowered garlic is, nevertheless, a very reliable harbinger of Spring, so it’s inspired the next page in my sketchbook.
Sketchbook notes: I chose to do another large-scale drawing in my Pith Oroblanco sketchbook. I have really enjoyed making these into a slower project - adding layers over the course of a couple of days. Here are some pictures from the process
Materials:
Inks
Daler Rowney Acrylic Ink: Red Earth
Diamine Drawing & Calligraphy Inks: Emerald, Canary Yellow
Ecoline Liquid Watercolour 100
Pastels
Unison: BG6, BV9, Green28, Green14 Grey 2, Grey 4, Grey 21, Grey 27, Orange3, Orange6, Y10, YGE11
Neocolour: Pale Yellow, Orangish-yellow, Ochre, English Red, Salmon, Light Cobalt Blue, Chromium Oxide Green, Moss Green, Light Olive, Cinnamon
Paints
A new Spring palette of Gouache, include Holbein Irodori, Windsor and Newton, and Schminke.
Holbein Acrylic Gouache: Jaune Brilliant, Misty Green
Turner Acrylic Gouache (Japanesque): Yellow Green
Liquitex Acrylic Gouache: Yellow Oxide
Pencils
Faber Castell Polychromos: Light Yellow Ochre, Olive Green Yellowish
Derwent Inktense: Olivine, Ionian Green
Derwent Lightfast: Mars Black
Caran D’ache Luminance: Apricot, Green Ochre, Burnt Ochre 10, Raw Umber 50, Sepia 50, Violet Grey, French Grey
Interested in the Few-flowered Leek?
Check out this blog, which is so wonderfully detailed
Interested in Microseasons?
Check out Nature’s Calendar here
You can add microseasons to your calendar here