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The foxgloves at the end of the border behind
the tub are busy with visiting bumblebees. Some of the bees have
so much pollen on their backs that it appears as a smooth pale stone-coloured
patch, as if they're wearing a backpack.
I drew this with an Edding 1800 pen with a fine
tip (0.1 mm). I've got nowhere with the exercises in The Art
of Botanical Painting - I simply don't have time while I'm
writing and designing my book - but it's given me a renewed urge
to do some botanical studies, even if I have to limit myself to
drawings like this for the time being.
I'm enjoying dipping into botany again with Roy Lancaster's
gentle introduction to weeds and wayside plants In Search of
the Wild Asparagus. I don't have to go far to find some of
the species he describes . . .
A Jungle in a Tub
 Barbara
cleared the old barrel a month or two ago and it has now filled
up with weeds - red deadnettle (right),
which doesn't sting you; annual nettle, which does;
shepherd's purse; nipplewort;
something with leaves similar parsnip (which I can't identify);
a small cress-like weed; bush vetch and some type
of forget-me-not. There might have been more hidden
in there but as I pushed back the taller plants I nettled myself!
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk |
