Sketching my photos.

I love art: sketching, painting, photography, arts+crafts such as textiles and making recycled work. Recently I've been exploring new projects to undertake. Next on the agenda is making a rag t-shirt rug! But before I go off on completely the wrong track, this is what I did when I had a free lesson at school once, back before I had homework & coursework 24/7!

These are a few pages in my personal sketchbook, i.e. not for school artwork.

I just thought it was something different to share.

Below is the red door at Milovaig, Isle of Skye. (Click here for the post it was featured in)

Top left of this sketchbook page is the photo above, on an Autumn walk along the River Tamar near Calstock. First time I had ever seen Fly Agaric in the wild!

The bottom photo is an abandoned cottage at Lorgill. (Bigger photo here.)

(above) St Ives, Cornwall. In the harbour at low tide.

Cottage on walk to Lyme Regis, Dorset, from Uplyme, Devon.

Daily Photo - Sun 18 Mar

Rain-Soaked Daisy, Trumpan, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Rust & Old

Cellar Door.

Here, I am showing all the rust photos I've taken over the years that I love. I love the colours it produces and age being shown.

Not particularly to do with nature but I still like the effects. Here's something a little bit different. Daily Photo for today will be more natural!

I love the blues and browns this photo shows. This was a small area between Dunvegan and Glendale where there are so many inlets with fantastic by-the-sea walks. ê

Rusty Fence Post. Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

See: Other posts about Trumpan Church - click here. & more info about the church.

This bench is set beside the wall of the mediaeval church. The church is set upon an exposed hill open to the elements and overlooks Loch Dunvegan. The weather has aged any object here beautifully.

Moss Bench. Trumpan Church, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

Link to site.

Walking down from Trumpan towards Loch Dunvegan, you come to what is a spit of land bending around with beaches on both sides. Many things get washed up and I collected some fantastic driftwood formations. The photograph below being one; maybe a bit big to carry back up the hill seeing as it was half a gate, so I decided to snap a quick shot of the mesmerising colours the sea had created on the wood. The rust bleeding in to the layers of wood.

 

Old Wooden Gate. On beach by Trumpan, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

A day out in Portree when the sun was shining, was one of the best days of the holiday. We had just gone to the highland games and walked around this beautiful town down to the harbour where there were some photo opportunities. Looking over to the Isle of Raasay was one - I have another shot somewhere looking back from Raasay to Portree. I must put them in a post together! On the harbour wall, right at the end lay fishing gear which I had to get a closer look at. I managed to get some of my favourite macro shots. These barnicles on a buoy and the yellow make this photo so simple yet a very good shot.

Barnacle Covered Buoy, Portree Harbour, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

Climbing up to Waterstein Head. My first post to this blog explains more about why I love it so much and why it is so unique) WE had to climb over a fence which was fun in itself! barbed wire and a narrow fence stump to hold ourselves up with on the other side! The view in this photo is looking to the cliff edge in the direction of the Outer Hebrides.

Barbed Wire, Waterstein Head, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

We went down to Milovaig near Waterstein one late afternoon to do some beach combing (came back with a crab claw, lots of driftwood and some unusual shells!) when I spotted the sun flickering through a tree as the gentle wind blew the leaves. I went up to take a photo by an old fence post, looked down, and it was too good to miss! A rusty hinge with the sun behind. I thought it was different!

Rusty Fence. Milovaig, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

I'm not going to write about Calum's Road! I've done it once already so if you're interested in the history which I have to say, is very interesting you can click this link to find out about it. This is on the Isle of Raasay on a very quiet trip we did one day. Unfortunately the exhaust on the car was hanging off and the roads on Raasay are worse than those on Skye, which are worse than those in the rest of Scotland, which are, infact, not much better than those in the rest of the UK! So we had a lot of fun driving really slow over the numerous pot holes...until we reached the end of the only road tot he end, let alone the only SINGLE TRACK road! We arrived at an old castle ruin and the start of Calum's Road.

It was a great day out and I highly advise visiting Raasay if you're in the area. There is actually lots to do. The old mine, Calum's Road - with the ruined castle next to it, the youth hostel pub, and not forgetting the countless views of the surrounding land.

Calum's Road, Isle Of Raasay, Scotland.

Visiting the local graveyard, I found loads of photo opportunities and one of my favourites was this snail on a gravestone. I don't know what else to say about it. I just like the photo. Nothing wrong with that!

Snail On Gravestone, St Stephens-by-Saltash Churchyard.

Back to Scotland. Sorry about all this back and forth. Blogger doesn't seem to upload the photos in the order I want!

Glendale Mill. End of. Lovely and picturesque.  

Mill Wheel, Glendale, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

Oh, Lorgill, without a doubt, one of the best walks in the area. A very long walk from the road but, me oh my, is it worth it. Crossing a stream on the way, this truly feels like another world. I can't remember the length of the walk, but it was long. I had forgotten by the time we arrived here. You know in movies where characters have been trekking for ages and come to a paradise and the camera slowly brings it in to view - I was in such a movie, but a real life movie with no cameras! We came around from behind a mound to a fence. Slowly, looking over the edge of the steep hill, we see a valley with terraced rocks on the other side, a river and waterfall running down the bottom, with empty, abandoned, farmhouses left from the highland clearances looking out to the sea at the end. Such a secluded valley, I felt like I had discovered a lost world.

This old house down at the bottom by the river was too good not to miss. The land is still in use for farming and we were the only people in the valley.

Tomorrows daily photo (which may turn into a whole post rather than a just one photo) will be focused on Lorgill.

Old Farmhouse. Lorgill, Isle Of Skye, Scotland.

Another view of the daily photo from Mon 12 March 2012.

Old Netting. Waterstein, Isle Of Skye.

Daily Photo - Mon 12 Mar

This was taken on the Isle of Skye at Neist Point, near the cottage we were staying in. There is a loch within 2 minutes walk from the cottage and this was down by the loch.

I am just fascinated by the moss taking over the netting and took about 20 photos!

Nature's ways of taking over man-made objects is truly beautiful.

Buoys and Netting

Daily Photo - Sat 10 Mar

Thistle Trio, Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Fauna

Here's a few animal photos I've taken over the past year.

Had a lovely stay at Center Parcs in Wiltshire just after Christmas. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a forest village with a main Plaza where there are restaurants and shops. You can do outdoor activities too such as falconry, kayaking, cycling etc. There's also a Sports Centre.

Our apartment was at the far western side of the village by the perimeter fence. We left out some nuts just outside the window and 3 squirrels came along and a few robins we there anyway. I could have watched them for hours - fortunately it was getting dark and I only had time to take 171 photos!!! I managed to get a few really close up shots of the squirrels and was really pleased with the results seeing as these were shot through a sliding door!

The following 4 photos were taken at Center Parcs.

Squirrel's Nuts.

Squirrel.

The next 2 photos were taken at the lake by Jardin des Sports. (French - Garden of Sports)

Female Mallard Duck Sleeping.

Woken Up!

Testing out my new camera's macro features. I found a very friendly (i.e. - didn't fly off!!) ladybird on our rosemary bush by our front door. So took her into the back garden to a conifer which added a lovely contrast to the vibrant reds. Red and green are complimentary colours, then the brown adds neutrals.

Ladybird Macro.

Ladybird Close up.

Taken in Wales (below) in 2010. We spent a week camping with the Preseli Hills in view of the tent. The hills from which the stones from Stonehenge were sourced. This photo was taken at Carew Castle.

Robin On Bench.

 Back Garden Shooting.

Bee on Lavender.

 Scotland, Isle of Skye. There were so many tiny frogs on the walk up to Waterstein Head overlooking Neist Point (The most westerly point in the UK you can get to without getting on a boat!) We were staying a couple of hundred metres from that and could see the cottage from the top, where we also saw a sea eagle.

Frog on Mushroom.

Bee on a Thistle at Coral Beach, Isle of Skye. Coral Beach is amazing. The beach is made from an algae that has broken off and been washed up onto the beach and sun bleached. When alive, it is red; when visiting the beach, it looks a lot like sand, until you get up close to look (or walk on it barefoot! Uncomfortable!) But I digress; this was just along from the beach.

And I've just noticed, you can see the pollen on the bee's body.

Bee on Thistle.

Leaves #1

Ivy. Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden. St Ives, Cornwall

Still very busy with school work. Exams are coming around again soon. Essays and coursework are in the process of getting finished; I can't seem to find much time. I need to remember to stop leaving things until the last minute!

Anyway, as promised, here are some pictures in the category: Leaves/Flowers/Fruits. Hope you enjoy!

I'll see if I can do a few more posts tomorrow as I should have some free time after completing this batch of essays.

Sycamore Leaf on Wooden Table, Cardinham Woods, Bodmin, Cornwall.

Thought I'd test out a new layout instead of just having the photos large and in the middle of the screen!

Sun Through Leaves, Golitha Falls, Cornwall.

Fern Plant, Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor, Devon.

Oak Leaf on Moss, Anthony Estate, Cornwall.

?Sycamore? Leaf on Wooden Bench. Autumn 2011. Anthony Estate, Cornwall.

Autumn ?Sycamore? Leaf on Wooden Bench. Anthony Estate, Cornwall.

Autumn ?Sycamore? Leaf on Wooden Bench. Anthony Estate, Cornwall. 

Lone Red Acer Leaf in Sea of Green. Back garden! Cornwall.

Sun Through Fern. Lorgill, Isle Of Skye, Scotland. 2009

Autumn Sycamore Leaf on Fern. Glendurgan. Cornwall.

Dragonflies.

If you only read one thing today, let it be this. I lost my sister to cancer 6 years ago when she was 14. I was 12. I used this story to comfort me. It never gets any easier but I think it helps. The story is used to explain why people 'have to go away sometimes' but we never see them again. And afterwards, I will share some photos of dragonflies and butterflies I've taken.

The Dragonfly Story

Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun. For many months they were very busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond. They did notice that every once in awhile one of their colony seemed to lose interest in going about. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily it gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more.

"Look!" said one of the water bugs to another. "one of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you think she is going?" Up, up, up it slowly went....Even as they watched, the water bug disappeared from sight. Its friends waited and waited but it didn't return...

"That's funny!" said one water bug to another. "Wasn't she happy here?" asked a second... "Where do you suppose she went?" wondered a third.

No one had an answer. They were greatly puzzled. Finally one of the water bugs, a leader in the colony, gathered its friends together. "I have an idea". "The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must promise to come back and tell us where he or she went and why."

"We promise", they said solemnly.

One spring day, not long after, the very water bug who had suggested the plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up, he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broke through the surface of the water and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad above.

When he awoke, he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A startling change had come to his old body. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail. Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse to move his wings...The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from the new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself up above the water. He had become a dragonfly!!

Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in the new atmosphere. By and by the new dragonfly lighted happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the water bugs! There they were scurrying around, just as he had been doing some time before.

The dragonfly remembered the promise: "the next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk will come back and tell where he or she went and why." Without thinking, the dragonfly darted down. Suddenly he hit the surface of the water and bounced away. Now that he was a dragonfly, he could no longer go into the water...

"I can't return!" he said in dismay. "At least, I tried. But I can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back, not one of the water bugs would know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait until they become dragonflies too. Then they'll understand what has happened to me, and where I went."

And the dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and air.......

Common Sympetrum Dragonfly, Calstock, Cornwall. Oct 2010.

Damselfly, Devonport Leat/Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor, Devon. June 2011.

Damselfly, Devonport Leat/Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor, Devon. June 2011.

Butterfly, Isle of Raasay, Scotland. Aug 2011.

Mating Damselflies, Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Aug 2011.

(?) Downy Emerald (?) Dragonfly, Fairy Glen, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Aug 2011.

Still Life Dragonfly. Metalwork Garden Decoration.

?Common Sympetrum? Dragonfly. Italian Gardens, Garnish Island, Ireland. Aug 2008.