Woodland Beasts, Birds and Trees

The grasshoppers are  bouncing around in the long grass by the reservoir. How lovely to see them and hear them. I have been trying to make a couple of new binding structures and had decided to ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2020/06/grasshoppers-in-long-grass.html

If nothing else, lockdown has certainly given us time to reflect..... in between cleaning behind the fridge and rearranging our book shelves. Looking back at previous artwork can be helpful when ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2020/06/reflection.html

Fledglings and puppies...... Over the last few weeks  most of us have had more time to absorb the sights and sounds of nature, even if we haven't got a garden to enjoy. With the reduction in t...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2020/05/over-last-few-weeks-of-us-have-had-more.html

Something has to cheer us up right now!  With inspiration a bit lacking and trying to make work in a vacuum Sue and I have decided to make some new posts on this our slightly neglected blog. L...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2020/05/birds-and-bees.html

We are taking a break, I am back at college and Sue off to warmer climes for a while. Meanwhile in September I tried to make one 30 minute sketch a day. They had to be in colour and A4. That’s ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/09/autumn-sketches.html

For various reasons, Val and I are taking a break from the blog for a while and  I'll be turning my attention to some slightly more exotic creatures  for a few weeks. I got myself into the mo...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/09/something-little-more-exotic.html

This time I have been working on an image of a bee playing a pipe. It’s a trial both for a bit of reduction lino practise and a possible visual for a poster which will include a poem. It took ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/09/more-bees.html

More rooks but this time I've changed the process a little and also used the carborundum and p.v.a. mix more as a drawing tool. Each print is different depending on the way the ink has been rem...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/08/brooding-rooks.html

Sylvia Plath's poem 'Winter Landscape, With Rooks ' is a difficult poem to read because of the deep  sadness and despondency it evokes and yet the words                  ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/08/stalking-like-rook.html

The Bird Cherry tree is dripping with red fruit.   The blackbirds love them. So do the wasps. I have picked some to cook with quite a bit of sugar, then to freeze, to bring a little August ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/08/birds-in-bird-cherry.html

In between things I am continuing with recording what happens to the Bird Cherry this year in print. The idea is to be able to make a small book. Rather than rely on photos I am waiting until thi...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/08/some-late-spring-bees.html

It seems like I've been hooked by a rook and can't get the image out of my mind. Somehow rooks always remind me of winter when I hear them caw to each other and yet they're with us all year round...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/08/rook-in-carborundum.html

Our recent  weather must be confusing all of our avian summer visitors but even when the wind is blowing and the  rain is falling, it's still warm enough for the swallows to enjoy their snacks ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/07/pretty-swallow-once-again.html

Yesterday we had a morning in Cambridge, first the Botanical Garden and then the Fitzwilliam Museum to see the Turner Watercolours and the other exhibition of watercolours which trace the develop...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/07/small-owl-dancing-with-bees.html

Last week Chris saw a dead mole when we were out on a cycle. Poor mole.. but an opportunity this time to get a closer look at those feet. It was not in very good shape, a bit chewed, very smell...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/07/mole-deceased.html

As you walk through to the Jubilee wood from the road, you have to pass several different pens of very beautiful and well looked after chickens and bantams. They happily scratch away at any let...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/07/snails-and-chickens.html

      Just sketching and thinking… :).. as, I think, is the mole.

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/07/some-more-moles.html

I like moles. They are yet another addition to my list of the much maligned creatures, who I feel are unjustly disliked for some bizarre reason or another. Eels, snakes, insects, frogs, nightjars...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/06/some-moles.html

At last, the end of the academic year for both of us so now to get back to the much missed diary of the Jubilee Wood.  Most days I've been able to walk around the wood and even though it has ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/06/buttercups-and-butterflies.html

Sue and I have both been up to our ears in academic life so the blog has had to take a back seat for a while. However by mid June we should both be back to regular blogging. I have been let out...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/05/swans.html

Yes, it's that time of year again when Triturus cristatus moves out of its hibernation on land and gets on over to a pond for the fun pastime of breeding.   We seem to be popular with the Gre...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/04/great-crested-newts.html

The warmth has brought out flowers and bees and none is as busy, as the delightful hairy footed flower bees. For the third year running the females are nesting in the blue strawberry pot. It has ...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-busiest-bee-in-garden.html

Val's fascinating prints of the blossom in her garden got me racing down to the  Jubilee Wood to see if the blackthorn was flowering there, and guess what........   Looks like there will...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-is-everywhere.html

In my garden the wild cherries are blossoming at last. The wild cherry is my tree following tree for this year. They were chopped back severely in the winter but still they are covered in the tin...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/03/spring-blossom.html

Walking through the wood I just happened to glance down at the ground  through the blackthorn bushes and saw an unusual sight..... hundreds of broken snail shells  in  a very small area, abou...

http://beautiful-beasts.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-feast-for-thrushes.html