Marbled White Butterfly

Marbled white butterfly on knapweed with scabious and bedstraw. Procreate Illustration on iPad: a blend of photo-realism illustration and looser paint effects (no, it is not a photo).

Celebration!

After a year and a half or so I have completed the first third on my novel. I have had many ideas and pages of writing that needed putting together into a coherent order. Now, I have done that and decided to mark the occasion with a small treat. The first draft will need much editing but I am excited by what I have and there is much work to do. It is a long process for me, mainly because I divide my creativity between writing and illustrating. This week I have been concentrating on consolidating the first part of my book and getting a continuous flow of text in place at last. Now I can move further on with the plot and hope to go back to the little part of Worcestershire I know so well later in the summer around apple/hop picking time.

Hogweed

Cardinal beetle on hogweed growing beside a field of beans.

Goat's Beard

After a few repairs to my bike I have been out exploring the countryside. The hedgerows are a full of colour and luscious growth and in the above picture I have tried to capture some of the plants I saw growing alongside a field of wheat. I particularly like the goat's beard whose seed heads are far more spectacular than those of a dandelion. Using Affinity Designer on the iPad is quite fiddly but the results are worth the effort. There are a few things I could have done to add more accuracy to the plants if I gave myself more time and had more confidence the iPad could cope with the complex image. It was beginning to struggle just a little bit.