50 SKETCHBOOKS!

I can't quite believe it myself but I've just started my 50th sketchbook in 19 years.

I've decided to dedicate it to the trees in my garden which have grown up with us during our life here in France for the last 16 years.  I'm using an old spiral bound book which has had half of the pages taken out so that there is enough space to allow for extra pieces of paper and fabric to be added in.

I began with my favourite trees, the three silver birches in the front garden which we planted not long after we arrived in 2003.  I've drawn them many times over the last few years and now they are the tallest trees we have, enjoyed by all the birds that sit there to sing or watch the sun rise.

After an autumn shower the delicate hanging branches hold the raindrops that glitter in the sun low in the sky at this time of year.  I've captured this lovely sight on crumpled pastel paper in soft drawing pencils.

Then I made a stitched version of the view using a scrap of textured black fabric, layered with organza and stitched in assorted threads and yarns.  I love making French knots for the sparkles!

A detailed drawing of the delicate twigs with a background of distant autumnal trees.

I took a few photos one day and made this drawing, again on crumpled paper using graphitint watersoluble pencils.  It's surprising how many colours you can see if you look more closely at something.

This drawing is of a piece of bark that fell off the tree last year and kept in my nature collection drawer ready to be drawn when the mood took me.

I made this stitched version of the bark on a printed cotton scrap, layered with odd bits of silk and organza for the texture.  I enjoyed interpreting the markings in different coloured threads and couched on woollen yarns.

A few metres away from the silver birches stands the pine tree, which came home as a small lollipop shaped sapling in the back of the car.  Now it looks ancient with a thick trunk covered in deeply textured bark and wounds where we've had to cut off low branches.  I made this drawing last year, sitting on the bank next to the tree and using a fine black pen.

I traced the drawing onto white cotton organdie and stitched the lines in fine black thread.  There's a gap down the middle because I had to split the picture to spread it over a pair of pages.

I made rubbings and took lots of close up photos of the pine bark and here is my interpretation of a small section.  I find the shapes quite fascinating, those bits that look like nipples are where tiny twigs grew out of the trunk.

So of course I had to find a way to interpret this in fabric and thread and found some thickish black backed jersey fabric in grey and brown which I cut into shapes and appliqued together with various threads and couched yarns.

This is the embroidered cover I've made to go over the original book, bark printed fabric coloured with inktense pencils.  The writing goes vertically along the spine but I can't seem tomake this photo turn.

I have a couple more trees to draw and stitch so I'll be seeing you again soon.

Have a happy Christmas and an excellent creative New Year!