First Swallow!

Mammatus clouds forming in front of a backdrop of darker sky with a landscape illuminated by the low afternoon sunlight.

The sky this afternoon was excellent!

The path leading up to St. Catherine’s Chapel, near Abbotsbury in Dorset. The chapel is silhouetted against a pink, sunset sky.

Lovely walk up to St. Catherine’s Chapel this afternoon.

Thank you so much for organising the event!

Give yourself a present & scroll through the over 8500 posted in #ArtAdventCalendar this month.

The largest media event on Bluesky (probably)

(And if you're a new artist just joining, there's 660 artists you can get to know)

Paragliding in West Dorset at sunset, an illustration created in soft pastels. Above a scrubby hill the sun is setting amid a rosy-pink sky, as a lone paraglider glides past.

Day twenty-four of #ArtAdventCalendar

The final artwork I’m sharing is one which means a lot to me because it’s inspired by my first paragliding lesson, and taking up paragliding is without a doubt the BEST thing I’ve done this year.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks David.

Thanks Emma.

A coloured pencil drawing of a mountain hare in snow. Drawn on warm grey paper. There are snowflakes falling, and the hare is in the bottom right of the image, hunkered down.

Day twenty-three of #ArtAdventCalendar

Here is a coloured pencil drawing of a mountain hare in the snow.

A soft pastel painting of a winter sunrise. In the bottom right of the image is a row of three silhouetted trees. Above the trees the clouds, which run diagonally across the page from top left to lower right, burn bright pink.

Day twenty-two of #ArtAdventCalendar

Tonight, here is a soft pastel painting of a winter sunrise, inspired by a sunrise I watched a few years ago.

Thank you. And happy solstice to you too!

A painting of a hare on the cliffs above a rock archway called Durdle Door in Dorset. To the right of the image, a full moon is rising above the archway and the sea. To the left is the hare, sat in long grasses and wildflowers.

Day twenty-one of #ArtAdventCalendar and a happy solstice to everyone!

I said I’d look through the archives for my contributions this year, so here is a painting which must be about twelve years old! It was inspired by a wild-eyed hare I saw on a walk to Durdle Door in Dorset.

🙏

Thanks Helen.

Thanks Hana!

Thank you so much!

A pair of woodcock, sculpted out of air drying clay and intricately painted. They are positioned so that they appear to be looking at the painting of a woodcock in the Observer’s Book of Birds.

Day twenty of #ArtAdventCalendar

Here’s a pair of miniature woodcock (made out of clay) reading all about themselves in my Observer’s Book of Birds.

Five stones, all painted with ravens on them.

Day nineteen of #ArtAdventCalendar.

Tonight, I’m sharing a collection of raven stones.

A Fly Agaric mushroom (the well-known red mushroom with white spots) painted on a pebble. Bonus info: if you want to experience the hallucinations caused by ingesting this mushroom without the nasty side effects, you can feed a reindeer some Fly Agatics and drink their urine instead.

Day eighteen of #ArtAdventCalendar

A Fly Agaric painted on a stone. Reindeer eat this mushroom and experience a high without the nasty side effects suffered by humans if we do the same. Apparently this causes them to jump, dash and dance about, which might explain Santa’s ‘flying’ reindeer. 🍄

A list of planets next to a labelled image of a dwarf planet (Pluto).

How have I only just discovered google maps for space? If you, like me, did not know about this little piece of internet treasure, you must check it out! You can fly over moons and planets - and it's all real data <little happy skips> 🤗 🔭🧪
👉: www.google.co.uk/maps/space/
👇: Dwarf planet Pluto!

Thank you.

Thank you Jimmy!

Thanks Kelly.

Wonderful Stef. That song of theirs is like no other.

The Seven Whistlers, here portrayed as a flock of seven curlews flying together on the night of a full moon. They fly from right to left, above a silver loch and a little cottage on the shore.

Day seventeen of #ArtAdventCalendar

Tonight I’m sharing this painted stone of the Seven Whistlers. Years ago, when people heard the Whistlers flying at night, they thought of it as a bad omen. Sailers would refuse to sail the next day, and miners would avoid the mines.

A soft pastel painting of a river overhung by many spindly trees in winter. The sky is grey, the water is silver and the trees are brown, some of them delicately lined with verdant green moss.

Day sixteen of #ArtAdventCalendar.

Here’s a soft pastel painting of my local river in the depths of winter.

Thank you. 😊

Only that they often grow in my garden.

A watercolour painting of a Wren. The bird is perched on the ground and surrounded by blue Forget-Me-Not flowers.

Day fifteen of #ArtAdventCalendar

Here’s a little watercolour of a Jenny Wren.

A painting of a rook in black ink. The bird is flying from the right to the left with its wings up and its feet lifted and pointing forwards, as if it is coming in to land.

Day fourteen of #ArtAdventCalendar

Here’s a rook, painted with black ink. Unfinished as yet.