Common Blue, Near Styal Woods, 2013

Here is another in the series of butterfly drawings that I have been working on over the last two weeks. 

Common Blue, Near Styal Woods, 2013,  graphite and coloured pencil, A2 (2016)

Here it is at an earlier stage.

 

 

Small Tortoiseshell, Near Styal Woods, 2013

This is the next butterfly in the continuing theme of butterflies.  As I mentioned earlier this week, this is new territory for me (drawing butterflies).  I might push things further in the future and try out birds, it's been about 30 years since I last drew one.  This drawing is inspired by our many visits to the area around Manchester Airport and in particular, Styal.  There are areas of Styal that are full of meadows, wild flowers and thus butterflies.  I think a return to this area is long overdue.

Small Tortoiseshell, Near Styal Woods, graphite and coloured pencil, 2013, A3

Here are a couple of photos of this drawing while it was a work in progress.

 



Swallowtail, Petrovac na Moru, Montenegro

When I was a kid I loved drawing butterflies.  I would spend hours reading about them and looking at a book I had brought at school about them and making up new butterfly designs.  I love English butterflies, however when I go somewhere foreign, the new types of butterfly are very fascinating.  In Greece, I've seen two types of swallowtail, the large almost birdlike one that glides around the tree tops and the smaller more common type that is seen across the Mediterranean.  This Swallowtail is the smaller variety.  I'd never seen the Med in spring until this year.  The wild life, flowers and of course butterflies are amazing.  The weather is much warmer than in Britain during spring which means that one can have lots of comfortable walks in the countryside and take it all in.

Swallowtail, Petrovac na Moru, Montenegro, graphite and coloured pencil on paper, A3 (2016)

This drawing is the first graphite pencil drawing that I've worked on since 2012.  The past few years have been spent developing work with carbon/charcoal pencil, pen and paint so I thought it was time to revisit old fashioned pencil again.

Letting Go

Letting Go, pen, ink and coloured pencil drawing, A3 (2016)

This ink drawing is a sort of visualisation of the anger that I used to feel.  The trees are almost cage like.  It's like your mind with it's anger is a prison.  Letting it go for me felt like a huge weight had been lifted.  Anger is not always bad, it's just knowing how to let go once it has achieved it's purpose.