selina

Joining in with @nibswatercolours #nibsbirdpaintalong with June's bird of the month the tree creeper. I drew this tree creeper a couple of years ago in my nature journal and still haven't completely finished the page 😄. I love seeing tree creepers, they're very distinctive in the way they spiral up a tree, always starting from the base of the trunk working their way up. Heres a few quick facts about the Eurasian tree creeper - Tree creepers live in woodland habitats, where they climb up the trunks of the trees to look for invertebrates in the bark. Tree creepers are also called the tree mouse in some regions, due to how they scuttle up trees. They're monogamous, with both parents feeding the chicks. Interestingly the male will search the bottom of the trunk and females will search the top (I guess so not to waist time in searching the same part of the tree as it's partner). It's been an age since I've posted here on my art account. I've been posting some journal pages over on my nature journaling account @creating.with.nature but I will hopefully soon have more art to post on here too. I have a project in mind, which I've been meaning to start for years. It'll be a challenge for me, as I'm out of practice with my art, but I'm going to give it ago anyway 😄. More to come soon on this 😊. Happy creating🖌️🎨, hope you're all well 💚. #treecreeper #birds #bird #watercolour #watercolor #bto #drawing #draw #sketch #nature #naturejournal #painting #paintingbirds #art #watercolourart #drawingnature

This is my hedgehog and snail illustration I made for #hedgehogawarenessweek 🦔🐌. I used watercolour with some white gouache highlights. I'm fairly new to watercolour and really enjoying using it so far 👍☺️. #art #artist #wildlife #wildlifeart #nature #hedgehog #snail #hedgehogart #snailart #natureart #naturedrawingclub

Buzzing into July with this little wasp💛☺️🖤. Showing some wasp appreciation. I'm a big wasp fan, they're such brilliant little creatures, pollinators, plant protectors, as they predate the insects munching on them, what more could you want ☺️. This drawing is taken from one of my journal pages I did a couple of years ago. I must attempt another drawing of them. I like the idea of drawing insects on a bigger scale, but they always end up small when I go to draw them 😄. Hope everyone's July has started of well 💚. Happy creating 🖌️🎨. #wasp #waspappreciation #entomology #insectart #watercolour #drawing #naturejournal #sketch #smallartist #sketching #artist #art #creative #create

Joining in with @suefield66 and @tinykatecreates #marchmothmadness challenge 😊. Todays moth is the Hummingbird hawkmoth, which is one of my favourite moths ☺️. A few facts about these beautiful moths: Hummingbird hawk moths are day flying and they overwinter as adults in outbuildings and in crevices in trees and walls. They usually fly from May to September and the caterpillars feed on lady's bedstraw, hedge bedstraw, red valerian and wild madder. Too join in or find out more about this challenge check out the above accounts 👆. Happy creating 💚🦋💚. #hummingbirdhawkmoth #moth #moths #mothsmatter #entomology #watercolour #art #illustration #sketch #march #draw #artchallenge

Joining in with @crobbles and @nibswatercolours February's draw something purple challenge 💜. I chose to do a jellyfish, basing it on the Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish as they come in some lovely purple tones. As it is the last day of February, I'm only just in time with this one. Looking forward to seeing what Marchs colour will be 😊. Happy creating 💜😊💜. #crobblespaintalong #paintwithvickyandgillian #jellyfish #purple #february #watercolour #sketch #illustration #marinelife #oceanart

Here's a slow worm I drew in my journal back in the autumn (a page I still haven't finished 🤦‍♀️). These reptiles are one of my favourite lizards. Me and my family see them a lot at the allotment (hoping they will make it to our garden too🤞). Despite its name, slow worms are anything but slow, especially when they're startled. I'm looking forward to seeing them when they come out of their hibernation - around about March. I drew this slow worm with his tail missing, this is because we found a few like this. Amazingly slow worms and common lizards have a defence mechanism, which causes them to drop their tails if threatened 🤯🦎. Hope you all had a great January and wishing you a brilliant February 💚. #slowworm #reptiles #reptile #lizard #lizardart #art #watercolour #sketchbook #naturejournal #sketch #lizardsketch #illustration #herpatology #slowwormart #natureart #wildlifeart

Some Deadly Webcap mushrooms from my nature journal for #mushroommonday 🍄🙂. I tend to shy away from creating fungi, as my mushroom drawings don't tend to come out like I envisioned, but nature journaling gives me the chance to do it anyway 😊. Happy creating, hope this week has started well for you all 😊💚. #mushroom #mushroomart #naturejournaling #fungi #fungiart #deadlywebcap #lovefungi #🍄 #watercolour #sketch #drawing #illustration #natureillustration

This week was #folktaleweek 😊, here's my piece for day 3 with the prompt star. It's a Greek mythology tale, about Gaia, Scorpius and Orion. Orion the hunter slayed many animals, he boasted that he was going to kill all the animals on earth, this angered Gaia, the goddess of nature, so she sent a giant scorpion called Scorpius to stop Orion. A big battle comenced, Orion laughed with arrogance, thinking nothing could stop him, but everything he tried could not defeat Scorpius. Orion panicked and went to flee, this allowed Scorpius to take his chance and sting him with his tail, killing Orion and saving the animals. Too show gratitude to Scorpius and to show Orion's shame, Gaia put them in the stars for all to see. Orion and Scorpius are at opposite sides of the celestial sphere, when Scorpius rises in the east, Orion sets in the West, these two enemies are never in the sky together and making it appear that Orion is always fleeing from Scorpius for eternity. There are many tales about Orion and Scorpius, some say Artemis sends the scorpion, some say Orion stepped on a scorpion, but I quite liked the Gaia story. I was only able to join in with two prompts this year, but hopefully I'll be able to do the whole week next time 🤞😊. Thank you @folktaleweek , I look forward to joining in next November 😊💚. Happy creating and have a great Sunday 😊💚. P.s a little tip, I used canson moulin du Roy paper for this piece, it's very good for holding a lot of water and is quite tough i.e you can wipe paint off etc, but it will tare if you use watercolour masking fluid. I used the Winsor and Newton masking fluid and unfortunately it took the top layer of paper off, so it was then very bitty when applying paint, so not a paper to use with masking fluids. #folktaleweek2022 #star #starstory #stars #sky #nightsky #constellation #constellations #orion #scorpio #scorpius #scorpion #folktale #folktales #greekmyth #greekmythology #gaia #goddess #motherearth #earthgoddess #gaiagoddess #godess #art #watercolour #watercolor #astronomy #night #mythology

Yay it's #folktaleweek 😃. Here's my first folktale, with the prompt tree 🌳🌲. This one was tricky as there are many beautiful trees with deep folklore roots. But as we are going into the winter months (here in the northern hemisphere) I decided to go with the blackthorn tree and the folktale of Cailleach the Celtic goddess of winter. Here in Scotland she is known as Beira, Queen of winter. Cailleach is depicted as an old crone, wearing a blue cloak, with a raven on her shoulder. She represents the dark waning moon and the winter months. She carries with her, a blackthorn staff to summon the winter storms. Cailleach emerges at Samhain and takes over the year from the summer goddess Brigid. She leaves at Beltane, when Brigid takes over for summer again. There are more tales of Cailleach, but I'm going to go onto another folktale to do with the blackthorn tree before I run out of post 😄. I've attempted to draw a Lunantisidhe in the tree 😄, these creatures are known as moon fairies, they protect and guard the blackthorn trees. They're said to be unfriendly and will curse anybody who disturbs the trees, especially at Samhain and Beltane. They leave the trees at full moon to worship the moon goddess, so this is considered the safest time to harvest the sloe berries 🍒😉. I enjoyed researching these folktales, I love all tree/plant folklore. I wasn't too pleased with my art piece, as I rushed it, but I still enjoyed the process. Unfortunately I won't be able to join in with all the prompts this year, but I'm hoping to do the star one and possibly potion ☺️. If you would like to join in with folktale week then check out @folktaleweek for more info 😊. Happy creating 💚😊 #folktaleweek2022 #folktale #folktales #folklore #tree #treefolklore #cailleach #beira #scotland #celtic #celticgoddess #blackthorn #blackthorntree #sloe #luna #moon #moonfairy #moonfairies #fairy #lunantisidhe #fairyfolk #story #folkhistory #art #folktaleart

As it has been #nationalmammalweek this week here's a sketch of a red squirrel from my nature journal 😊. Red squirrels are the native squirrel of the UK, unfortunately though it is declining rapidly due to loss of habitat and the introduction of the grey squirrel. As I now live in Scotland - one of the red squirrels strongholds, I had a very very brief glimpse of a red squirrel a few months ago, it was running across a road track. I'm hoping I will get a chance to see one again 🙂. Happy Halloween for tomorrow 🎃, I was hoping to draw something Halloween themed but it's been a busy few months. Hope it's a good day for all 🎃🍂🍁. #art #watercolour #redsquirrel #redsquirrelart #redsquirrelawarenessweek #october #naturejournal #watercolor #mammals

A remembrance to Freya the walrus 😔💚. On August 14th 2022, the Norwegian directorate of fisheries made the awful decision to shoot and kill Freya the walrus. Their excuse was that people were getting to close to freya, so causing a safety issue. They did not look into any alternatives, like fining people who would not listen to keeping their distance, they also did not listen to organisations who approached them with ways they could help - as they had experience with a different walrus and successfully managed to keep that walrus and the public safe. Yet another animal died due to human hands, when it could have been avoided! Climate change will cause more animal and human conflict, officials should not be making the decision of killing wildlife because they want them out the way. I decided to draw Freya sleeping on a boat as this is what she liked to do, she used the boats to sleep on, often sinking them because of her large weight ( no doubt the people complaining about their boats would have been one of the reasons for them to get rid of her). Walruses use ice sheets to rest on, but with the ice melting due to climate change, boats make an alternative place to sleep for a walrus. I hope next time people choose to help wildlife and not harm them! Rip Freya 💚 #freya #freyathewalrus #walrus #watercolour #art #marinelife #marineart #stopclimatechange #climatechange #savetheocean #savemarinelife #savewildlife #rip #wildlifeart #drawing #sketch #illustration

The bobtail squid is a fascinating animal, it is able to use bioluminescence to look invisible to predators at night. Bobtails have what is known as a light organ, which enables the squid to light up from underneath to look like a stary night sky - this is known as counter illumination 🤯. These squid can only do this with the help from a bacteria called Vibrio fischeri, researchers found out that the bacteria can only enter the squid when it is a juvenile, if the bobtail doesn't have access to these specific bacterias while they're baby's they will not be able to light up. So the symbiosis between the bobtail and the Vibrio fischeri bacteria is extremely important for these squids 🦑🦠. This was a gift for my sons birthday as he loves squids 🦑☺️. I tried out a new paper, the 300gsm paper from the Stonehenge tester set. It was ok, it will hold a lot of water, but it isn't forgiving if you make a mistake - as I found out when I needed to take some paint off the paper and it started to disintegrate 😖. I have some more testers to try, so we'll see how they go 🤞🙂. Happy creating, hope September has started good for you.💚 🖌️🎨🖍️🪡💚. #bobtailsquid #marineart #marinelife #oceanart #squid #squidart #sealife #watercolour #illustration #oceanlife #savetheocean #painting #marinepainting