August Round-up
Wildflower spotting, Zoom Drawing dates, and the 2025 calendar is ready to order!
Dear Reader,
Welcome to my monthly catch-up.
August seemed to have whizzed by and September is almost upon us. This newsletter is packed with quite a few things that are coming up so it may be advisable to read in bite-sized chunks maybe with a cup of tea so you can digest all the info!
This is where I give you an overview of what’s been going on this month and highlight any particular projects that I think will be of interest.
I will also include a favourite sketchbook spread, flowers that I see springing up on the Lizard, a comment on the weather and any thoughts on the season and at the end share with you what’s coming up for September.
August Stats
Wildflowers spotted: Wild Angelica, Autumn Ladies Tresses, Toadflax, Chamomile, Hedgerow Blackberries, Hedge Bindweed, Traveller’s Joy, dried out Navelwort and Sorrel
Weather: Warm, humid at times with the occasional blowy day.
This month I have mostly been: Sketching on location, spotting wildflowers, compiling my 2025 Calendar and taking a short break.
Autumn Ladies Tresses sighting!
This month I happened to be walking around the Kynance area on the Lizard and was delighted to spot these orchids-Autumn Ladies Tresses. Whilst I was aware of these I had never seen one in person. From afar they look like thick blades of grass so are quite difficult to see unless you are down on your hands and knees and know what you are looking for. I took some photos and we drew them in our wildflower session earlier in the month. If you want to watch the replay you can do so here.
I have since been drawing them and plan to bring them into my work in some way.
Shop Update
Over the month I’ve also been drawing lots more wildlife and have been working on creating new products for the shop. Amongst the new arrivals are some wildlife themed greeting cards which include seagulls along with butterflies, birds, flowers and other creatures.
I’m also delighted to let you know that my 2025 Sketchbook Calendar is now ready for pre-order too. This usually takes the whole of August to get ready but thankfully due to scanning in most of my sketches over the past year to share here, it didn’t take quite as long!
The calendar features over 100 sketches that I’ve drawn on location around the Lizard peninsula over the last year and along with colour palettes and prompts I’ve also included some more detailed wildlife and flower illustrations.
The days run from M-S and included UK holidays and Cornish days.
I’m really happy with it and can’t wait to ship them out when they arrive. You can make a pre-order here.
If you are in the EU you’ll be able to buy them from my Folksy shop once they have arrived in stock. This will be from late September. If you would like to buy any other products you see in my shop please get in touch directly and I can produce a custom order for you to buy through Folksy. Folksy covers the VAT which means you won’t be stung with an additional cost at delivery and it should actually get to you rather than be returned.
My Landscapes of the Lizard Sketchbook Zine Vol.3 is also under away and I hope to have this printed and ready mid September.
If you would like the digital version you can purchase it here along with my other Lizard Landscape Zines. Enter MELSPECIAL at checkout for a special discount.
Studio Sale
I’m having a mini studio sale on at the moment as I need to make room for all the new things that are arriving. If you’d like to have some framed originals or prints for yourself or are looking for something special to gift take a look here.
I can ship anywhere in the world so do get in touch you’d like me to arrange.
October Exhibition and Workshops
From the 5th October-11th October myself and friend Kristiana Dorosconoka aka Kriksis will be exhibiting at Coast Colour Canvas gallery at Roskilly Farm on the Lizard peninsula.
We will be exhibiting work inspired by nature, the lizard landscape and there will be opportunity to buy a range of our greeting cards, prints, stickers, and of course our original pieces of art.
This it the second year we will be exhibiting together (although this time without our friend Natasha Newton) and the gallery itself has moved to a different venue within the Farm complex so the space looks a little different to last time.
The main difference will be the increase in size which will allow us to hold workshops during the exhibition.
We will be hosting 3 workshops over the week and I will be announcing these in another post in the run up to the show. The workshops will be held on the Mon, Wed, Fri of the week and you’ll be able to book them from the 6th September.
Favourite Sketchbook Page
I did manage to take a short break over August and had a few days away visiting my parents home whilst they were away. I met up with a friend I hadn’t seen in 16 years and we sketched together.
I love that these sketches were made in Tintern, South Wales.
South Wales was where I grew up and I have a lot of memories of visiting this area over the years. Including getting lost with my younger sister. The weather had come in and we being completely oblivious hadn’t noticed and were charging ahead up the mountain. We were quite fast walkers for 8 and 5 year olds and so hadn’t heard my dad’s cries to come back. He eventually found us and brought us safely back down. It was only in later years that realised how much danger and anxiety we had caused!
This time we didn’t get lost and the weather held for us. The views we sketched were from the walk we made at The Eagle’s Nest which is said to be the birthplace of tourism and the other was made at the Devil’s pulpit which has a stunning view of the Wye valley and Tintern Abbey.
I love that I’ve captured this day in my sketchbook and that both my friend and I now sketch on location.
Zoom Meetings
I’ve decided to offer a couple more opportunities to hang out on zoom for my paid subs. I’ve found it’s been a great way to put faces to names and connect and help us stay motivated with sketching.
I’m planning to run 2 types of meetings a month and see how they go:
A Swatch and Sketch session - this will run for an hour and be a relaxed session where we bring what we want to swatch/test and then have opportunity to chat, ask questions, share struggles and successes whilst we swatch in our sketchbooks.
A Drawing Date with or without a guest artist - this will follow a structured program of fast and slow drawing exercises for around 75 mins. I’ll provide the photo references and instruction and then lead you through an active hour of drawing. Take the opportunity to draw a subject you don’t usually do or use the time to warm up and play in your sketchbook.
All zoom meetings will be recorded so you can catch the replay if you can’t make it live. I will be varying the times and days to give opportunity for a range of people to join.
Upcoming dates
Swatch and Sketch Session Thursday 12th September 6.30-7.30pm BST
Drawing Date Friday 20th September 1-2.30pm BST
Drawing Date Subject: Victorian Gardens
Guest Artist Helen Stark
I’ll be collaborating with Sketchbook artist
We’ll be hosting a LIVE zoom drawing date together, drawing inspiration from Victorian gardens.The date for your diary to join us live is Friday 20th September. We’ll be starting at 1pm and run until 2.30pm BST. It is open to join for all my paid substack subscribers and Helen’s club members.
If you want to join just upgrade to paid for the month and you’ll be sent the zoom link the day before. You’ll also be able to access all the unlocked content for the month.
For those of you who are already paid members I’ll be sharing the link in our SSS chat and send out an email the day before to remind you.
In this month's process and play I'll be sharing about how I sketch water- we’ll look at ways I sketch the deep blue sea. The post is due to go live on Saturday 7th September.
Coming up for September on Substack
Here’s what I’ll be writing / sharing with you on Substack this month (P for paid and F for free)
Process and Play video-water P
Workshop announcement F
Zoom Swatch and Sketch Session 12th Sept P
Sketchbook pages for August P
Explore and Draw podcast Ep.18 P
Zoom Drawing Date Victorian Gardens 20th Sept with Helen P
September Roundup F
You can upgrade to paid to support my work at anytime and access the growing library of posts.
And that’s it for now!
Hope this newsletter finds you well and I’ll speak with you soon,
