February Round-up
A short and sweet catch-up of what I've working on this last month
Dear Reader,
Welcome to my monthly catch-up.
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 February.
Whilst January seemed to last forever the end of February caught me by surprise and before you know it we’re 6 days into March! So here is my belated news of things that have happened in February.
February Stats
Wildflowers spotted: Lots more Daffodils, Jonquils, Snowdrops, Crocus, Lesser Celandine.
Weather: A mix of changeable weather, some freezing cold days followed by bearable milder days.
This month I have mostly been: working on my own book project, sketching on location, making plans for my art retreat, doing client work
366 Book Project
My book project has been progressing steadily but as with most self-initiated projects I’m finding that the timeline for completion is certainly going to take longer than I first thought. (It’s a book about all the postcards I created everyday of 2020 on location).
I don’t think I had quite realised the shear amount of information, postcard scans and photographs to organise and sort through for 366 days as well as the extra illustrations and article content to write.
Thankfully I have a very patient (& lovely) designer- Hanna Oakes, working with me on it and we have certainly made some headway on the page layouts, book cover and monthly spreads. Below and above are a few sneak peeks of what we imagine the book to look like and I hope will whet your appetite for what is to come.
I’m looking forward to sharing with you our progress over the months. Stay tuned for when we are ready to start crowdfunding and have the book ready to print.
Our Lizard Landscape draw along
It was great fun to host a Lizard Landscape draw-along at the end of February and get to chat with Rona about working at Tregullas Farm the most southerly farm in mainland Britain and hear from Geoff and Susan about running their Bed and Breakfast at Penmenner house.
As some of you will know I’m hosting a creative art retreat at the end of April here on the Lizard Peninsula, working with Penmenner House and Tregullas Farm to provide a unique and luxurious stay and thought it would be a good idea to talk to them about their experiences and draw some of the stunning scenery in the area.
It was also wonderful to see so many of you joining us live and also see the expressive sketches that were created from the session. I’ve included some of them below and thanks to everyone who watched and took part.
If you’d like to watch the replay it is still available to watch here
- I’ve decided to leave it up for another week and then it will go in to the paid archives.
The retreat has one room left to book and is now open to day guests who would like to join us for the 4 days (everything is included apart from the Bed and Breakfast). I am happy to recommend places to stay if you still need to travel or this would be great for those of you who are local and want to join solely for the art, food and experience. It is happening April 22nd-27th 2025.
Find out more here and you can watch the video below about the retreat itself.
February Favourite Sketchbook Pages
These pages were sketched at St Mawgan’s Daffodil festival. A festival that sees 10,000 daffs on display around the church. It happens once every two years and is a joyful event to attend. My young friend Noor was playing the harp during the occasion so I decided to capture her in one of these vignettes.
I’ll be sharing more in this month’s sketchbook pages.
Coming up for March 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-P
Sketchbook pages for February P
Explore and Draw podcast Ep.23 P
Wonderful Wildflowers with
Draw-a-long P 19th March 7-8.30pm GMTSketchbook Surgery- Tips for sketching in the cold (delayed from Jan)P
Workshops coming up for Spring/Summer F
Swatch and Sketch Session Wednesday 27th March 3-4pm GMT P
Paid members catch up with our February videos, posts and podcast here
You can upgrade to paid to support my work at anytime and access the growing library of posts.
As always thanks so much for reading and commenting your support is really much appreciated.
😍 I love the process of creating a book. So thank you for sharing yours. It's inspiring and makes me curious to see more of it. There's no question that your sketches are beautiful. But now they get new life on the pages of a book and in the context of your photos and texts. I particularly like the part ‘Can I let you in on a secret?’ because it gives an insight into your learning process. Keep going. What you create is precious.
Looking forward to the post card book Mel. I have the little book of printed postcards you were selling a few years ago. Funnily enough I was looking through it again a few days ago. Very much enjoying being a Stackie !