September Round-up
Sending out my 2025 calendar, filming a new course, and getting ready to exhibit!
Dear Reader,
Welcome to my monthly catch-up.
September has been another packed month! This time preparing and scheduling zoom drawings dates, sketching and filming for a new seasonal course, sending out calendar pre-orders and vol. 3 zines and getting ready for a joint exhibition in a few days time.
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 October.
September Stats
Wildflowers spotted: Wild Sea Aster (I’ve seen this popping up in different spots and still seems to be in full swing), Pampas Grass, Bittersweet, Bindweed, Black Bryony, Yarrow, Old Man’s Beard now looks as described!
Weather: Bright for the first half of of the month, and then the second half we had thunder claps and lightning strikes followed by very heavy rain and 65mph wind and continues to be wild and unsettled
This month I have mostly been: Preparing for my CCC exhibition, filming a new seasonal course, planning for zoom drawing dates, making the most of the summer sun when we had it!
Following my appearance on Songs of Praise which aired on the 22nd of September I’ve received quite a lot of inquiries and sales including selling my framed originals which is really encouraging. This little lot are heading out the door today.
This is also good news as I am just about to pick up some new framed pieces for my forthcoming exhibition next week. I look forward to sharing those with you in my next newsletter.
Zooming
I really enjoyed our zoom drawing sessions this month. It was the first time meeting for our Swatch and Sketch session and it was so enjoyable to spend an hour just playing in our sketchbooks and testing out supplies. I tried the new Sharpie acrylic markers and found them very convenient to use. You don’t have to pump them and they work well on dark and light surfaces. I also enjoyed finding out about new supplies from those of you who joined particularly the nature coloured Stabilo highlighters. We will be meeting again this month and the dates are at the bottom of this newsletter.
We also met for a draw along with
and her Time Forager’s Club. Our subject was Victorian Gardens. It was a mix of fast and slow paced exercises and we had around 75 minutes of drawing all sorts of gardening tools, plants and buildings. Both Helen and I provided photo references of the Victorian Gardens we have visited in the North and South of the UK. If you’d like to catch the replay you can do so here.
I plan to host another Draw-along for October and our theme will be Leaves and seeds- we’ll be taking a closer look at Autumn fruits and be inspired by the seasons colours and shapes. Scroll down for details of date and time.
October Exhibition and Workshops
We’re fast approaching the exhibition myself and friend Kriksis will be having at Coast Colour Canvas gallery at Roskilly Farm on the Lizard peninsula from the 5th -11th October, Sat-Friday 11-4pm.
In preparation I have been framing new pieces, printing greeting cards and designing a few more art cards. My latest Landscapes of the Lizard zine vol 3 has now been printed and I’ll be selling those alongside previous editions as well as my 2025 calendar which is now in stock.
We’ll also be running workshops and they are happening on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As described below:
Monday 7th October 2-4pm Lizard Landscape Concertina Sketchbook
Mel will show you how to create a one-page concertina sketchbook, paint with inks and then work from photo refs from around the Lizard peninsula to create textural spreads filled with life. BOOK HERE
Wednesday 9th October 2-4pm Imaginary and Observational birds
Join picture book illustrator Kriksis for 2hrs to explore watercolours, get inspired by observation and imagination and paint your own bird portrait. Book via
website.Friday 11th October 9.45-12.45 pm Farm Sketchwalk, mixed media and collage
Join Mel and Kriksis for a 3 hr creative workshop that will include a sketchwalk, and then back in the gallery to create an image inspired by our time outside, working with mixed media, collage, watercolour and colour palettes to create a fun textural final piece. Book HERE
Hop over to my website to book on.
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.
Let me know if you’re planning to visit us it would be great to see you.
Wild Woodland Online Course
I’ve been working on another course over the last month and it will be ready to launch in a couple of weeks time.
This comes as a surprise to me too, as I thought I’d be filming it in October but circumstances provided me with a window and incentive to get it done sooner.
It has meant I’ve been a little quieter both here, YouTube and on social media, but I’m really excited to share more with you.
So what does this course entail?
It’s a seasonal course which explores the wildlife, flora and fauna of woodlands.
There are 10 tutorial videos which take you through the process of researching reference imagery, sketching with mixed media, leading you to the final project of creating a Wild Woodland Advent Calendar, which if completed in time you’ll be able to open from December 1st.
The calendar will contain 24 images in total featuring insects, animals, birds, plants and wildlife you discovered through sketching.
I share the entire process looking at the layout, theme, colour palette and illustration style. There will also be opportunity to work together on it with 2 work a-long zoom calls scheduled during November.
Unlike my previous 2 courses it does not involve any outside, on location sketching around Cornwall but instead focuses on creating sketchbook spreads inspired by more general reference imagery of the wildlife you would find in woodlands.
The course will be on sale in a couple of weeks time and I will be making a separate post to announce it when ready. Make sure you are subscribed to receive the email straight to your inbox.
September Favourite Sketchbook Pages
September has been a funny mix of weathers for sketching outside. There was a week where I sketched outside everyday, and it felt very much like Summer. Then the following week we had thunder and lighting and a month’s worth of rain fell on one morning! The days following were then consistently windy, wild and wet, but I did manage to get outside yesterday for a quick sketch.
Below are a couple sketches I made on walk where we spotted a field of Teasels. They were done with quick broad strokes of colour in the background followed by drawing on top with a darker brush pen. Finished with Neocolor II crayon marks.
Zoom Drawing Dates
Last month I offered my paid subs 2 different live sessions on zoom and have found it to be a great way to put faces to names and keep us motivated with sketching.
The meetings
A Swatch and Sketch session - this runs for an hour and is 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 draw in our sketchbooks.
A Drawing Date with or without a guest artist - this follows a structured program of fast and slow drawing exercises for around 75 mins. Photo references and instruction are provided and you are lead 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 Zoom dates
Swatch and Sketch Session Thursday 17th October 2-3pm BST
Drawing Date Friday 25th October 6-7.30pm BST
Drawing Date Subject: Autumn Leaves and Seeds
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 clouds and we’ll look at ways I sketch the sky. The post is due to go live mid October after my exhibition finishes.
Coming up for October 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-clouds P
New Course announcement F
Zoom Swatch and Sketch Session 17th Oct P
Sketchbook pages for September P
Explore and Draw podcast Ep.18 P
Zoom Drawing Date Leaves and Seeds 25th Oct P
October Roundup F
You can upgrade to paid to support my work at anytime and access the growing library of posts.
And that’s all for now!
Hope this season finds you well,
So excited to hear that people saw the tv episode and have been buying your work. Wonderful!