August - In Review
This month has been a mish mash of lots of different things: I went to Scotland, dabbled with clay, discovered Secrets of Great British Castles on Netflix and perfected my favourite soup recipe.
The Isle of Bute
At the start of the month, we went to the Isle of Bute, which is an island just off the coast of mainland Scotland. I have honestly never seen so much wildlife in such a condensed place or short space of time. We were there for 6 days and in that time we saw dolphins, seals, deer, crabs, fish, giant jellyfish, rabbits and a huge bird of prey. We also did a lot of exploring the water, whether that was going out on a boat, rockpooling or going to the beach. On our last day, we walked along from the sandy beach and found a deserted rock and pebble beach, where we saw the most beautiful rock pools. As I was drawing in my sketchbook, I was amazed at how many different colours I could pick out when I really focussed. It made me start to imagine what could be hiding in the rock pool and how deep some of them might go.
The whole way home, I had this image of a rock pool and all of the wildlife that we had encountered on Bute in my head. I was thinking about daytime and nighttime, the sheer depth of some of the rock pools and the different colours and shapes that we had seen. Which is when I started sketching ideas for a folded concertina book.
Whilst we were on Bute, we went to Mount Stuart House. Apparently, the Third Marcus of Bute was really into wildlife and nature and you could see that in everything in the house. It felt like there were stories everywhere. There were constellations painted onto the ceiling that changed with the seasons, there were animals carved into wood and marble and there was a greenhouse on a balcony next to a bedroom. One of the stories that stuck with me was that whilst the house was being built, a cat kept coming to visit the builders, trying to steal their lunches and chasing mice up the chimney. When Bute found out about this, he requested that a stone statue of the cat and a mouse be carved into the chimney of the fire place. Although it definitely was a stone cat and mouse, it reminded me a bit of that Beatrix Potter story, The Roly Poly Pudding which used to terrify me as a child.
After we visited the house, we watched an episode on Great British Castles on Netflix about Bute and Cardiff castle. They talked about how his love of animals meant that Cardiff castle wall has lots of stone animals climbing over the top of it and I haven’t stopped imagining drawing them since!
One of the main things I noticed happening in my sketchbook was how challenging it felt to capture the sky and the light. They both were extraordinarily beautiful and changed so fast! On a couple of occasions my page was so wet from the rain and the materials that what dried onto the page felt like it had the actual weather in it. I found that this pushed me to work a bit faster - something I am reeeeallly trying to work on!
Clay Experiments
When we got home from Bute, I went to visit my friend Harriet and made some things with clay. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing but honestly have not stopped thinking about making more things out of clay since. I mostly made little house shapes, flat house shapes, bigger house shapes and some castle shapes too. If they work out OK after going in the kiln, I’m hoping to sell a few ceramic pieces, so sign up to my newsletter if you’d like to see what survives. I also borrowed Harriet’s scanner to scan in some sketchbook pages as I’ve been thinking of putting together a sketchbook zine and maybe making some more prints out of some of my sketchbook pages.
Books I’ve brought
I thought I’d share some books I’ve brought over the past month or so. The first one is The Queen in the Cave by Julia Sarda. I loved the colour palette and the magic in this one. There’s something about a crowd scene that I really love as well - especially the one where all of the animals are marching with their instruments.
I brought Grandpa is Here, written by Tanya Rosie and Illustrated by Chuck Groenink, purely because I was transfixed by the glowey light. When I read it, I loved the theme of family, home and food, and could relate to missing someone lots.
I brought A Story About Afiya, by James Berry and Anna Cunha, maybe just before the start of this month when Frances and Harriet came to Bristol for the day. It’s about a girl who collects their experiences on their dress like a canvas throughout the day. I loved the concept but the thing that got me was the colour palette! I love the mustardy yellows against the dusty pinks and blues. I’d love to know if you have enjoyed any of these books before or if you have any recommendations!
Soup Recipe
If you’re still reading thank you, your reward is this very simple soup recipe that I’ve made for 3 out of 4 of the weeks this month.
You need:
1 x tin of potatoes (yes tin, but can be exchanged for not tinned)
2 x onions
1 x tin of coconut milk
stock to taste
vegetable of your choice - I really like butternut squash or mushroom
What you do is - lightly fry off the onions and your chosen veg, add the potatoes and around a kettles worth of boiling water and stock. Simmer for an hour whilst you do other things, then add the tin of coconut milk, blend together and season to taste.
Thank you so much for being here, supporting my work and reading my soup recipe, see you at the end of September!