Katharine Harper Art and Photography

It's prom season, and this is the gorgeous Jess

A little warm up before my next live wedding guest portraits event, in a couple of weeks.

Honestly! We had a couple of hot days and it's back to November weather. Cloudy, damp, breezy
I'm sitting inside wearing 4 more layers than should be necessary in July.
Having said that, I will be hopping into a pond later for a refreshing dip!
"Let July be July, let the sun hang in the sky"
Lily Williams

Rest is not idleness, .....
Very much inspired by
Using words and quotes as a starting point for creativity
... and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
, The Use Of Life

Jude Bellingham saving the day, scoring a goal with an overhead kick




Jude Bellingham

We will be doodling affirmations this week (Monday 1st). Very meditative and mindful.
Everyone welcome
£5 a session, or £10 to sponsor an additional place 😊

Presidents' Day at Boxmoor Cricket Club,
and a win for Saturday firsts 😊🌞😎

 

Five minute portrait play - I'll have to share in a workshop sometime!

Beautiful prints for my birthday of one of my favourite places to be

By
(I'm allowed to follow you now!)

and happy to be supporting

solstice pond life!
I wonder if the tern is one that's nesting on Box Moor Trust land? (Or should I say water?)

It was amazing watching it swoop over head and splash down a few times for food. It's likely that tadpoles were its dinner, as there are hundreds of them!
The pond life here looks very similar to that at Preston Hill. Rest assured, I haven't even dipped a finger in that pond, I've stayed behind the fence, looking in 😇
How lovely to have a sunny day at last!

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, mostly on land managed by the Box Moor Trust - maybe not 30 consecutive days!

In this session we'll create abstract trees with paint, collage and print
Come and get messy, express yourself, do it your way! At our first art class this Monday 24th June

Inspired by the work of on Instagram

Day 13: blackberry blossom and bumblebees
On Station Moor/ Hardings Moor, areas of the banks of the chalk stream are heaving with blackberries.

And they are alive with bees of all shapes and sizes. I'm not certain which type of bee this one is, but the colour markings are similar to a forest cuckoo bumblebee

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, mostly on land managed by the Box Moor Trust - maybe not 30 consecutive days!

I'm really happy to be running art classes at Trefoil house on Monday evenings, starting on June 24th - it's good to be back!
Open to everyone.
They will be fun and relaxed arty crafty sessions for anyone who wants to get creative - as well as being great for your wellbeing. We'll draw, paint, collage and make stuff!
£5 a session or pay it forward and pay £10 to sponsor an additional place for a DrugLink client, or someone who can't afford to pay.
Read more about Oxygen Connect here: https://www.oxygenconnecthub.net/

A lovely day foraging, creating and chatting about wellbeing and arty things!

Day 12: wild flowers and goats
What a fantastic surprise I had! The weather was shocking and in didn't want to risk a walk at the brickworks even though I really wanted to see the goats. Instead, I walked around Box Hill, Bovingdon Reach, Preston Hill and Dell Field. There is so much life up there - and more than I anticipated. The first goat 🐐 clue was a little hut I recognised from the brickworks, but there was no sign, other than the meadow was closed due to ground nesting birds. So I made a mental note to check the website for when the goats would arrive. And then two minutes later I saw one, and then shutter, and another! They were quite a way off and I only had my phone camera, but it was enough to remind me where I saw them.
Today I'm posting yesterday's work in progress - I couldn't just do one thing!
Because I'm doodling, more than aiming for 100% accurate botanical drawings, colour is a big part of my sketches. All will be revealed later 🤞😊

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, mostly on land managed by the Box Moor Trust - maybe not 30 consecutive days!

Day 11: swallows
** Not to scale, just to be clear 😂 **
The relative size of objects in my doodles is all about perspective. In my case, it's about what holds the greatest interest for me in the moment I'm drawing
As I said yesterday, my swimming companions, on a rainy day in the pond, were one human, countless tadpoles, water lilies, and swallows, who swooped really close to us.

I've somewhat exaggerated the blue of the swallows. They mostly appeared to be black as they were in silhouette, but as they zipped past, almost within arms reach, there was a definite, and surprising, flash of blue

I'm doodling 30 days of wild

Day 10: tadpoles
My swimming companions, on a rainy day in the pond, were one human and countless tadpoles. Plus water lilies, and swallows, who swooped really close to us, but that's for another day

The tadpoles are little chonks now, with tiny bead-like appendages that will become their back legs.
I didn't swallow any, thankfully, but they had no sense of personal space, and we bumped into each other quite a bit, bless them.

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, mostly at the Box Moor Trust - but not today's!

Day 9: Canada goose and goslings

Seen near the Gadespring Cress Beds

She has more than the 3 babies I've doodled here. I noticed that their down looks either golden or tinged with green, depending on the light.

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, at the Box Moor Trust

Day 8: cloud watching over Blackbird Moor

I think they are strato cumulus, or cumulus, not sure

The clouds are obviously not unique to Boxmoor, but there are lots of places on trust land that are perfect for getting outside and relaxing while watching the sky - like today, when I was at Boxmoor Cricket Club

I'm doodling 30 days of wild, at the Box Moor Trust

Does my bum look big in this?
The stripes are really slimming, don't you think?

Day 7: belted Galloway. Another local icon!
I'm doodling 30 days of wild, found at the Boxmoor Trust

I'm doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust
Day 6: horse chestnut leaves
They are an iconic symbol of The Boxmoor Trust.
Looking carefully, as I doodled, I noticed that the leaves are in groups of 7. I always thought they were in 5's, like our hands. 7 is an unusual number in nature. It is more common to see patterns with numbers in the Fibonacci sequence (1, 2, 3, 5, 8...), while sets of 7 are common, they tend to be human constructs (eg days of the week, colours of the rainbow)

If you have a look at their website at the moment, two of my photos are in the slideshow on the landing page header. One of which is a view of Boxmoor Cricket Club framed by horse chestnut trees laden with blossom. They are very beautiful trees!

Energy levels are still low, so this leaf doodle isn't from a day in the wild today - hurrah for ridiculous amounts of photos from other days out
Normal service will resume tomorrow!








https://www.boxmoortrust.org.uk/

I'm doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust 
Day 5: orchids
I didn't have the energy for a walk so I parked close by hoping I might see one or two, and was rewarded with what felt like hundreds of them dancing in the breeze, about 200m away.
They were surrounded by dog roses and some buttercups too, it was a lovely sight.

 



 

I'm doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust
Day 4: heron
I love the way herons look as they fly, especially when they take off.

Nature journal purists only draw from direct observation but I often like to snap away with my mobile phone and sketch later - it's much easier when your subject is moving!

It would be even better with a decent camera, but they are a tad heavier!

I'm doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust

Day 3: pony. I don't know what type of pony it is, or even if it's actually a horse. I have much to learn. With it's subtle spots, it looks like a creamy-caramel version of a dappled grey.

Like yesterday's Galloway's, this pony and a black one, were in shade, at the top of a set of steps leading from the canal up to the road.
The tree with blossom behind the pony is elderflower

I'm doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust
Day 2: Belted Galloway with their no fence collars.

They were in shade of a tree right next to the road, so it was easy to get nice and close without spooking them.

I've used three standard nature journal questions, used as a starting point to trigger observations and curiosity

June means the 30 days wild challenge
I'll be doodling 30 days of wild found at the Boxmoor Trust
Starting with simple but beautiful and cheerful buttercups, which are flowering and waving all over Trust land




 

Having a relaxing moment, doodling flowers from yesterday's walk.
I'm sitting in the garden, gently swaying in my egg chair. The sun is shining (mostly!), the birds are singing and the mad squirrel has a mini heart attack every time he passes by and every time, he nearly falls off the fence.