Finches not Flowers

There may not seem much point visiting a beautiful place like Wisley in late September, but when you love seed heads, hips and berries, it's a perfect time to make that trip.

There were some gorgeous seed heads and beautiful structural forms, which can only be seen in winter. There were copious amounts of rose hips, all manner of size and red/orange hue. I do regret not sketching some of these, it’s the age-old problem of ‘I’ll sketch those on the way back’, which of course you never do. I did stop to sketch some of the Echinacea pupurea, with its purplish pink petals and rich orange conical centres. I love how the petals reflex back as flower heads turn to seed.

The most exciting part for me was watching a group of goldfinches feeding on fluffy thistle seed heads. The great thing about goldfinches is that they obligingly stay feeding in one spot for a relatively long time. This makes sketching them so much easier. They are such striking and beautiful birds, but strangely seemed to go unnoticed by the other visitors on this occasion.

I used a fine line pen with permanent ink to draw with this time. I find this much smoother and therefore quicker than a biro. I used water-soluble coloured pencils over the top. Using permanent ink means that I can use my brush pen with the coloured pencils, if I want a wash effect, without the colour being muddied in any way.