The Library of Obscure Wonders
art nature illustration botanical classes workshops
February 17, 2019
Nature illustration: The structure of flowering plants
Ever wondered how a flower works?
This Saturday we will looking at the structures of flowers as well as leaves, and the layout of these on a plant. We will also have a look at the use of dividers to measure accurately and that old Fibonacci spiral…
The Crypt, St John on Bethnal Green, London, 2-5pm. £15, materials provided.
For more details contact me at info@obscurewonders.com
February 11, 2019
Drawing detail and texture in nature using watercolours
This coming Saturday 16th February at the Crypt, St John Bethnal Green
How to slow down and really consider natural objects, come to know them as you draw them, learn how to get appropriate textures and details for your object using salt, clingfilm, and sponge. Equipments provided. All levels welcome from beginner to very experienced. £15, 2 – 5pm.
January 11, 2019
Nature illustration: drawing and painting plants, insects and shells
A new set of classes for the new year:
How to slow down and really consider natural objects, come to know them as you draw them, and how to use light and shade to create a 3D appearance. Equipment such as paper, pencils, watercolour paint, will be supplied. All levels welcome from beginner to very experienced. £15 per class
26th January – 2nd March. Saturday afternoons 2 till 5
St John on Bethnal Green, 200 Cambridge Heath Rd, London
How to find us: Very close to Bethnal Green tube station which is on the Central line. The class is in the crypt of the church. Meet at the front entrance to the church.
January 3, 2019
A soirée this Sunday
A gentle soiree into the new year.
Short talk on an obscure wonder, musical phenomena, drunken Tarot with Miss Roberts, and an art installation or two. Bring drinks and snacks. 3rd Floor.
A small donation to the library to give the performers a chance to get home that evening is appreciated. Since money is not allowed to change hands in the Lion House I’ve set up a ticket thing. Don’t worry you really don’t have to do this if it freaks you out. It freaks me out! Donation is £2. I’ll post the ticket page as soon as they let me.
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/460100
5pm to 9pm
3rd Floor
Lion House
75 Red Lion Street
Holborn
London
WC1R 4NA
UK
December 13, 2018
The problem with perfect
Oak tree in the woods
Perfect is a closed circle, static, fulfilled, existing out of time. An idea that does not really happen in nature because of the need for change and adaption in order to survive.
Take an oak tree. Imagine for now it is born from the perfect acorn in the perfect soil, it has every potential of becoming the perfect mushroom shaped oak seen in picture books. It grows into a stalk, and starts to develop leaves, but there are big holly bushes next to it, so it’s leaves can’t get much sunlight to photosynthesise. It is going to have to grow much taller than them. In its 30th year there is a harsh winter, so it drops some of its lower branches to conserve nutrients. In its 50th year a house is built to one side of it preventing sunlight reaching it from that side, so to make up for this it grows more on the other side giving it a somewhat crooked shape. The tree is a healthy oak that will live for a couple of hundred years, but it is not the perfect tree, it does not have that neat mushroom shape, it is crooked, tall, and sparse on the lower branches. It is the ability to change and not remain perfect that has meant it can live a long healthy life.
Now we imagined a perfect acorn, but evolution being as it is, that acorn probably wasn’t perfect, a genetic difference may have slightly altered the tree’s bark, or made it extra tasty for a particular insect. While in one case this could have been an annoyance and potentially damaging to the tree, in another the bark difference could make it particularly resistant harsh winds, so if it or one of its future acorns ended up on the Scotland Highlands it would have a better chance of survival than one that didn’t have that bark difference. Equally so being tasty to a particular insect could be damaging in one instance but if that insect happened to eat another more deadly insect that could infect the tree then being tasty to the first would be an advantage.
That is just one simplified example of the need to adapt and how the our idea of the classical closed perfect organism would not survive because it can not change and adapt to its environment.
If you get a compass and draw a circle on a piece of paper it may look perfect, you can call it perfect and others will agree. Yet time will smudge and fade the ink, it will tear and rot the paper, till eventually your perfect circle is nothing but mush. This mush will hopefully be put in the ground where if can feed another seed which will eventually grow into another plant that will feed another animal or maybe even a human who draws another perfect circle.
November 4, 2018
November – New classes!
Watercolour classes
I’m taking over the running of the Monday morning drop-in class in Watercolour at Lordship Hub in Tottenham. 11:30 to 1.30.
Currently only £8.
Paints and brushes are provided. Paper can be purchased. All levels are very welcome. A subject is covered in each week, from landscape painting to portraiture, still-life and abstraction. It has a very relaxed environment with a nice group in the middle of a beautiful recreation ground. No need to book, just come along. Contact me for further details – info@obscurewonders.co.uk
Also at short notice I’m running a class at City Lit called Drawing into Watercolour which is very much for beginners who wish to explore Watercolour. Basic materials are provided. This is a 6 week course Tuesday evenings from 6 to 9pm. Full fee is £209, concession £127. Still time to book up but you need to do so quickly!
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/drawing-into-watercolour
Geometry and Nature
This is a short course at CityLit for beginners. Learn to draw the patterns found in nature and find out about the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence.
https://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/geometry-and-nature
Coming up early next year…
Drawing Nature – Botanical and Natural History Illustration
I’m starting a new class at St John in Bethnal Green every Saturday afternoon, beginning in January. More information coming soon.
There will also be my usual Botanical Illustration course at CityLit running from the end of January to mid March. For more info visit
February 24, 2018
Beech Tree
Beech leaf in winter. The drawing on the right is done in coloured pencil, and the one on the left done in watercolour paint about a month later.
I fell in love with a beech tree in Cornwall. A big beautiful tree on a hillside. It has a curious hollow in it’s trunk, triangular shaped and filled with water most of the year round. The water from the hollow of a Beech tree was traditionally used to help skin conditions such as eczema and scaly skin, and increase beauty. I thought I’d try out the Beech water’s beneficial effects on my skin so have been rubbing my face in this water. It does seem to make the skin more smooth.
A spell spoken to the roots of a Beech tree is said to come true. A curse spoken underneath its boughs is said to be effective if the tree approves. The Celtic God Fagus was associated the Beech, it is also seen as a feminine tree and associated with the god Danu, a female god of learning and knowledge. This isn’t surprising seeing as in Anglo Saxon the word for “beech” was “boc”, the source of the word “book” and beech wood was once used for carving words upon. A spell can be written on a beech leaf and buried to draw the support of the earth god.
In the winter this year when I was leaving Cornwall, going home to London, I went to say goodbye to the tree. I hugged it, it is a tree that feels good to hug, and whilst doing so I thought it would be nice to have a winter leaf skeleton to remember it by. I had been searching for leaf skeletons in the woods because they are good to draw but had not managed to find any so far this year. As I finished hugging the tree I looked down at my feet and there by my right foot was a beech leaf skeleton.
January 26, 2018
Oak
The first tree that particularly fascinated me was the Oak. I have always felt a certain warmth for Oak, as many people do. They are strong deciduous trees found in British woodland and indeed in many other parts of the world.
Today I walked through the local park looking for an Oak. I found a large one up against the wall. I sat myself down to draw it , but I could not get far enough away to see the whole tree and it was so criss-crossed with its branches and the falling leaves that I soon got lost trying to draw it. I feel that this tree was going to take a lot more investigation than just a quick sketch. Then, with some amusement, the thought came into my head to look for the Green Man in it’s trunk. The Oak is often associated with the Green Man. At first I noticed nothing, the trunk looked the same ridgety complication all over. Then I flippantly asked the tree where the Green Man was, I looked again and there he was! Clear as anything, with a strong nose and brow.
The Oak has been called the “king of the woods”. A symbol of strength, protection and longevity, it was the tree sacred to Zeus in Greek mythology. Priests would read the pronouncements of the gods by reading the rustling of the Oaks leaves.
It was also sacred to the Norse God Thor, the god of thunder. Curiously the Oak is struck by lightning more than any other tree – unlike the Holly which detracts it – so much so that people would collect blackened pieces of Oak tree for good luck. I read recently that the Druids would not meet for rituals unless an Oak tree was present, so important was the Oak to their belief system. The old name for Oak is Duir and the name Druid is thought in part to be connected to the Oak, meaning “people of the oak”.
The Oak has been seen as the gateway to the Otherworld. In folklore the Oak is linked to the sacrificed king whose ritual death happens in midsummer. An old story about the Oak, popular in the medieval period, had the Oak as the king of the summer. Each year the Oak King fights the Holly King of the winter, each new spring the Oak King wins the battle, each new fall the Holly King wins.
An Oak can live to a thousand years old. Their powers of protection are thought to be great. Two twigs of Oak, bound with a red thread so that they form an equal armed cross, makes a safeguard against evil. It should be hung in the home. If someone is sick in your home and you have a fireplace make a fire of Oak wood to draw out the sickness. Carry an acorn against sickness and pains and to give you longevity. Carrying any piece of the Oak brings good luck. Carrying an acorn can increase fertility and increase sexual potency.
In spring Oaks produce both male catkins and small female flowers , their fruit is the acorn. It is a keystone species in many habitats, a number of types of truffle have symbiotic relationships with Oaks, and the small bird known as the European pied flycatcher builds it nest solely in Oak trees. Acorns and Oak leaves are poisonous to cattle, horses and sheep, but pigs can live off them and were often reared in oak forests. Indeed acorns formed an important food source for many early human cultures.
The other night i slept under the Oak tree in the park. It felt like a very safe place to be, though the knat stings were dreadful!
December 6, 2017
Sequences, Spirals and Dynamic Patterns
Notes on Fibonacci, spirals, the Chinese concept of Li, and examples of geometric patterns Fibonacci and Spirals2
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