Brittany Leah

Main navigation

artwork

October Bullet Journal Calendar (+ my other monthly designs from 2019)

By Leave a Comment

This year, I attempted to keep up with a bullet journal. I’m not clear on what the exact definition of a bullet journal is, but from what I see on social media it seems to be a personalized journal and planner often with your own doodles or sketches.

I say attempt, because I had a baby last winter so I definitely don’t have too much down-time for creative things. Hence why I didn’t really start my calendar designs until April this year.

I thought it was a great idea to design a a monthly planner spread because it forced me to practice drawing and calligraphy, even if it was only once a month. I also love to learn about plants in my area of the world, so every month I chose a plant that is prominent for that time. This helps me to keep up with learning about nature by drawing the plants and reading up on their history and uses – I wanted to include information about the plants in my planners with accompanying designs and calligraphy, but time was an issue this year.  That’s what I’m hoping to do going forward – a planner that helps keep you interactive with nature and the seasons.

Anyways, it’s now already half way through October and it occured to me to share my designs on my blog. For this month, I chose crabapples.

I based the sketch on a photo I took :

 

And now the rest of my designs in reverse chronological order :

 

For September I chose wild grapes, which are still everywhere in my area. I love the sight of the grapes, demonstrating a ripening of Summer into Fall.

 

For August I chose chicory flowers for my cover design, and then wild lilies for the calendar.

 

Wild roses were the theme for July …

 

Wild Strawberries for June …

 

For May, my calendar remained incomplete, but my cover design was apple blossoms.

And violets for April :

Watercolour Robin

By Leave a Comment

The sight of robins around here signals the beginning of Spring. And for a long while, birds are really the only noticeable promise of the warmer season coming.

In January and February, I will usually see lots of them decorating crab apple trees. By the time it gets to April, they will be out hopping around in the fields and parks, presumably worm hunting.

It’s a very gloomy April here right now, but I do love the sight of these birds practically everywhere in the park when it is raining. On dark, overcast days the red of the maple blooms and the robins breasts appear so deep and moody.

 

I’ve been working on my bird sketches a lot lately. I never thought I would enjoy them as a subject as much as I do. Drawing animals and plants makes me feel so much love for the species.

Anyways, here is my little spring Robin <3

 

 

Watercolor Pine Cone Study | Eastern White Pine

By Leave a Comment

Pine cones are amazing, right? I think I wouldn’t be wrong in assuming most women have a habit of collecting some beautiful woody ones when we happen upon them.

I mean why are they so pretty, yet sturdy and seem to have such a perfect design? After a while of contemplating a couple of large ones I had collected, I felt compelled to draw one.

It took me a few tries, but finally I came out with a watercolor illustration that I’m satisfied with. Drawing plants is a new habit of mine that I really enjoy. It helps you to understand the fine details of your subject and develop a deeper appreciation of it.

I was delighted to find out that this cone is from a White Pine tree, one of the first trees I learned to identify. Their needles are most commonly used for pine needle tea, and are said to contain 3-5 times more vitamin C than an orange.

Its surprising to me that I’ve lived around these trees my whole life and didn’t even know that they have edible and nutritional properties! I think this is the case for most people in North America, to be totally oblivious to nature their whole lives, and I think I will continue to have the same shock every time I learn a new edible species.

Anyways, one of the characteristics for identifying this tree is by its needles which grow in clusters of five.

White Pine sapling.

After doing this study, I had to of course read all about White Pines and their cones, so the rest of this post is some interesting facts about that… If you’re ready to geek-out with me, read on …

I for one, was fascinated to find out – and I think you will be too, if you didn’t know it already – that all pine cones are female!

Okay, well there are male pine cones but they don’t look like what we think of as a pine cone. They are very small little tubular looking things that grow in clusters that come out in the spring.

On the Eastern White pine, the males are only 8-10 mm long, whereas the females grow up to 8 inches long at maturity.

The males have a very short lifespan of only a few weeks.The females on the other hand, can live for several years.

The male pollen cone clusters develop near the base of the tree, and the female ones are usually up higher. Males and females develop on the same tree, but their placement on different heights helps to prevent inbreeding.

Once a female cone is fertilized in the springtime by wind-borne pollen, it takes 12 to 13 months for the development of the seed. In August through September of the second year, the cone opens up its scales, releasing seeds into the wild which are dispersed by wind or squirrels. They then fall to the ground, and that’s when we collect them :).

White Pine trees produce female cones after about 5-10 years of age, and continue to do so every year after.

Other Special Things About White Pines

They are the Provincial tree for Ontario.

The White Pine was a sacred tree to Native American people. The inner bark is sweet and edible in the spring, and the seeds from the cones are nutritious. The bark and resin were used for medicinal properties, and also to make baskets and seal canoes.

They are the tallest tree in North America. When Europeans first arrived here, there were immense spans of White Pine trees, some of them growing up to 230 feet tall. Many of these ancient pines were cut down to make settlements and ships. They now grow up to 110 feet tall ( I guess that’s because the remaining ones are not as old?).

Europeans were able to survive from scurvy and nutritional deprivation because of evergreen tea given to them by Native American tribes.

The White Pine was a favorite tree of naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau, one of my favourite philosophers.

Cardinal Drawing

By Leave a Comment

Leave it to a cardinal with their most perfect, beautiful red imaginable to inspire one to pull out their pencil crayons

I often see these guys in the Don Valley trail, and they always make me wish I had a zoom lens to try to capture an image of them. This is the closest I managed to get the other day 🙁

What I didn’t know about cardinals is that they are only here in North America and actually, here in Southern Ontario is the northernmost region of their habitat.

They also don’t migrate, but I suppose we associate them with winter because they obviously pop out in the scenery during this time against the snowy background and bare trees.

Only the males have the vibrant red color and the females are red-tinged brown. They are known for their beautiful songs that they sing back and forth to each other. They are also known to be very territorial and defensive during the Spring and will often aggressively try to fight their own reflection.

Anyways, this is the first time I’ve tried a pencil crayon drawing (well since I was a child, duh), which I decided to do because I got a set of Prismacolors over the holidays. This was definitely a fun subject to start out with.

I was frustrated with my drawing originally because I couldn’t get the colors to look smooth, but then I learned that you can blend the colors by drawing over them with the white crayon, and layering.

I don’t think I did justice to this cute little guys color, but I’m not totally displeased with it either.

 

Hope you get the pleasure of seeing one of these beauties!