October Nature Diary (2024)

Every month I curate a nature diary-style collection of my illustrations and observations of things I’ve noticed and been inspired by in my local environment. Make sure you never miss a post by subscribing to Drawn to Nature for free; and if you are minded to support my work, I’d be grateful if you would consider becoming a paid subscriber.

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7th October

The picture on the left was taken this week on a glorious October morning, whilst the image on the right is from last November, when we’d had a thick frost

I’ve been collecting rose hips this week, in order to put together a tutorial on how to sketch them as part of a collaborative post I’m doing with my friend

Jo Thomas

. I love how the rose hips endure long after the leaves have fallen, so that you move from the bright red berries set against the deep green leaves, to the berries shining in the dark hedgerows - beautiful! We planted an edible hedge in our garden when we first moved in to our house six years ago and the wild roses have established so beautifully that I hardly ever have to harvest rose petals or hips from the countryside - I just admire them as I pass!

You can read the full collaborative post about rosehips - including some lovely recipes that Jo shared - here:

14th October

I signed up to a sketchbook class with Susan Yeates this week where the focus was all on autumn leaves. I still can’t resist picking up various autumn leaf specimens when I’m out-and-about at the time of year, but usually they sit on my ‘nature table’ (any spare bit of workspace in the studio) and I never quite get around to sketching them until I notice that they’ve slowly dried out and curled (or disintegrated - oops!) This year, I’ve been carefully pressing my leaves as I bring them home, between some kitchen towel and some heavy books, to try to avoid this happening. I therefore had a lovely collection ready for sketching! Funnily enough, whilst I tend to enjoy looking at the red/yellow/orange/russet coloured leaves and this is usually what I pick up and bring home, I found myself focusing particularly on this lovely oak leaf in the session with Susan. I enjoyed trying to replicate the various textures and contours of the leaf in coloured pencil.

23rd October

The weather this last week has been perfectly autumnal, with golden light and early morning mists. I’ve been taking the opportunity to notice not just the larger vistas like the view above of the River Tweed, with its perfect reflections of the trees and clouds on this mirror-still morning - but also how the light can transform something more mundane, like this beech hedge. The leaves are just starting to turn and the sun turns the edges to a glorious copper against the green-gold centres.

30th October

It has been a particularly busy month - although I find myself thinking that so regularly that I should maybe accept that I’ve reached an age where time has started to speed up and getting everything done that I’d like to do has become impossible?! Either way, I’ve definitely not had as much time to devote to drawing in my sketchbook this month and so I made a point this week of making that time a non-negotiable.

Sometimes I find that all I have the energy for is to draw-along with someone else - which is why I love Skillshare (use this link to get a 1 month free pass), as there are so many excellent art classes in any medium you can possibly think of. I spent some time working through a class from Sharone Stevens on an autumn watercolour spread, which was lovely and meditative, including lots of the things that I’ve enjoyed seeing this month, from fungi to colourful leaves.

I hope you enjoyed October - I’m looking forward to getting out-and-about in November as I find that the light tends to shift again and whilst the trees have usually lost their leaves, there remains plenty to enjoy. Join me next month?