Isle of Man Nature Journal

  • Spring is a perfect time to sort out and organise art supplies. The brighter days and spring flowers create colour that inspires creativity and makes me want to reacquaint myself with some of the art supplies that I’ve left languishing…

  • It’s the Spring Open Studios at Grenaby tomorrow and as the base of the Isle of Man Nature Journal and the workplace for me as an artist, you can imagine there’s a bit of tidying and organisation to do! I’m…

  • I’ve been drawing for a while, so it’s pretty instinctive to move my pen in different ways to create the illusion of texture. Drawing in the same way each time isn’t necessarily best for our development as artists, though. It’s…

  • The Nunnery, just outside of Douglas, is a place I’ve often heard of and used as a landmark but never visited. Having recently attended a course there, I was impressed by the beautiful features of the building and the very…

  • While I was drawing a daffodil as part of a ‘One Thing’ walk the other day, I started thinking about past walks in which I chose just one thing to draw. As a blogger, not only do I have my…

  • As we emerge from winter, it can be hard to remember the wonderful colours and forms of the summer garden. I felt like adding some colour to the blog this week, and so decided to focus on the flowers of…

  • New artwork on the map is always exciting, but especially so when it helps to show the very different ways we can represent a place through art. Recently, Jan Kinrade sent in two of her ink sketches of Derbyhaven. I’m…

  • Ink is a lovely medium to draw with and there are many ways to use it. One of my favourites is to use a watersoluble ink to draw the basics of the sketch and then to add water to the…

  • This is a big year for the Isle of Man Nature Journal. It’s the year in which we start to deliver workshops to schools and the full purpose of the journal takes shape. As a result, there will be some…

  • The post-Christmas sales are now really in swing and there are lots of good deals on art supplies in shops and across the internet. It’s a good time to take stock of what you already own, what you enjoy using…