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The Colours of Nature: Emerald Green
A colour connected to nature and growth, green hues can evoke feelings of freshness and calm, but have also been connected to jealousy, poison and evil. ‘Emerald Green’, named after the gemstone, is a fresh mid-green, given the references of…
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Vintage Book Review: Keith Brockie’s Wildlife Sketchbook
I’m very lucky to have a friend who finds wonderful books for me. The latest find was Keith Brockie’s Wildlife Sketchbook, the first book to be written and illustrated by this talented Scottish Artist. Published in 1981, the book features…
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The Colours of Nature: Violet Purple
Complex and mysterious, purple is the colour of royalty and mysticism. Purples can be redder or bluer in tone and those that appear to have equal quantities of both can confuse our minds as our brains aren’t quite sure how…
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New Horadam Naturals and Watercolour Palette
My main palette for PleinAirpril 2024 has consisted of watercolours and three of the new Horadam Natural paints, recently released by Schmincke. These paints are a new type of watercolour that Schmincke describes as having properties of both watercolour and…
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The Colours of Nature: Scarlet Red
Red. The colour of passion, anger, post-boxes and ripe tomatoes. Red pigments have been used since the earliest cave paintings, but the colour is often problematic. Reds have often been poisonous or fade far too easily. The colour itself can…
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The Wettest PleinAirpril?
I know I said I wanted to try watercolour, but this is ridiculous! I really didn’t expect so much water to be falling from the sky. I haven’t been out every single day but there has been some braving of…
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The Colours of Nature: Gamboge Yellow
It’s been a bit grey lately on the Isle of Man, so to brighten things up we’ll focus on the cheerful shade of Gamboge Yellow in this instalment of ‘The Colours of Nature’. Gamboge is a yellow pigment obtained by…
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PleinAirpril Plans
Just a quick blog post this week, as I’m busy spring-cleaning the studio and prepping for lots of new artwork. I’m also getting ready to take part in PleinAirpril, a challenge created by the US-based artist community, Warrior Painters, to…
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The Colours of Nature: Flax-Flower Blue
Butterflies, flowers and gorgeous blue! These things evoke impressions of spring and summer in my mind and are a balm to my soul on the many grey, cold days we’re getting lately. Luckily, the second in a series of posts…
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Buy Books and Support The Isle of Man Nature Journal
If you love books and have been interested by some of the ones featured on our blog, then check out our new page on Bookshop.org. Bookshop.org is an online bookseller that gives independent bookshops a percentage of each purchase. It also…