Scandinavian Winter

I've wanted to make some patterns with northern animals or mountains or European wildlife for ages and so when spoonflower suggested winter toiles as a subject, I decided that now was a good time to make a start. I usually work best under a deadline and I've found their prompts to be really productive for me in the past. This is my Winter Toile contest entry:

Scandinavian Winter Toile

Here you can see a Eurasian elk (or moose), rock ptarmigan, hawk owls and foxes - all species that overwinter in Scandinavia. If you'd like to see some lovely winter inspired designs and vote then click here. I hope you have a brilliant festive season and happy new year!

Details of the Scandinavian Winter Toile

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Waterlight

The Galápagos Sea Lions I sketched from a nature documentary a few years ago have had a bit of work done! I've redrafted the fish and given them all a bit of watery light:

Scatter!

Scatter! details.

The shop has already been updated with this new version here!

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

♥♥ Pairs ♥♥

Happy Valentine's Day; I hope you can share it with someone you love! Swans pair bond for life so I thought this picture from my Instagram account would be a good one for the blog today. Speaking of pair bonds, the Decorah eagles have reclaimed their nest and are due to start laying any day now.. watch this space:

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Fox Cubs

The eagle pair I posted pictures of at about this time last year have moved their nesting site. To avoid disturbing the new nest, cameras will be set up in the autumn after this year's chicks have flown but in the meantime, my boyfriend came across this yesterday:

Fox cubs born on the 27th of March

Filming these foxes is part of a great Dutch project set up in the Oostvaardersplassen, a dry and wetland nature reserve and example of rewilding. The habitat is relatively new and the ultimate goal is to have wildlife corridors between this reserve and others of it's kind well into France and Germany! See more videos of the newborn cubs and find out more at Volg De Vos (Follow the Fox)!

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Walrus

I think this is probably the most gorgeous bit of nature footage I've seen:

 

From this film.

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Eagles Return

They're back! Their first egg was laid on the 17th of February. If you'd like a look at the chick stills from last year, click here or visit the Raptor Resource Project's blog here!

Two eggs and a newly renovated nest.

3 Chicks on the 4th of April:

The first chick hatched on the 27th of March and I'm glad to see they're enjoying sunny weather over in Iowa this year. This pair are amazing parents; this is the fifth nest they've raised and four of these had 3 eaglets, which is apparently rare. If you click the image above, you'll see the humungous fish they've caught for them.

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Koi & Crane

Another couple of vector images from my latest project:

Koi & Crane

I've based the crane on the Red-Crowned Crane which, although endangered through loss of habitat, has been increasing in numbers over the second half of last century. These beautiful birds have an elaborate courtship dance (involving throwing grass in the air!) and pair for life.

Red Crowned Crane by Roy Toft

While looking for inspiration I came across this photo of calling cranes on Hokkaido Island by the fantastic wildlife photographer Roy Toft. Have a look at more of his incredible work here and here!

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Scatter!

Scatter!

Scatter! A design with Galápagos Sea Lions; new, improved and available on linen and cotton at the Forest & Sea Spoonflower page!

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Update 2014: See the new version of the sea lions here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Winter Sleep

Winter Sleep

A screen print / Gocco style version of Winter Sleep. I've never used a Print Gocco but I liked vectorizing the squidgy ink edges of the elements.

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Illustration Friday - Hibernate

Winter Sleep

Click for larger view.

I think I'll feel like giving this a go when this amazing Indian Summer is over and the cold weather arrives.

While reading up for this illustration, I read that a bonfire pile is heaven to a hedgehog looking for a place to hibernate. If you're celebrating Bonfire Night at home next month there are some good tips to avoid a grisly end for them and the other wildlife in your garden here.

You can have a look at all the other Hibernate illustrations here!

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

Also New..

.. and available at Forest & Sea on Spoonflower:

Scatter! Shown here on Linen-Cotton Canvas.

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Update 2014: See the new version of the sea lions here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

  

`Apapanes and `Ōhi'a Lehua Blossom

`Apapanes and `Ōhi'a Lehua Blossom for this week's contest at Spoonflower.

`Ōhi'a Lehua trees are amazing: they grow right out of the bare lava on the Hawaiian islands. They're also the main nectar source for `Apapane birds, a type of honeycreeper whose feathers match the colour of the tree's flowers exactly. In this design the grey background represents the lava plain and the top and bottom borders are for the volcanoes and famous ocean surf of Hawaii.

This was made for the Hawaiian contest at Spoonflower that was palette limited to just 3 colours (+ white). You can have a look at all the entries and vote for your favourites here, read more about the birds here or visit the Forest & Sea page on Spoonflower here! I hope everyone's having a good week.

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Summertime

This is an old sketch, one of the ones I hadn't got around to painting, but this week's Illustration Friday is Midsummer Night and so a great time to get this one finished :)

Riverbank

Riverbank Details - click for larger view.

The little beastie on the rock is an Alpine Newt. They live nocturnally in forested areas next to ponds or streams - perfect for this evening riverbank scene.

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Scatter!

Spoonflower entries this week are all based on fishing. I don't think I'm alone in chosing a nature theme rather than the human sort:

Scatter!

This repeat design is put together from sketches I made of Galápagos Sea Lions seen on a beautiful documentary about the Pacific Ocean. As ever, I'd appreciate your vote if you have time :)

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Update 2014: See the new version of the sea lions here!

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Forest & Sea ▪ www.etsy.com/shop/ForestAndSea

hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

The book of Enzo.

I've just finished this book:

It's one of the best I've ever read in which Enzo, a canine philosopher, examines and recounts his life's experiences on the eve of his death. Anyone who loves animals and thinking about the larger picture should try this book but, whatever you do, don't read the end in public...

A fitting reminder, especially today, of all the beautiful beings we coexist with on our planet!


All Creatures Great and Small, by Julia Cairns.

Do something to help your fellow earthlings on this Earth Day! I think I'll donate to Fauna & Flora International, a wide-reaching charity working to conserve threatened species and ecosystems around the globe.

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Hatching!

This Bald Eagle pair from Iowa are about to welcome their first chick of 2011:

It's so amazing to watch something like this live and is thanks to the Raptor Resource Project, a nonprofit organisation working to restore bird of prey populations in the Midwest.

Update 12th April:

I caught these stills of feeding time earlier. They really don't do the chicks justice though; they're still so wobbly and uncoordinated :) I'm glad they're ok with all the bad weather they've had in the midwest this weekend. I hope that none of you have been badly affected either.

Click to view larger.

More bad weather (19th April):
Ahhh, poor thing : (

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Illustration Friday: Reverse...

...deforestation.

Click to view larger.

My painting is based on the rainforests of Madagascar, fourth largest island in the world and sometimes referred to as the ‘eighth continent’ for its unique and diverse wildlife. Only an estimated 10% of Madagascar’s original forests remain.

The following links are some brilliant ongoing projects for reforestation around the globe. Have a look!

• Eden Reforestation have planted 10 million trees.
• The WWF are working on reforestation and the restoration of degraded forests.

There are loads more out there and I'll update this list as I find them. Anyone got any favourites?

Added on the 15th February:

• The Plant a Billion Trees campaign is an initiative by The Nature Conservancy to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Long isolated from its more famous cousin the Amazon, the Atlantic Forest is unusual in that it comprises a wide range of forest types and habitats. For this reason it is remarkably biodiverse and supports many highly endangered species.
  The aim of the campaign is to reforest 2.5 million acres and connect more than 12 million acres of existing, fragmented habitat with new forest corridors. One Dollar plants one tree!

Added on the 18th March:

• David Attenborough's recent series on Madagascar featured Feedback Madagascar an organisation working on a number of projects which include the Wild Silk Forest Appeal. They aim to plant 30 000 trees to support the local wild silk industry and so encourage protection of the endemic tapia forest. And for those concerned about animal rights, unlike the cultivated silk industry, the cocoons for wild silk are collected after the moth has emerged.

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Good News Everyone...

I've read this week about two points of light on the horizon of an otherwise gloomy landscape of overpopulated continents and habitat destruction. It's so refreshing to read some good news on this subject for a change:

* Although still critically endangered due to poaching and loss of habitat (total world population is estimated at 786), the Mountain Gorilla population in Africa’s Virunga Massif has increased by an amazing 26.3% in just seven years. Read more here, here and here. 

He’s happy about it!

* The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China has reached its goal of successfully breeding 300 bears in captivity and can now begin an ambitious programme to reintroduce them into the wild. Read more here.

Share in the comments if you've heard any good wildlife news lately!

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware

Winter Hare

I think these colourful cards by Jane Tomlinson are gorgeous:

Winter Hare by Jane Tomlinson

Her vivid watercolours feature the natural world, local landscapes and global travels but it's her paintings based on Darwin and Wallace’s work and just life on this planet in general that particularly speak to me. I love this painting:

Life on Planet Three by Jane Tomlinson

Take a look at more of Jane's work here.

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hand drawn nature on fabric, accessories & homeware