Celebrating Nature on camera!

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My utmost wish in creating the art that I do, is that it will bring joy to those who look at it and will encourage those people to take greater interest in the natural world. My work is quite detailed and I always hope that something new and intriguing is found every time its looked at. I’ve always felt that this works best when the physical artwork is present - when you’re able to pick up the calendar, or book, or greetings card, and get lost in the illustrated world of plants and creatures. But then, I’m not so literate in the virtual as others!

Normally at this time of year, I would drive around the Borders delivering calendars to shops and other venues where people can pick them up and look at them before they buy. But this year, due to Covid, it’s not possible for people to see my work in person and I’ve had to adapt hugely to presenting my work online.

Recently my daughter has convinced me that showing my work via video would be worth trying. She’s encouraged me to talk about the countryside and traditions that inspire my work, and to tell the story of how I create my art. The best way to do this, I’m told, is to have a few short videos on YouTube and Instagram, so that’s what we’ve been doing. I must admit, I am not a huge fan of being on camera, and the first few interviews Charlotte did with me were less than successful. We had a lot of hysterics and even the videos we counted as ‘success’ seemed dreadfully unlike me!

We’ve decided to do more interactive videos showing - rather than telling - what goes on when I paint and create. I hope that it’s of interest to some, and that it helps shorten the distance that I’m feeling between myself and those who are taking my art into their home! Already, having put my art on Instagram, we have been receiving orders for the calendar from the US, Turkey and around Europe. What a marvellous thing!

My YouTube account can be found here, and hopefully there will be some good videos (where I don’t have a giggling fit!!) soon.

www.youtube.com

My daughter and I quickly discovered that I can’t just 'wing it'.

A bird's eye view of our countryside through the seasons

As with last year’s calendar, my lovely husband has made a video of the artwork which I’m now able to share.

The artwork of each month in my 2021 Nature Calendar joins up to form the continuous image shown in this video. This smooth transition from month to month and season to season affects a fantastical walk through the countryside - something many of us need now we are stuck at home…

The 2021 Nature calendar theme is "Above and Below" - offering a 'bird's-eye' and 'worm's-eye' view into the natural world. This is partly to shift our human-centric vision and encourage us all to look beyond what is immediately in front of us. There is plenty happening above our heads and below our feet which is both important and beautiful.

This video shows the illustrations from the top half of the calendar, the "Above" or 'bird's-eye' view. You can buy the calendar here and have it shipped anywhere in the world.

The 2021 Nature Calendar

Picking up the first proof from the printers in Hawick

Picking up the first proof from the printers in Hawick

After many hours pouring over details and having long phone conversations with the printers in Hawick, we have the final proof of the 2021 calendar and are ready to go to print. We’re hoping the first copies will be available in the first week of October.

Once again, it has been a long and sometimes difficult process, but also a joy to produce something that conjures and celebrates the local environment that I love.

Because I paint many of the subjects in my art from life, it has taken me a full year of being at my desk almost every day, to complete the 2021 calendar. Believe it or not, I have already started on the 2022 calendar!

This is partly because I collect samples of plants, insects and flowers from the garden and surrounding countryside, always making sure I paint them from life in season. Some of these plants - like the snowdrop - I must have painted a thousand times, and yet I still feel there is value in painting it from life once more. Each snowdrop, or plant or insect, is unique, and I hope that paying attention to its uniqueness as I paint, brings character, texture and a more organic feeling to my paintings.

The theme of this year’s calendar is Nature from Above and Below - showing a ‘bird’s-eye’ view at the top, and a ‘worm’s eye’ view at the bottom.

The theme of this year’s calendar is Nature from Above and Below - showing a ‘bird’s-eye’ view at the top, and a ‘worm’s eye’ view at the bottom.

I’m thrilled to have reached the finishing line with another calendar. It gives me great joy to think of it hanging in homes across the country and also across the world! Particularly in these strange times when we are experiencing a feeling of separation from each other and, for some, from nature, it is a privilege to be able to reach out into people’s lives via my art and hopefully bring some of the natural world a little closer to them.

You’ll be able to order the calendar on the website from mid-October, but if you would like to pre-order your copy (or copies!) then please get in touch here or send me an email at blackwood.laura@gmail.com

Thank you to all of you who have already ordered! I hope you enjoy it when it finally arrives on your doorstep…

Why Spring is such a hopeful month

Lent-Lillies. or wild daffodil

Lent-Lillies. or wild daffodil

Although there is still snow on the ground, the signs of spring are all around with buds and shoots appearing. Spring brings a welcome gift of colour, transforming our surroundings suddenly and swiftly until you can no longer remember the monotonous winter landscape we jokingly call the ‘brown and sticky’ season.

Of all wild-flowers, many of those that appear in early spring rank among my favourites. They seem so unlikely in the midst of such harsh weather, but are immensely powerful and resilient.

Mostly small and delicate, their presence is fleeting as it is imperative for them to grow, flower, and set-seed before the canopy of leaves may shut out the light or larger plants overtake them.

Aconites, which came up in early December this year.

Aconites, which came up in early December this year.

Among the earliest are the Aconites, Snowdrops and Lent-lillies (wild daffodil). Followed by Barren Strawberry, Coltsfoot and Celandine. The humble daisy (‘day’s-eye’) flowers all year round but a carpet of them in early spring is still a joyous sight.

By the beginning of March, primroses, violets, and Wood-Anenomes can be seen as well as Golden- Saxifrage and Speedwell that grow in short grass.

Under the trees, you can find elegant Wood Saxifrage and delicate Wood Sorrel (the petals of which always remind me of old men’s pyjamas, and the lemony leaves of which are delicious). These are more likely to appear in April and into May when bluebells grace the woods and Lady’s Smock flower in fields and pastures.

Excerpt from ‘A Celebration fo Nature’, showing many of my favourite spring flowers - speedwell, violet, celandine, primrose, golden saxifrage, daisy and wood anenome.

Excerpt from ‘A Celebration fo Nature’, showing many of my favourite spring flowers - speedwell, violet, celandine, primrose, golden saxifrage, daisy and wood anenome.