Fruits of the Hedgerow

IT SEEMS LIKE A YEAR since I last set off to spend a whole day out drawing. I want to ease myself in gradually so, rather than packing flasks and sandwiches, I decide to treat myself to lunch and a tea break at the Squire's Tearooms at the Waterton Discovery Centre at Anglers Country Park, a few miles south east of Wakefield.

I've got a plan for the day; I want to draw hedgerow fruits for my latest book but, as you can see from my sketchbook (below, right), I've become involved in the subjects and lost the simplicity of my rough (left).

In my mind, I wanted the hedgerow fruits laid out like items in a stamp collection but, in reality, hedgerow plants intertwine and don't fit neatly into the scheme I'd planned. As an illustrator rather than a designer, I let the plants dictate the design of the page.

In his latest series, chef Jamie Oliver remarked; 'Sometimes cooking isn't just "Bish, Bash, Bosh!"'. Well it's the same with drawing; it's not that kind of an activity and you soon find yourself getting, well, drawn into the process, absorbed by your subject.

The perfect day - blue skies, sun on my subjects - makes it a pleasure to be out drawing from nature again. I must do it more often.