March

"In like a lion and out like a lamb"

The old saying proved true this year, March began with storms Freya and Gareth, in SW Suffolk we didn't get much rain but the wind was harsh and continuous for two weeks interrupted by occasional short sharp hail showers. The spring flowers that had begun to open in February's false-spring held off until this last week of the month now that warmth and sunshine has arrived with the Spring Equinox.  I'm continuing my posts about the illustrations I did last summer for Lia Leendertz's 2019 edition of The Almanac - a seasonal guide ... a book which nudges us to be aware of the natural seasons. 

The inspiration for the opening illustration for March came from my local walk along the Stour Brook that I wrote about in January, the Blackthorn is just coming into bloom as are the 'Pussy Willow' catkins. On the grassy banks the Wood Anemone flowers are like patches of stars in the grass. A squally shower sends the fox hurrying for cover.

This is the corner I had in mind when I sketched the illustration for March. 

A few years back when the farmer enlarged a field entrance to accommodate the massive new farm machinery, I noticed a patch of the aptly called Wind-flower or wild Wood Anemones (Anemone nemorosa) re-appeared on this corner. 

They had previously been hidden by brambles. But this year I haven't yet seen the flowers, the leaves are there but so are the brambles. I've seen Wood Anemones in flower on the roadside on the edge of the village ... so look out for them in woods and under hedgerows, they are indicators of old woodland.

To make up for the lack of wild Wood Anemones on my local walk I bought a small pot of Anemone blanda, or Grecian Windflower and very similar to our native wildflower, to enjoy in my garden.

March 17th is St Patrick's Day, so the chapter illustrations include the Irish national plant, the Shamrock ... which in Irish just means 'young or little clover'. Luckily I didn't have far to go for reference as there is lots of clover in our lawn ... bees love the flowers in summer.

The identification page for March features different kinds of Daffodils ... and of course when I was working on the illustrations in a heat-wave in late May, there weren't any to draw from life! So I had to rely on photographs for reference.

I needed to devise a way to include the names of the varieties in the design ... the names are long and there wasn't much space, it also needed to be obvious which name belonged to which flower. My solution was to put the words on ribbons curling around the stems, practical but decorative.

Drawing the daffodils made me look forward to the daffodils in our garden this Spring ... the drifts of large yellow ones which make splashes of bright yellow at the end of the garden.

And the smaller early Daffodils and Jonquils I've planted in pots near the house. I also found a bargain pot of Narcissus 'Geranium' at a local plant centre, the scent of this variety from the 1920's is exquisite ... it has an Art Deco elegance too.

And it's almost April ... so there'll be another post soon about the illustrations in the next chapter in The Almanac.