Drawn from the Wild
My new book cover revealed
I am so happy to share with you the front cover of my next book Drawn From the Wild.
For just over a year I have been working away on this book with my wonderful editor Edd (his real name) I am happy to say that specialist art and craft publisher Search Press have done me proud again with the design and layout. I worked with the same photographer and designer and we have continued the fresh clean look we chose for Found and Ground.
I loved researching, planning, creating, writing and refining this book. Poignantly, I was in the photographic studio just before and after the beautiful wake and woodland burial of my friend and Dark Mountain colleague, Mark Watson. It was wonderful to be with my dear friends even in such sad circumstances, and when I look at some of the book’s photos, I think of Mark, so full of life, colour and a love of plants. If you feel that way about the botanic planet too, check out the book of his writings on being with plants , The Plant Pamphlets, that his partner
has posthumously produced. It’s great and you can buy it here.As for my book, I hope you’ll enjoy reading and using it as much as I loved making it. It is full of drawing methods, ancient and foraged materials, it ranges urban as much as rural this time, and will hopefully buoy-up your art practice with more finding, a little grinding and some gentle book-binding…
The book covers: foraging, lump media, pastels, metal point, sketchbook making, charcoal making, inks, quill pens and brushes, oil charcoal and more. It is illustrated richly, not just by me, but with a dozen international artists who I chose for the quality and variety of their work with found, foraged, improvised and ancient materials.
Also, the amazing stand-up comedian and all-things-folk expert Stewart Lee, one of my oldest friends from our Balham (South London) days, agreed to write the foreword, and it is very touching. Me getting back into drawing (after a long time away from it) has much to do with a beautiful green-man card made for me by his son Luke. You can see the drawing and read more in the book, and on the featured pages of the website at the links below.
If that whets your appetite…
Pre-ordering
UK: At this link, you can pre-order the book in the UK and look inside.
USA and Canada: friends, you can pre-order and look inside the book here.
Australia and NZ: Here’s your link.
EU and rest of the world, use the UK link or one of the others if they are geographically nearer you. Alternatively use this ISBN to pre-order the book at your favourite online supplier or real life book store:
ISBN 13/EAN: 9781800922594
Obviously you can pre-order at the other big online place, but we don’t talk about that here… There’s always Bookshop.org instead.
Alternatively, both my books can be ordered directly from me, signed and dedicated for £14 each + postage. To order, just reply to this email or go to my website contact form and tell me where you live, so I can look up the postage. I can take PayPal, Wise and bank transfers. At in-person courses I have a card reader and can also take cash in person. Sometimes I am away from home teaching, but I generally get books sent out within 2 days - 2 weeks of the email.
The book will come out in mid June, 13th in UK, 17th in USA, so I will repeat this ordering process nearer the time.
Book launches & online event 5th June
There’s going to be a free online book launch, almost certainly at 5pm GMT (UTC+1) on Thursday 5th June 2025. You will all be invited nearer the time and I’ll make sure priority spaces go to newsletter members. All the artists from Found and Ground and Drawn From the Wild will have been invited by then and many have already said they can attend. I will briefly introduce the book and show you a few of the original pieces and materials. Then I will take the opportunity to showcase the guest artists’ beautiful work and unique practices for most of the session. There will be time for any questions for me or any other artists at the end. More details and booking in the next newsletter as I am just finalising things with wonderful Lucy Mayes of London Pigment, who will be my helper and host.
I am also hoping to have a in-person book launch or two in Devon in the summer. Watch this space.
Latest news: course with Rima Staines
It’s on! We have found an incredible hall in Devon, UK, not far from Totnes. All we have to do is decide re catering and the final course outline wording and it will be live for both our newsletter members first before we put it online and on Instagram. Save the dates: 7-11 July 2025. Rima’s amazing work can be found here. We'll be painting with Earth and Heart, delving into drawing, materials, and making art with both technical care and emotional honesty - both are needed to make something great.
Course updates and new video
Lastly, the next newsletter will be a full one with all the course updates and new details, plus another instructional video to say thanks to paid and founding subscribers. I appreciate everyone who helps me do my work by reading this newsletter, coming along to events, or by paid subscriptions or buying me a coffee. There is always a free 7 day trial offer for those who cannot afford to pay for a subscription, as I never want money to be an object. If for any reason it doesn’t work for you and you really want to see a video, just reply to this email and I will comp you for free for a month so you can see it.
NB. For personal reasons, classes in USA have been postponed from August 2025 to Spring 2026, more on that next time.
Warmest wishes to all who read this, thanks for making art with Earth!
Caro.
