Midsummer newsletter

Book launch video and the next instructional film for paid subscribers

Book launch of Drawn From the Wild

Thanks to all who came to the book launch last night, it was amazing to see so many friends, students and colleagues, as well as my Mum, possibly at her second ever Zoom! I was so glad she could attend as Drawn From the Wild is dedicated to both her and my Nan, (her Mum), Isabella. Their art inspired me when I was very young and helped set me on my path. The video is above, for those who missed the event. Choosing the thumbnail just now was very funny, as it seems I am never still. Great questions from so many people meant this was a really in-depth event. I share lots of the work from artists in the book, the method and materials, and also some other great books by art materials writers that I love. I hope you enjoy it.

Fish skin tanning, dyeing and sewing course is available

Courses for 2025

All my courses for 2025 are now online here at my Linktree. I am currently planning something new in Italy in November, but other than that, everything is now bookable at the link including This Painted Earth, Found and Ground, Drawn From the Wild and courses at Butser Ancient Farm, inks and paints, and fish skin tanning, dyeing and sewing. Full details are in previous newsletters and at the links.

Pigments, Paints, Pastels & Pens

All my previous online offerings at Plants and Colour have been beautifully collated into a stand alone course, of which you can do some or all of the modules: Pigments - a deep dive, Watercolours - a deep dive, Pastel making with natural pigments, and Drawn From Our Ancestors. It’s excellent value and I’ll be doing two Q&A sessions for any students who have questions for me after watching the videos.

Deciding what to pack is hard

Residency

On Wednesday I will head to the wonderful Imaginal Field Project to spend a three day art residency in connection and collaboration with a rewilding field. I can’t wait. It’s my first opportunity to do something large scale purely for my own practice for some time. I am packing a very careful selection of hand made art materials with which to draw, write, move and respond to the place. I’ll also be teaching a free public Chi Kung class on the Saturday morning. There will be a show of work conceived at the Field later in the year. I was honoured to be invited to this residency, only the second I have ever done.

Recommendations

Film: Flow. I went to see the Oscar-winning animation a couple of months ago in York and it was as moving and beautiful as I had been told. No dialogue, just first-class storytelling. I hope you can see it.

Book: Ways of Drawing from The Royal Drawing School I bought this lavishly illustrated book a few years ago but recently returned to it and found it insightful and inspiring. My first Renaissance methods teacher Daniel Chatto has some lovely art and writing (about oak gall ink) in there and I highly recommend it. Considering the amount of colour plates and in-depth essays, it is surprisingly good value for money.

Substacks: This essay on Rewilding My Illustration Practice was a thoughtful insight into the life of an artist who works primarily digitally, who is now returning aspects of his practice back to the analogue world.

A lovely shot from Masak-masak Colour

I have followed

Masak-masak Colour

on Instagram for some time, so it is nice to find them on Substack showing their vibrant colour practice based in S Asia.

Pigment of the month for me is terre verte, snapped here on the slab at a private workshop I did last week at Haviland Artists in Bournemouth, organised by local illustrator Sally Eyre. It is mingling with egg tempera medium made from egg yolk and water, caught at the moment it looked like some very strange Nouvelle Cuisine dish circa 1980!

Below the paywall is the next film to say thanks for paid subscribers. It’s another of the films from Wild Twins Course with Paul Kingsnorth and I explain simple ways to make oak gall ink. You can ignore any details about the course, but the method is still sound. I filmed it on my tiny boat, Crabapple, and

Jonny Randall

put it together for me and somehow made it look better than I could have done. I hope you enjoy it. Paid subscribers really help me keep researching, teaching and writing about natural art materials. Thankyou so much! For those who cannot afford to be paid subscribers, you should be able to get a week’s free trial offer and watch the paid videos here .

I’ll take this opportunity to wish all of you a beautiful June, whether that’s midsummer or midwinter where you live. I am taking a much-needed break from online life, social media and the like, so I can concentrate on my residency, teaching, and recharging my energy levels after launching my latest book into the world. I’ll be back in July. Until then, warmest wishes from a dusk desk in Bournemouth. Caro.