The rotting windfall apples left on the ground are a great attraction to Red Admirals, who can get quite drunk on the fermented apple juice. As well as providing fruit for your own use, the flowers of blackberrys are another very good source of nectar, and will attract many different butterflies and bees, so are well worth cultivating. At this point I would like to persuade you not to cut back all the old summer herbaceous growth. If you leave it, the stems will protect the dormant plant shoots in the ground from frost and will be a hiding place for hibernating ladybirds, who will emerge early in spring eager to eat up any green-fly. The seed heads will also provide much needed food for the birds during the hard winter months. If ever you see a group (or "charm") of Goldfinches enjoying the seeds on teasels or lemon balm in winter you will never cut them back in the autumn again.

"Although I had a very happy up-bringing in suburbia, I began to wish to live in a village, so between the ages of about 9 and 14, I drew and painted my own imaginary 'secret village' with a map, views down each road to the next junction. It had cottages, a farm, a church, a vicarage, a high street with a tea shop, an imposing Town Hall, no school, and lots of children and dogs around.

When we came to live in Wadhurst, it epitomized all I had been looking for, with the main street of attractive old houses, having every shop one could want, and in a countryside setting.

I have designed the book to take you for a walk from one end of the high street to the other, with a few diversions on the way, starting in Spring, and ending in Winter."

Wadhurst Sketchbook can be purchased from Barnett's Books of Wadhurst.

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Classic Sketchbook - Botanicals
by Valerie Baines

�Classic Sketchbook. Botanicals. Secrets of observational drawing� is about Botanical drawing with coloured pencils, showing examples by Redoute, Hooker, Brueghel, and other well-known Classic Botanical artists.

Beside these examples I have created pages taking a particular detail or aspect of their paintings, and describing and explaining their techniques, and how to put them in practice, so that the reader can also understand how to create their own drawings.

This book is published in America, Canada and the U.K.
112 pages, ISBN no 978-1-63159-139-6.

Click here to buy from Amazon

 

Guernsey Sketchbook
by Valerie Baines

Captivated by the natural beauty of Guernsey, Valerie Baines has been visiting the island, and painting its delights, for more than 40 years. The stunning coastal views, charming historic buildings, secluded rural paths and glorious wild flowers are all captured in Valerie's exquisite watercolour paintings.

From the harbour at St Peter Port to cliffs strewn with gorse, from rocky bays to wild orchids, Guernsey's rich history and abundant habitat are brought vividly to life by this gifted artist.

Click here to order Guernsey Sketchbook from Amazon.co.uk

 

"The Botanical Palette" Margaret Stevens PSBA, in association with the Society of Botanical Artists. Valerie has contributed the step by step demonstration of painting a Columbine on pages 68-71. This superbly illustrated book, published in association with The Society of Botanical Artists, looks at one of the most important aspects of botanical painting: how to achieve the right colours. It provides an authoritative practical guide to this essential subject and features 17 step-by-step demonstrations by members of the Society. Each chapter in the book focuses on a specific colour, providing practical advice on how to achieve the right colour by overlaying washes rather than by simply mixing colours on the palette or paper. This results in subtle, translucent colours that accurately reflect the delicacy of the flowers' appearance. Detailed step-by-step demonstrations by members of the Society reveal exactly how each flower painting is built up, from the first stage to the finished illustration. A special feature of this book is the projects that are included in several of the demonstrations. Each project includes a simplified drawing of the finished work that students can trace and use as the basis for their own painting. Published by Collins ISBN 978 000 724785 1.

"Glorious Butterflies", by Valerie Baines. 40 pages, including 8 beautiful colour plates depicting all the British butterflies and their larval food plants, each finely painted butterfly is shown either in flight or resting amongst a colourful and artistically composed array of flowers and foliage, the plates are accompanied by a text commentary by well-known butterfly experts, published to mark the 25th anniversary of Butterfly Conservation. ISBN 0951245287.

"Mindful of Butterflies", by Bernard Jackson and Valerie Baines. 160 pages, large format, numerous full page and text colour paintings by Valerie Baines, cloth bound with dustjacket. A truly beautiful "coffee table" book engagingly written as a guide to the fundamental theories, practices and ecology for creating habitats for butterflies. The narrative explores the butterfly populations in England and North America, and offers a wealth of insight and information based on research and daily observations. The paintings by Valerie Baines are imaginative, exquisite and display a deep understanding and love of her subject matter which will appeal to lepidopterists, gardeners and naturalists alike, published by The Book Guild Ltd. ISBN 1857763394.

 

 

 

 

_{�2008, �2009, �2010, �2011 Valerie Baines}