4th July 2015

I did a doodle today because we are back in North Wales and greeted by the beautiful abandoned lighthouse.

Last time we were here I spent a long time reflecting on this lighthouse (I even did a blog on it >), what it once stood for and how it stands so dominantly, but so unused now. And then I had a 'ping' moment of inspiration: whilst I'm away this week I'm going to theme my doodles on reflections. I think I will start with a lighthouse reflection tomorrow...

3rd July 2015

I did a doodle today combining the wonderful Colour Collective and my current 'Nature's Couture' project.

So armed with this week's #Colour_Collective colour of Aubergine, I decided on a bed of snakes (or should that be a knot of snakes?) to do this deep and rich colour justice.

This is the fifth picture in my 'Nature's Couture' collection, and possibly my favourite...

2nd July 2015

I did a doodle today inspired by cave paintings...

Costing around 55 million euros, a replica of ancient art has been recreated in Southern France. Why? To protect art. To protect history. The value of both being priceless to our ancestry and culture.

Twenty years ago caves of major beauty and historic importance were discovered, revealing some of the oldest art every found. Ancient caverns adorned with detailed cave paintings, a natural history of the time, estimated to be about 35,000 years ago, providing a glimpse into the animals that roamed the region, drawn by the people of the time.

Chauvet Cave holds history of such importance that it rightly needs to be protected and preserved, so has not been opened to the public, but it is too important and too amazing to be kept hidden from the public. This led to the building of a replica of areas of the cave, right down to the stalactites and stalagmites that decorate the caverns. The paintings themselves offer the main draw (no pun intended), so artists spent months recreating them on recreated limestone cave walls made out of resin.

So why is this all so important?

Because these pictures wordlessly tell us so much about the people of the time and the time they lived. There are different interpretations and beliefs about the pictures and what they represented: a means of communications; a form of worship, religion; or magic, hunting magic invoked through drawings of animals conjuring up more animals to hunt, or Shaman pictorially illustrating their visions and premonitions.

I think of them as a story. A story of lives past, stories of creatures that were intrinsic to life: survival from hunters of humans or survival by humans hunting, providing food, warmth, life. Rare images of humans as generations, from children to the wise and elderly, the leaders and the communities, the hunters and the gatherers.

The drawings are giving us a beautiful and illustrative glimpse into the past, into how our ancestors lived and survived. Of the nature around them, the world they lived in. Art itself is historic, but the stories and information they hold are the real history. Our history, the history of those before us.

Simple. Magnificent. Beautiful. Invaluable.

Read the BBC feature: Vast replica recreates prehistoric Chauvet cave >

My cave drawing inspired doodle:

1st July 2015

I did a doodle today of snails. No ordinary snails, but nature's beauty housed in a spiraling shell. Delicate stretching, feeling forward, meeting a snail delicately stretching, feeling forward.

Nature has wrapped her creativity all around her, making even the small and perceived-ordinary things behold their own intricacies and design.

Picture four in my 'Nature's Couture' project.

30th June 2015

I did a doodle today and headed back up in to the skies for my inspiration from nature.

Birds world-over make the most stunning and eye-catching patterns and shapes with their feathers, wings and tails. Their colourful plumage adding to the effect. Nature again working her magic in to her own, unique and natural couture.

The parrot. The third piece in my 'Nature's Couture' project.

29th June 2015

I did a doodle today as my second piece for my project, Nature's Couture (Take a peek at my first piece, peacocks >).

Today I have gone underwater, inspired by the teachings of oceans and what they mean and the mysteries they hold... teachings done at my daughter's preschool. She came home today full of stories of Whales and Dolphins and all the creatures that live under the sea.

So today's demonstration of the magnificent design and beauty of nature comes from the tiny, delicate seahorse.

28th June 2015

I did a doodle today as part of a new collection of work called 'Nature's Couture'.

There are so many beautiful designs within nature, made up of the fabrics of feathers, furs, scales, petals, leaves, minerals, waters and skies. Creatures and formations, weather patterns and ocean erosions, all magnificent in their design, their colours and their styles.

Couture at is most natural. Couture at its most magnificent.

Today's doodle. The Peacock.