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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady - March



"March has come in like a lamb with a warm wind and rain from the South-west," Edith Holden wrote in her 1906 diary.  On the 12th she wrote, "After a wet windy day, we woke this morning to a regular snow storm, the air was full of whirling flakes, but in the midst of it all I heard a Sky-lark singing."


We  began the month with freezing temperatures and on the 5th had 10 inches of snow!  Edith explains how March came by its name:  "This month was called Martius by the Romans, from the god Mars, and it received the name 'Hlyd Monath', i.e., 'loud' or 'stormy month' from the Anglo-Saxons."  Today the sun was shining brightly as I practiced my drawing, but the wind made our 50 degree temperature feel much colder.

I began my day of drawing by watching the March episode of the DVD of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.  It follows Edith's diary, which can be read here for the month of March at Jacki Kellum's Blog.  In this episode Edith receives a letter from the Royal Academy in London saying her painting The Rowan Tree had been selected to be shown there.  Getting into the Academy was quite an honor.  But Edith really wanted to illustrate children's books and was not having much success yet.  Her younger sisters were being hired to illustrate  magazine covers and books and Edith concluded she must not be as talented.  Here is Bunny Mummy's March post about Edith's 1905 diary with photographs of the English countryside that will give you a feel for what Edith saw and drew this month in her diary.

I found this month's drawing assignment in the instruction booklet difficult because it involved LEAVES again. At least these were attached to lovely flowers.  I brought in my two primroses I bought recently to cheer me on as I erased and started over several times. . . .

I finally got my practice drawing done and took a break for tea.  Then I redrew it onto watercolor paper with my pencil and went over it with watercolor pencils.  This is what it looked liked. . . .

Next, I took my brush and dipped it in water and went over what I'd drawn.  To add the shading on the leaves I used my watercolor paints.  I finished touching up after supper and this is my final results. . . .

Because of all the painting of walls and cabinets I've been doing this month I have not practiced at all!  Hopefully, I will be able to get into a habit of weekly practice by next month and will start to show some improvement.

Addendum:  It's the end of March and I've done a March painting from Edith's diary. . . .


In the meantime. . . .

.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•
Take Joy!

26 comments:

  1. I am enjoying revisiting the works of Edith Holden through your eyes! Your painting is lovely ~ you have such patience to sit and draw!
    Isn't it fascinating how ancient the origins of the names of months?
    ~~~Deb in Wales

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    1. Patience is exactly what I employed yesterday! You don't know how many times I wanted to stop and do something else with my time.....but I kept thinking about my Blog and if I didn't do my post this month how EVERYONE would know! So "saving face" is probably what actually kept me sitting there, keeping on keeping on. ☺ I'm glad I finished it even though I think my best work was January's. I seem to be getting worse than better. But then I haven't actually practiced at all in between, so what can I expect, right? I'm making this a year-long project, so I'm hoping some where along the line something will kick in and I'll commit myself to this wholeheartedly.

      I love the meanings behind the names of things. My sons' names mean: God has given, Gift of God, and son of my right hand. I didn't know any of the meanings when I chose the first two, and my husband, who chose the third, didn't know either. The youngest is the one who probably will take care of us when we're old because he has remained the closest to us. My husband's name means handsome and mine is pure. ☺

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    2. Such a pretty painting, I love Spring flowers.
      Fondly Michelle

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    3. Michelle, I think Spring flowers win hands down for me too just because they're the first to appear after a long colorless winter!

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  2. Me again! Have you seen today's Google Doodle? It is of Anna Atkins {of whom I had not heard} the first published photographic book of cyanotype botanical images. Not the same, I know, but certainly worth looking at as another method of recording images.
    ~~~Deb in Wales

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    1. I just took a look. I hadn't heard of her. Believe me, using photography to capture images is infinitely the easiest! But I want to eventually illustrate my children's stories and getting animals to behave in the manner befitting a story is NOT easy. ☺

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  3. Cathy, I think your drawings are wonderful! I have a friend who is tone deaf and cannot sing a note......that is me and drawing! I see it, but that doesn't help me put it on paper. I admire your determination.
    I hope spring is around the corner for you. Here my wild clematis are making their way out of the ground, and my Carolina Jessamine have little yellow buds. Keep up the good work!
    Chris from West Texas

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement, Chris. We DO have signs of Spring--daffodils poking up through the ground. It's going to be 68 degrees here today so I'm going to do some raking before too much comes up this week.

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  4. Hi Cathy, and I think you're coming along very well with your drawings - I like this March one very much. If it was me, to develop the practice discipline, I'd have to do something smaller but do it EVERY day. Simple things that are always around - a coffee mug, a pencil, or a grapefruit. I think it would take me a year of drawing one item per day before I could even think about doing a vase of flowers, a meadow etc. Even the simplest blossom is never really simple when you "break it down" to draw it. You're brave to tackle whole scenes - with all kinds of different things in it. Keep going - you're doing so well! Also I have to tell my sister about how March got its name. She's going to love hearing it called "loud" and "stormy." Ever since she was in her 20s, it's been - as she says it - "the month I'd eliminate from the year if I could eliminate any month..." She says it every year. In our neck of the woods, it IS very changeable. We can have warming sun and melting snow one day, and the biggest storm of the year the next. One year we even checked the weather records for the past 30-40 years and found that in a majority of the biggest storms - in snowfall inches - occurred in March. And my sister felt very vindicated - LOL! PS - how is your house coming along? Has everything pretty much been wrapped up? Or at least what workmen need to do? Or are you still living amid a bit of chaos? Take care and talk to you soon. :>)

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    1. Hi Janet, I really should be doing it your way....practicing a little bit every day. Eventually, I hope to do that once I finish with my house! Because, no, the floor isn't all down yet. We haven't moved anything back into the dining room yet either because they need to nail down the shoe molding. I had to restain it myself because all they had was much too light for the floor. BUT they're be here Thursday! And my countertops should be ready about then, too. I'll need to put dark tong oil on them first (that's what I finally decided on) which will take about 2 or 3 days to soak in before we install them. I'm taking a break at the moment from raking in the yard today! It's 60 degrees and I'm getting the last of the leaves off all my periwinkle and out of the beds that the daffodils are starting to come up in. We can see them now that the snow has melted....except for a small pile in the driveway from plowing.

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  5. Cathy, your drawing is quite good, considering you say you haven't been practicing. I know you have a lot on your plate with your construction going on! And now Spring is fast approaching---I'm so elated! I've spent most of the afternoon raking out beds and discovering plants that are ready to come up. It's a beautiful time of the year. I even hung the sheets on the line to dry---Yes, I'm so ready for Spring! ♥

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    1. I worked in the yard today, too! Raking the leaves that fell last Fall after it had turned too cold to want to be outside then. I found daffodil and tulips starting to come up, but not of my early spring bulbs. Maybe they will wake up now that they've been uncovered. Still no sign of all the bluebells I planted last October.

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  6. I think your art is quite good. So disciplined of you to fit it in when you've been distracted (and probably exhausted) by the other painting. I hope that's going well and nearly done. Maybe you are having nicer weather. We have had some perfect spring days here lately and the grass is a perfect green for St. Pat's day. These are the nice days before the real heat of summer comes in and people stay inside.

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    1. Hi Dotsie, We've been in the 60's the last two days but cooler temperatures are blowing in tonight and we may even have snow Thursday night! But my floor should be down by then and I can start putting my hosue back together! Distracted is the right word. I've had the time to paint, but haven't been in the right frame of mind! Plus, the dulcimer group meets again on Saturday and this is the first day for me to practice since the last meeting! I worked in the yard the today and yesterday, so practicing the dulcimer and singing along with it is very relaxing and not strenuous.

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  7. Cathy Dearest,
    I am so enjoying that you are sharing your lovely painting experiences! The blog links are a nice added dividend too!!
    I'm looking very forward to your kitchen reveal!!
    Sending warmth and hugs, Linnie

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    1. Linnie, you are a dear for saying so. Happy Birthday again to you! Hopefully by the end of next week I'll be able to do a post about my FINISHED kitchen and dining room!

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  8. I'm very impressed with your water colour, Cathy! I'm also impressed with your dedication. I had promised myself that this was going to be the year I tried to learn how to draw, but so far I've only done the first four lessons in the book I bought. You inspire me to get back at it!

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    1. Well, you better get going, Kristie, because I'm going to need some encouragement myself to keep at it! I can manage one day a month, but I need to be much more time than that if I want to see some progress.

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  9. Well done budding artist! You should be pleased with this watercolor, it is a nice bit of work; persistence pays off!

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    1. Thank you, Jeri. I AM pleased with my persistence....it's my execution I'm not so pleased with. But, that will make me more diligent, so it's not a bad thing. ☺

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  10. I am so impressed with your art work, that is one of my favourite books.

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    1. Thank you for stopping in and leaving a comment, mamasmercantile.....especially such a complimentary comment!

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  11. Another beautiful picture you have created from the Diary. We have so many primroses appearing in the hedgerows and fields they are such a feature of March. Sarah x

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    1. This is what I love about England! Your Primroses are wildflowers! Here you only see them in tended gardens.

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