This one is finished now…..I think! A few days of fiddling with it, but it’s time to stop. Now to frame and put on my website. Titled, ‘Spirit of Winter’ I hope it conjures up the feel of cold darker days on Dartmoor. Monotype and ink drawing. #Dartmoor #winter #printmaking

A bit more drawing today. Work in progress for this Dartmoor tree, seen near Burrator. Mulling over a title as I work…. Monotype background and ink pen drawing. #Dartmoor

Get to know your mutuals. 10 random things I like in no particular order. 1. Drawing 2. Reading 3. Silence 4. Trees & woods 5. Really hot tea 6. Cats 7. Mountains & Moors 8. My bicycle 9. Whisky 10. Red kites

‘Gathering’ #2 New monotype with pencil drawing. Experimenting with lighter colours, but trying to keep the same atmospheric feel as my darker pieces. I love the quiet found amongst the fir trees at Burrator. #Dartmoor

World Book Night 2026 – The Mountains Are Calling… WBN United Artists invite you to respond to a poem, text or book about mountains for an exhibition and mail art swap. Deadline 3rd March 2026 - Early submissions very welcome. Find out more about WBN and download the full brief: shorturl.at/Ti5lt

Looking for some winter themed cards? I have some multipacks available on my website www.jcurtisart.com/photo_167823...

A great couple of days of printmaking, first with Emma @princetownpress.bsky.social for a Heritage Letterpress Workshop. Lots of great tuition & a hoard of prints to take away. Then a day making #Dartmoor inspired monotypes at home. Printmaking bliss!

Great talk, and Rupert’s book ‘What Remains’ is a must read.

Really delighted that my image was featured in this wonderful publication by @dartmoorcollective.org

A fabulous new zine. Beautifully designed and with a great selection of thoughtful imagery. #Dartmoor

"What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images,..." (The work @dartmoorcollective.org do with amateur, emerging and professional artists is fabulous, take a look.) (Apologies to Eliot.)

If you'd like to come along to the zine launch on Thursday 16th October then we'd love to see you - it's entirely free - just register for free tickets using the link below. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dartmoor-c...

Getting down to some drawing this afternoon. Using ink pen to draw the trees on top of the monotypes I made a couple of weeks ago. Inspired by a beautifully misty area in the trees near Burrator, Devon. Nearly there, I think…. #Dartmoor

Need some help #Dartmoor and #Devon friends... We're looking for a suitable venue for the forthcoming @dartmoorcollective.org Flow zine launch. Ideally somewhere Dartmoor adjacent but easily accessible from Plymouth / Exeter capable of accommodating 30+ people. Any ideas most welcome.

Ellen Thesleff's self portrait of 1895, goes beyond a depiction of outward appearances and conveys the enigma of the artist who helped introduce Impressionism to Finland; she regarded herself as a poet with a brush, always trying to capture what she called 'the dream of life.'

Got my printing press out for the first time this year! Spent a few lovely hours looking at ideas & making 3 Dartmoor inspired monotypes. Once they are dry, I will draw trees on the top with ink pen. The wide landscape will then be brought in to a more intimate view.🤞 #dartmoor #printmaking

The finished biro drawing of the ancient oak in Bluebell Woods, Plymouth. The last for #drawingaugust It’s been great to see all the drawings people have contributed for the month, especially on this platform. Looking forward to next year already!😉😁👍✏️ #trees #drawingtrees

A little further on with the Ancient Oak drawing. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

#drawingaugust 26/31

All my drawings this month have been made in an A5 sketchbook, but this is the first on a double page. Back to the lovely red biro again! Ancient Oak tree in Bluebell Woods, Plymouth. #drawingaugust #trees

A gathering of trees at Devonport Park. As well as drawing, I also make monotype prints. I’ve started a series of monotypes on the theme of gathering. When the print is dry, I draw trees on the top. I think I’ll use this drawing again for another in the series. #drawingaugust #trees

Devonport Park again. A beautiful, shady avenue through the trees. #drawingaugust #drawingsugust2025

#drawingaugust 24/31

Same image of the Holm Oak in Devonport Park, but drawn with ink pen. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

Stormy skies West Penwith, Cornwall Monoprint with Drawing in watercolour and pencils Drawings/paintings/sketches/prints #landscapeart #landscape #drawing #sketch #art #cornishart #abstractlandscape #womenartists #landscapepainting #watercolour #gouache #mixedmedia #art #westpenwith #cornwall

Still in Devonport Park for today’s drawing of a Holm Oak. This beautiful specimen carries great grandeur in the corner of the park. Definitely one that I will come back to. Biro on paper. #drawingaugust

A drawing of the leaves of yesterday’s lime tree. I had zoomed in on the leaves to identify the tree, but then thought the image would make a nice drawing too. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

Day 20 #DrawingAugust My pea plants have outgrown the trellis and are still going. This is from a photo (looking up at them)

#DrawingAugust a pair of monoprints from last week. After the barley had been cut.

I visited Devonport Park in Plymouth last week. It’s not a park I know very well, but it was lovely to see how well it’s looked after. I picked out a few special trees to photograph and will be drawing them over the next few days. Here’s one: a beautifully shaped Lime tree. #drawingaugust

2nd print!

#DrawingAugust A view across the riverbank A monoprint from last week.

I think there’s a lovely smooth fluidity in drawing with biro. This one is from Ham Woods, Plymouth. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

Inspired by Shona Grant’s @monde.bsky.social beautiful outline drawing, I thought I’d have a go with the twisting branches of the Lucombe Oak. It’s interesting to think where this type of drawing can go. My first thoughts are usually to fill with colour to create abstraction…. #drawingaugust

The same Lucombe Oak tree, but, mire or less, the whole tree, when it was standing. Beautiful mad, twisty limbs. #drawingaugust2025 #drawingaugust

If you want a distraction from the current heatwave then here's a little Friday boost for our recent interview with photographer @joecharrington.bsky.social about his Dumnonia project. dartmoorcollective.org/featured-con...

This tree is the wonderfully majestic Lucombe Oak in Widey Woods, Plymouth. Sadly, with a hollow base and very tall, twisting branches, it fell during a storm a year ago. I e drawn it many times, so it felt like the loss of an d friend. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

A veteran Oak from Bluebell Woods, the closest woods to my home in the city. Another more sketchy style of working, giving a feel for the structure of the tree, but, I feel, by leaving the background empty, it ‘floats’ a bit…? It’s good to experiment sometimes! #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

Another ink drawing exercise for #DrawingAugust day 11. Gave myself 10 mins, doing them all at once to try to capture some energy. The top right is maybe the most 'successful' but I like the broodiness of a couple of the others.

Lambhay Hill in Plymouth is close to the area of The Hoe, where there are quite a lot of great trees, including this one (a lime, I think) I’ve really enjoyed drawing the overall leaf shape of this one. So I’ll be on the look out for more. #drawingaugust

The Widey Oak is a great ancient oak in Widey Woods, Plymouth. Estimated to be 500+ years old, it could tell a few stories. One to be treasured. #drawingaugust #drawingaugust2025

Something more sketchy, or scribbled in biro for #drawingaugust. I like the marks on the trunk and larger branches, but feel the rest of it lost its way a little. Central Park, Plymouth. #trees

Education is important, but our Ancient English Woodland is importanter

Looking up into the canopy on a winters day. #drawingaugust

Today’s #DrawingAugust is an imagined tree in the storm of yesterday. I live in rural Aberdeenshire surrounded by trees and they were being shredded by 70mph winds. Drawn using Procreate which I’m learning to use. It’s good fun. #DrawingAugust2025

Same woods but a different fallen tree for today’s drawing. Sometimes I go to a specific site for a particular ancient, veteran or notable tree, but I always take photos of trees whenever I’m walking through woods & forests. Ham Woods, Plymouth. #drawingaugust

Forgive me pushing my zines again, we are into the final hurdle and they're almost all gone :). They're £10 (including postage - UK only I'm afraid) and feature lots of beautifully romantic ruins crumbling away in the North Pennines. #Photography #Zine www.mariegardiner.co.uk/zines-and-pr...

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