Sketching the last of the sunflowers at Lauriston Agroecology Farm this afternoon with a fineliner pen. Chilly but dry and sunny.

A few fungi from some favourite local haunts in Dorset.

Painted a “colander on a cooling rack” still life at College today. Used a pipette and ink; then a Brillo pad with ink and bleach.

Thursday's @theguardian.com cartoon #zohranmamdani #mamdani #zohranfornyc #NewYork

Forgot my paintbrushes so did a quick ballpoint pen sketch instead!

Sylvia Plath was born on this day in 1932. I write or print this quote on the inside cover of all my sketchbooks. So I don’t forget. #SylviaPlathDay

A rather messy sunflower! Sketched using my own sulphur cosmos and elderberry inks with added oil pastels at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments.

Quick ballpoint pen sketch of some fading sunflowers in the sunshine at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments this afternoon.

Stitching waves onto one of my fav materials, tracing paper!

Screening printing waves this morning.

Coming soon… pressgazette.co.uk/news/former-...

Experimenting with Natural Earth Paint’s Acryliks.

To ‘ultra-crepidate’ (19th century) is to lecture others on subjects you know very little about.

A moment of meditative tranquillity this afternoon whilst I sketched the compost bins at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments with a ballpoint pen. Back to the crazy creativity of Edinburgh College tomorrow!

First fortnight at Edinburgh College, studying full-time for their Foundation Diploma in Art & Design. Loving every second!

Sketching shags, also known as green cormorants, and rocks at Cellardyke using a dip pen and my elder berry ink.

Returned to Tide Line by Julie Brook yesterday for a second session.

Four 5-minute sketches of Cramond Causeway from this morning, using 2B pencil (continuous line drawing & blind contour drawing), charcoal and elder berry ink.

Loved sketching Barns Ness lighthouse in East Lothian yesterday in the sunshine, and from behind a sheltered sun dune!

Sunny sketching out at White Sands beach with artist, @juliegalante.bsky.social this morning. Colleged surface with an old OS map of East Lothian coastline.

Sketching with homemade willow charcoal at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments this afternoon.

Print Studio Open Evening 27 August, 5-6pm Free, booking required https://f.mtr.cool/utumpsylax  If you are a printmaker or artist interested in becoming a member of our world class print studio, join us for an informal open evening.  #printstudio #studiotour

Sketching the new wormery at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments in preparation for poster number three!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who attended my sold-out talk this evening. I loved all your amazing questions! If you couldn’t attend, Ginger Twist Studio in Edinburgh is now selling my botanical dyes workbook.

You have only moments before you must flee your home, and can only fill one plastic bag wirh belongings. What do you take? What do you leave? Visited the V&A Dundee Thread Memory exhibition of Palestinian embroidery, Tatreez.

Sketching in the rain at Lauriston Agroecology Farm this afternoon.

My third sketch from my trip to London and my personal fav, a collaboration with my great niece at breakfast yesterday.

Sketching in London.

Sketching from the train

It’s Breakfast Club’s second anniversary this Saturday! Join us at 10am at Sabzi Streetfood restaurant in Edinburgh for great food and crafty conversations!

Sunflower surrounded by borage at Lauriston Agroecology Farm allotments.

Sketching on Cramond beach last night. Used the inks I made from sulphur cosmos and scabious flower heads and ArtGraf pigment blocks.

Obsessed with painting this view of the Firth of Forth towards Fife from Lauriston Agroecology Farm.

Love this book of vegetable recipes by Sami Tamimi. And love the accompanying stories of Palestinian foods, traditions and culture. Learning so much about a resilient, culinary heritage.

TONIGHT!! Mark Cousins’ wonderful, award-winning Barns-Graham inspired film, ‘A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things’, will make its debut on Sky Arts tonight!! Tune in at 8pm! The film is still available for screenings in all kinds of cinemas, for UK bookings contact - buff.ly/rKOaOC3

So lovely to see my poster on display at Lauriston Agroecology Farm beside the ground nesting boxes which have been built to welcome as many pollinators as possible to the allotments.

Steve McQueen’s Resistance exhibition opened today in Edinburgh. Learnt so much: the Battle of Cable Street; the origins of Notting Hill Carnival; the 13 Dead Nothing Said protest; the anti-war marches in 2003; and so many other important acts of resistance. Now more than ever, we need to speak up.

What’s happened to the Thursday Quiz, @theguardian.com? My weekly treat has been missing for two weeks now!

Sketching foxgloves at Lauriston Agroecology Farm today. In the sunshine!

Very excited to be giving a talk on plant dyes and pigments on 24th July 2025 in Edinburgh. Tickets available via the Ginger Twist Studio website.

Congratulations to Anna Macleod for launching her beautiful embroidered banner and imagined seed pod to celebrate the return of life to the Water of Leith. It was a pleasure to give a talk, as part of this event, about my personal connections to the Water and to its riverside plants.

It’s Worldwide Knit in Public Day! So here are a few projects from the Breakfast Club at Sabzi Streetfood Restaurant in Edinburgh this morning! #KnitInPublicDay2025 #WorldwideKnitInPublicDay2025

It’s Breakfast Club this Saturday at 10am at Sabzi Streetfood restaurant on Ferry Road, Edinburgh. It’s also Worldwide Knit in Public Day! So bring your knitting, crochet or sketchbook and join us for fabulous food and craft conversations!

Thank you, Out of the Blue Print for helping me riso print my posters for Lauriston Agroecology Farm. Loved illustrating the text about the new wildlife habitats on the allotments.

Pond sketching at Lauriston Agroecology Farm this afternoon.

Amazing visit to the underground Barnton Bunker in Edinburgh this afternoon to visit Katarina Prior’s Mayflies exhibition. Kat has assembled a phenomenal 10,000 paper mayflies to ask the question, what do we cherish? Exhibition is on until 19th June. Highly recommend you visit!

Sketching oriental poppies at Lauriston Agroecology Farm for a special project.

Delighted to be giving a talk on local plant uses at Anna Macleod’s Flora Edinensis event on Saturday 14th June. No need to book. Just join us in the Physic Garden of Saughton Park at 1pm.

Took a trip out along the Fife Coastal Path from Cellardyke at low tide to see the incredible Tide Line tidal sculpture by Julie Brook for @beachofdreams.bsky.social. Could have stayed for longer but it was starting to get dark!

Sketching alliums in the sunshine at Lauriston Agroecology Farm.