December Round-up

Discover the best of December in The Creative Flock + studio highlights

Hello and if this is the first post you’re reading, welcome! I share these posts with all subscribers at the end of each month, It’s a lovely way to highlight all the things we’ve done in the membership and share some behind-the-scenes snippets from my studio*.

*Some posts I link to are free for all subscribers, and some are for paid members. If you are considering upgrading your subscription, the options are here - Choose your membership plan

I hope you enjoyed your holiday celebrations, whether they were restful, reflectful or lively with gatherings. It was a quiet Christmas for me and my little family and it meant we had the chance to take things easy and enjoy some quality time together. 💕

December: Winter Birds

It’s been lovely to focus on birds this month, restock my feeders, observe birds in my garden and draw from live cameras.

Read on to find out more and to see what else I’ve been up to…

I updated the Indie Makers gift guide, thank you to everyone who liked and shared this post. I hope it gave you gift ideas and helped support some small, creative businesses this Christmas.

I’ll put together another guide next December and might even do a shout-out for submissions.

This month’s drawing session

We had a fast-paced session, drawing birds on feeders from RSPB’s live camera footage. After some minor technical issues, the session ran smoothly and I had a great time drawing with you and chatting about birds!

Some of the artists who joined the session kindly allowed me to share their work here. I love to see how differently everyone interprets the subject matter.

Hollie Armstrong

Amy Benson

Holly Surplice

Caitlin O'Connell

If you’d like to see my tips for sketching birds quickly, check out the video I shared in this post, from early December.

Winter Garden Birds Drawing Session

Sign up for the Creative Flock membership to join us at our next live drawing session:

Helping out our feathered friends this winter

I spent time cleaning and refilling my garden bird feeders this month, providing a wider range of food and feeder types to cater for all birdy tastes! The nut feeder has been the most popular, bringing a flurry of activity to my garden, including a chaffinch and gangs of long tailed-tits. 😀

I recorded some footage of me refilling the feeders on a cold and windy day. It was worth braving the weather for, it’s been wonderful to have so many visitors and to know that I’m helping the birds get through winter.

For guidance from the experts, check out this Instagram post from RSPB on ways to help birds during cold weather:

rspb

A post shared by @rspb

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If you’re in the US, Cornell University has lots of resources for supporting birds, not just in your backyard but through national efforts in conservation, citizen science projects and education initiatives: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/get-involved/10-ways-to-help-birds/

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For my UK readers, this is a helpful rundown of some of the wintering thrushes we can spot: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/identifying-birds/all-about-thrushes

This has been my favourite palette to swatch so far, I love the combination of muted, earthy colours and pops of bright ones. From swatching this I have a new favourite colour from the collection - the complex, murky Partridge which morphs between brown, green and grey 🤎💚🩶

I’d love to know if you use these watercolours and if you have a favourite from the collection?

As a brand ambassador to Deep Deep Light Watercolour, I earn a small, affiliate commission on products purchased using my discount code. Use code emmacarpendale10 for 10% off sitewide. Paid members receive 15% discount and your offer code is sent to you when you upgrade.

Co-Sketching sessions

We had two more co-sketching sessions this month, thank you to those who came along!

I wouldn't have created these drawings had I not blocked out that time, that’s what’s so good about co-working, it holds you accountable. Thank you to Emma Carlisle for introducing me to these!

There’ll be two more free co-sketching sessions in January, available to all subscribers and I’ll share details in my Welcome to January post, which is coming next. Subscribe to stay updated.

Nature highlights from my neck of the woods…

As well as watching birds in my garden, i’ve enjoyed some small but significant moments of connection with nature this month.

Top-bottom, Left-Right: Candlestick Fungus growing from dead wood; a stream after heavy rains; tree reflections on a calm canal; Large clump of Velvet Shank mushrooms; Lone swan on the canal; Lichen and moss, clinging to rock.

When I’m not drawing or bird spotting i’m…

A lot of my spare time was spent prepping for Christmas and writing endless to-do lists, but, I’m pleased that I finally go to catch up with some of the new Wolf Hall series from the BBC, The Mirror and the Light. I’m a fan of Hilary Mantel and her Man Booker-Prize winning Wolf Hall trilogy is exceptional so the TV version had a lot to live up to, but I love it. Worth every penny of the BBC licence fee on it’s own!

I wanted a wintery, adventure book to lose myself in and found the perfect one in Dogs of the Deadlands, by Anthony McGowan, illustrated by the hugely talented Keith Robinson.

We visited Chatsworth House in Derbyshire for their Christmas event which was magical. https://www.chatsworth.org/events/christmas/

I loved the storytelling element which was weaved through the whole experience, based on a children’s book, Henry and the Lion’s Christmas Feast, created especially for the event by Jospeh Coelho and illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger

And finally..

I attempted to sketch birds at my local nature reserve but they were elusive so I drew the next best thing - trees!

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I didn’t manage to join as many sessions as I would have liked this month, but I loved the soothing, Winter Textures drawing session, hosted by

La Scarlatte

in her

Creative Cocoon Art Club

. 💙

Thank you for your support this year. This community is so special, and I’ve loved every opportunity to connect with you all, whether that has been through comments on posts, chat, or at our live sessions.

I’m looking forward to another creative year to come! 💚

This publication is reader-supported and enables me to do what I love, which is creating art and illustrations and inspiring others in their creative journey.

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