Shiny, reddy brown conkers mark the arrival of my favourite month

Yesterday I spent a wonderful morning workshop sketching leaves and plant life in Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens. The sun shone between heavy showers and my sketcher and I took cover in the cafe, drawing leaves and sipping tea for a blissful couple of hours.

This morning I was still inspired by the woody bits and bobs I had picked up and so arranged a few conkers to draw.

Using only the watercolours I layered the colour from light to dark, and for once I remembered to take photos of each layer so I could share them with you here.

Have a go yourself, draw the whole shape first with the lightest colour you can see. Then add each slightly darker layer until the final line of dark shadow to finish.