Harvest Moon

The full moon last Thursday (23rd) was lovely. Around the equinox you do seem to see the best moons, I'm not really sure why.

Cartmel Peninsula/Autumn

A sketch I made yesterday from Warton Crag looking north/ north west across the Cartmel Peninsula towards the higher hills of the Lake District. I drew in white pastel, on a base of acrylic - if I ever have left over paint I just cover a page of my sketch book. It was amazing light; the hills were lit in parts by glimpses of sun which had escaped the dark clouds, creating small golden fringes and pools of light which contrasted with the darkness of the hills. Dark, because unlike most of Lancashire, or the UK for that matter, north west Lancashire and south Cumbria is still largely covered by woodland - hazel, birch, holly, ash, yew, rowan, elder, lots of berries looking beautiful at the moment. Today it's cold and wet, the heating is back on for the first time, Autumn has definitely arrived.

Illustration in progress...

I decided that it might help me reduce procrastination time if I published work in progress; my 8 followers will be so breathless with anticipation that I will work faster. It's the central image for a poster about Masoala Rainforest in the north east of Madagascar. I'm painting it in acrylic, because I like the way it allows you to build layers on top of one another.

Alien

End of the summer, and water margins all* over Europe are covered in a jungley mass of pink and white bloom; the 'Invasive Alien' is in flower. Impatiens glandulifera, or Himalayan balsam, is a much maligned plant that was introduced from Asia about 100 years ago, as a garden ornament, possibly to provide shelter for gnomes. It really liked Europe, and has now spread almost everywhere, usually along riverbanks.

I think Himalayan Balsam is the closest thing we have to a Triffid. It's so in your face, it grows in dense massive patches and easily reaches two metres tall or more, it has a weird pungent smell, giant weird knobby roots, and an awesomely effective reproductive technique - you just kick it or send your dog in, and the seed pods explode open, pinging seeds for a good few metres - enough to cross your average smallish river or road. I know, because whilst doing my Msc I was charged with the task of surveying and mapping it in the area around Lancaster Unversity. It's spread a lot since then.

If you research the species at all, you get lots of terms appearing like 'invasive, swamp, threaten, out-compete, out of control, rampant, non-native, stealing our jobs, eating our children...OK, maybe not the last two, yet, although unlike humans, it is evolving fast. It's reassuring to know that xenophobia is alive and well in the world of ecology.

It is true that Himalayan Balsam is incredibly successful, ecologically speaking - it dominates and is able to rapidly expand its range. But none of the reports I've read mentioned the fact that bees absolutely love it, and at a time of year when there are few other flowering wild plants, it is a haven for insects of all kinds. I also seriously doubt whether it has caused any extinctions. I suspect it's main crime is being a successful Asian.

If I ever exhibit with the RHS again, I will be showing a series of portraits of Aliens.



* Maybe not all, yet, for instance, I don't know if it's reached Iceland yet. I still got some kicking to do.