Sea Swallows

Last week we walked along the seafront to Cleveleys in the sunshine and got covered in sea spray as it was pretty windy too! My page is inspired by our walk.

The background is made from diluted Spectrum Aqua Markers, (drawn onto an acrylic block, then spritzed with water) which I then painted onto the page like watercolour, the colours symbolise the sun, sand and the sea. I splashed some blue droplets onto the page to represent the sea spray. The agapanthus is a napkin which I fussy cut and stuck down with a UHU Stic. I have included my interpretation of two sculptures – “Mary’s Shell” and “Sea Swallows”. I drew them both, the shell onto a napkin and the swallows onto paper and added details using black marker and diluted Spectrum Aqua markers, again using it like watercolour paint. The poppies are recycled flowers from an old birthday card and I stamped the outline of the leaves and sentiment, then filled them in to create a watercolour look. To finish I added the words inside the shell using Archival Ink.

On the way we saw a beautiful border of poppies, so we collected a few seed heads while we were there. I’m hoping we will see them bloom in my garden next year. Therefore I’m pleased to be able to join Yvonne again who is hosting the theme “In my garden there is” over at Art Journal Journey.

Although we saw many flowers, my other favourite flower was agapanthus. Their rich deep blue flowers captivated me as they looked so stunning with their sturdy stout stems holding their own against the sea breeze.

Cleveleys has some great sculptures along the sea front which are themed around a book “The Sea Swallow”. The shell is called “Mary’s Shell” and it’s around the size of a minibus!

I love the cut out design of the Sea Swallows sculpture and it is an impressive 33 feet tall!

The super photo above is of a Common Tern and was taken locally by a good friend of mine who is passionate about photography, especially birds and wildlife. She is incredibly talented, so thank you for letting me use this wonderful photo!

Due to the difficulty in telling the difference between Common and Arctic Terns, the informal name ‘Sea Swallow’ is given to both. The Latin for the Common Tern is Sterna Hirundo – Hirundo meaning ‘swallow’ due to the similarity in the light build and the long forked tail.

We had such a fun day out and I really feel this page represents the highlights!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist’s Markers (Aquamarine, Gold, Yellow, Moss, Scarlet, Navy, Purple, Slate, Tan, Charcoal)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm & 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Crafter’s Companion Signature Collection by Sara Davies photopolymer stamp set (Butterfly Lullaby)
• Docrafts Papermania 4×4 clear stamps (Bellissima – Alphas PMA907212)
• Dovecraft upper and lower case alphabet stamp set (WDN Alpha Stmp DCVW0050)
• Caspari napkin (Royal Horticultural Society – Agapanthus)
• Aldi Alio Napkins
• Birthday Card
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape
• White paper