Diane Young

Artist ~ Printmaker ~ Painter ~Every Picture tells a story ~ Artwork ©Diane Young

Author Archives: DianeY


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The Not-so-Vocal #Swan

I see these swans from Spring onwards on our nearby canal on my regular walks; they are called Mute Swans because they are not so vocal as other swan species.   The serene beauty as they glide across the water hiding a ferocious guarding nature that you would not wish to mess with if their nest was nearby and they thought you a threat.   They mate usually for life, and if you want to identify the male of a pair he is the one with the much larger knob on top of his orange beak.

Photo of a mute swan by artist printmaker Diane Young Stroud

Mute Swan on this morning’s walk © Diane Young

Photo showing a swan resting its head on its back and asleep by artist Diane Young

Sleeping Mute Swan 2019 at Coombe Hill Nature Reserve Glos © Diane Young

I have rarely painted a swan, but I found this very old painting which was intended to be part of a story called The Crow, The Castle and The Beanstalk.  This is Gretel waiting to be rescued…..

Original painting from a story book by Diane Young ARtist


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Is the #Goldcrest a bit glum?

My walk today was bright and dry and full of birdsong.  The usual suspects showed up  robins, blackbird, blue and coal tits.

Blue Tit Chickadee painting by artist Diane Young

Blue Tit –  © Diane Young

Along with crows and wood pigeon, and a crow’s encounter with a low flying buzzard dipping sideways to shake the crow off his tail. Our local canal has a resident heron who is very used to people walking the tow path; he continued his fishing activities unfazed in this morning’s sunshine. 

One of my favourite bird calls is that of the Goldcrest.  They are very small, our smallest european bird, and usually situated very high up in conifer trees.  You might see them from below if you are lucky, but then only their olive coloured underside, and unless you learn their call you would not know that they were there at all.   Their call is high pitched, jingling sound,  listen here to find out what it sounds like…..

https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/goldcrest/

The goldcrest is a tiny cute little bird that looks slightly glum don’t you think?

goldcrest-4758036_1920

Image royalty free from pixabay


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Blueprints #prussianblue #collagraph #printmaking #

It is coincidental that a printmaker’s single colour choice is often prussian blue and that this happens to be one of my favourite painting colours.   Keeping the inks simple is best for me at the moment whilst trying to get the shade via the texture right, as well as the consistency of the ink, the paper and the press!  Prussian blue’s history is extremely varied; if you are mad about colour history there is plenty of very interesting facts about Prussian Blue here.