Links to inspirations: I found this birds-of-France chart very helpful and these photo inspo for the bluetit, the woodpecker, the goldfinch.
Thanks so much Melissa Lakey for joining me to draw birds! I LOVE yours!! SO. MUCH.
You can find Melissa’s links and work over Melissa Lakey and on her gorgeous website: melissalakey.com
NEW ANNOUNCEMENT
Finally, it’s my great joy to announce that I’m launching a new retreat next May in France and would love for you to join! Here is the announcement post!!
INVITATION
Friday 5th June 6pm BST 🎨 Drawing Whimsical France - this is a free event on Zoom for all levels, please RSVP here.
Join me as we draw France together! This Zoom call will include photos of castles from the Loire Valley, as well as French markets and more glorious Parisian scenes. This could be a good time to try some lettering also as I will include some French typography.
During this call, we will do some quick warm ups, then some longer exercises. We’ll talk about my new retreat program (May 27), our favourite Paris stationery and art stores, we’ll also chat about sketching on-the-go following the Time Foragers’ Club 5-day challenge. And if we can squeeze it in, we’ll continue our conversations on what makes a picnic just perfect!
There will be a time to share work at the end, though never obligatory. And I’ll aim to re-post any work done during this call on Instagram stories and feature several in the monthly club gazette. Also, sharing your work online can be a huge help in spreading the word regarding the retreat which I’d really appreciate! Of course, needless to say, there is absolutely no obligation to do that or indeed to sign up for the retreat, this can be a time for you to zone out and enjoy drawing France just for your own delight!!
MORE CLUB NEWS
Friday 12th June 6pm BST ✏️ Drawing Summer Butterflies with Beth Spencer
Wednesday 17th June 10:30am In-Person Sketch Meet-Up in Paris (see more below)
Tuesday 23rd June 7pm BST 🍿 Video Release: June Happenings in & out of the Studio
Wednesday 24th June 6pm BST 🖋️ June Journaling session
Saturday 27th June 2026 10:30am In-Person Sketch Meet-Up in Edinburgh (see more below)
Note: all Zoom sign up Luma links will be in the club chat (exclusive to paying members). Head there to sign up, it calculates your time zone and it will remind you a day prior to the call. Super clever!
Thought I’d also pop in this U2 song that I quoted during our chat! It has neon lights, a reference to colours, incredible lettering inspo and…. wait for it….. COWBOYS!!! Maybe an idea for a future drawing session with Melissa Lakey !
Thank you Teresa Barroso, Stacie Martinez, Sara - Wild Verbunden, Home Dispatches, YogArt, and many others for tuning into my live video with Melissa Lakey! Join me for my next live video in the app.
