Through this month’s 24 Days of Drawing, I found out that the Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpina) I used for the base wash of my drawing is toxic to humans. Previously, I had only known it as a cheerfully lacy growth on the fir trees I grew up with, a potential plant dye for wool and one of the landscape ingredients found on my dad’s expansive HO scale train layout.
Therefore, I am glad I did not try to consume it as a tea and have only used it to colour paper and yarn for this month’s creative investigation.
The river rocks are from a previous drawing from last year. This time, I tried to capture their essence using Derwent Inktense pencils and fell into an old habit of using a Micron pen for stippling texture. The ’90s echo of my 4th year advisor’s disapproval crossed my mind for the first few days of this drawing, but overall and in the end, I’m pleased with how it turned out.
I was also surprised by the difference in pigment between the two unknown fibres I spun for the yarn samples. I think the brighter one might be Polwarth but I’m not completely certain.
Last bit of advice: not a drawing or wool to chew on!
b wanhill 