Roisin Markham

a willow warbler

sings its melody and I feel it in every way possible

like a sky within a sky

it umbrellas me

the pull to my desk rises

jobs to be done

the reality is I want to stay here showered with song

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The brighter days have pulled me back out to the garden to do my daily drawings. Sitting at the edge of our pocket forest early with pens, notebook, coffee for my daily practice. What I call saorlíníocht my style of drawing that has develped over the last 3 to four years.

It came about because I needed to reclaim my wild imagination. I had a realisation that I’d lost my own ability to let my imagination wildly play. What began as a doodle practice of letting my mind wander without rules and be playful has now become a distinctive drawing style and daily practice. 20 minutes drawing just for me.

Having tried ink wells, fountain pens and different colours i’ve gone back to simple black nibbed pens. I prefare an A5 blank white simple notebook. I buy both in a local independant book and stationary shop.

At some point I fell quite transfixed by the birdsong scape I was present to. I could hear smaller birds fliting in trees near me and see other birds around and outside the garden.

Part of my drawing outside practice is ‘to be so quiet the birds come’.

The Willow Warbler is wonderful to be around, its song arcs and holds its own soundscape. Litterally like a sky within a sky.

Willow Warbler – BirdWatch Ireland

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Bear with me I’m building a website and editing videos for a launch.

I have blog posts in draft on

• the two conferences I spoke at in April if you can’t wait my about page has both decks linked
• BOHS Community wealth Building launch and strategy
• Futures Governance Report and Policy brief that I finished recently.
• Something new being launched Friday about Art & waterbodies.

Next week should see normal services return.

Thanks for being here.