This is one of the sketches I did for a document I wrote recently (early 2021) about coastal habitats, for the UK National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS). I’ve seen the species once, on the south coast of Fife, but the flowering was over and the stems were mostly brown and didn’t show the characteristics of the species very obviously. Hence this drawing. An interesting exercise to draw the flowers of a labiate (that’s the plant family to which this species belongs). I tried to convey the feel of a dry-feeling plant that grows in dry places. It’s a southern species. That site in Fife is one of its northernmost in Britain. I was lucky – I just stumbled on it there without knowing of its existence in the area and with no expectation of seeing it. It wasn’t – as people say these days – on my radar.

Details: Coloured pencil; 2021; 21 cm x 30 cm. Unframed: original £50; print £30.

Included in the gallery Other drawings