Natalie Heaman

The Art Garden đźŚ±

  • 2026 Life Drawing Compilation

    Some pages from life drawing sessions so far this year! I’ve only gone to three sessions, but aiming to go more regularly in the second half of 2026. I also attended my first long pose session, which was a tough adjustment. With short poses, I’m usually trying to capture the overall form and force of the pose, but with long poses I find I’m more interested in tone, and exploring that using colour. Long poses or short poses, either way it feels good to just draw for 2 hours!

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  • April 2026 Hobonichi

    Very belated April pages! And it’s already the end of May – time to scan the next round of pages already!

    An ink drawing of a white dog with spots, with a crown floating over her head. Her eyes are closed and she looks pleased. It’s captioned “April 1st, Roxxy would have turned 20!”
    A pink acrylic ink pen drawing; it’s a pink square with negative space silhouettes of flowers.
    An acrylic ink pen drawing of a rubber duck wearing a heads scarf. It’s captioned “Granny Duck” “Yugoslavia, approx. 1960s. At the Rubber Duck Museum”
    Wet gouache paint colours with lines inked on top. The drawing shows stanchions with a “no parking” sign. Behind it, a small bird sits on a nest; further behind it as bushes and trees. It’s captioned “At the bird sanctuary. 5 parking spots blocked off because a tiny killdeer made a tiny nest in the parking lot”
    A gouache paint sketch of a bowl of soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s captioned “The power of tomato soup and grilled cheese!!!”
    On a wash of blue watercolour is an ink silhouette of a small dog at the end of a leash. The drawing is captioned “Lenny at the beach”
    A gouache sketch. The page is divided vertically. On the left is a tree in a forest with a large dark hole near its base. On the right is a dark doorway between two trees. These are both scenes from the movie Hamlet, the one on the right being a theatre backdrop. This page is captioned “Hamlet was beautiful and moving”

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  • Birds, birds, birds!

    2026 has been a good year for bird sightings! My camera struggled at the heron rookery, but I got some decent pics despite limited zoom. And then many species seen at the bird sanctuary!

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  • March 2026 Hobonichi


    Here’s some belated March pages – I have not been very good at drawing these most-days-daily-drawings lately. The big event of March was a colonoscopy, which was all clear (yay!); now I get to bug all my peers about not putting theirs off, if needed. The other highlight of the month: it began to feel like spring! 🌸✨🌸✨🌸✨

    A acrylic ink pen drawing of a Celestial Pearl Danio fish. The drawing isn’t very accurate. The fish has a red belly with green and blue on the rest of its body, with peachy coloured speckles.
    An acrylic marker abstract drawing of shapes and lines in cool colours (blues, greens, purples)
    A gouache painting of a hand holding a very big strawberry, captioned “giant strawberries were on sale”
    A gouache painting of a deep blue ocean and islands in shades of green across the water. It’s captioned “visited Victoria”
    A drawing of a person in a hoodie leaning over two drinks, a straw from each held in each hand. One drink is labelled “Colyte” and the other “white cranberry juice”. The person doesn’t look happy. The drawing is captioned “drink rotation all night long (while listening to Harry Dresden audiobooks)”
    A cartoony gouache painting with black ink drawn on top. It shows a person in a large blue hospital gown and hospital socks. Her expression uncertain. The image is captioned “Colonoscopy day! (All ok!)”
    A loose, almost abstract, gouache painting of pink cherry blossoms against a blue sky, captioned “Impression of cherry blossoms”

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  • February 2026 Hobonichi


    February was a slow month and I was really inconsistent with these drawings especially in the first half of the month – only 6 in this month’s round-up! A February highlight was Valentine’s Day – we had a D&D session with homemade sweet treats, and valentines (some featuring drawings of campaign characters) were exchanged 💞

    Abstract bleeds of watercolour, in many shades of green and blue
    A gouache painting of a heart in shades of red and pink. Around it is written "Valentine's day was cute! D&D plus handing out valentines (even to the dog walker) plus sweet treats!
    This sketchbook page has a wash of inky colour – blue and green, with some pink and yellow patches. On top of the bleeds a face is drawn in green ink. The portrait isn't of anyone is particular. They face front-on, and have short wavy hair.
    A gel pen drawing of a stylized fish-eel-thing. It has a green body with pink fins, and an open mouth with short sharp teeth
    A gouache painting of a pink tulip, captioned "It's cold but sunny – starting to feel like SPRING"
    A gouache painting of a beaver swimming along the river, captioned "Saw a beaver on the morning dog walk (yesterday)"

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Blog Index

PROJECTS / SERIES
Gouache Creatures Series, 2019
Somerset Series, 2021
Thrift Store Catch & Release
Beautiful Day Records

SHARED SUBJECTS
Dungeons & Dragons
Figure / Life Drawing
Pet Portraits
Character Art

OTHER
Daily Challenges
Bookbinding
Writing
Photography

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