Wandering Thoughts

Art and musings of Rebecca Camfield.

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Badger finds a friend in the bracken.

A little thank you drawing for a friend. A badger abd mouse surrounded by primroses and ferns, or bracken. I like ferns but they so tricky to draw. I had fun with the foreground.

Ink pens, white markers, gel pens and watercolour pencils on brown paper. 15 x 15 cm for inked bit.

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Year of the (fire) horse

A fire horse, seeing as the element for this year is fire. It meant I could play with my markers. Although horses are always a pain to draw...the legs...I think I've drawn the legs about 10 times...

The horns are his crown of office. I always give my zodiac animals horns. Although it linked to a different tale. One were the rooster lends his horns to the dragon so he may see the Jade Emperor, and the dragon never returns them. Hence, why they crow at the sky each dawn demanding their horns back. I liked the idea of horns being like a crown, so they are passed amongst my zodiac creatures.

Wishing all those that celebrate a happy new year.

Ink pens and white markers on brown A5 paper.

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First dragon of 2026.

Got gifted a new little notebook that has these lil dragons in the corner of the pages. It has blank pages, so little drawings can be done. So, of course, it had to be christened with a dragon. Yes, I drew all those scales....

Ink pen on paper over a pencil sketch.

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Christmas Seven

A commission I work on in October but seeing as it was an Xmas gift I didn't post until now. Amusingly, I've drawn her before and that was more sepia toned. That might be why I went full colour on this piece.

A5, watercolour pencils for the majority with, some actual pencils, gel pens and white markers.

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So, I got the teeny frame in my Christmas cracker. Teeny mouse anyone?

Ink drawing about an inch square.

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Merry Christmas

Wishing all my followers the best for the holidays and next year.

This was a gift my in-laws. An A4 drawing of puffins with sea thrift flowers. Done with ink pens, watercolour pencils, white markers, gel pens and chalk pencils for the clouds. Kept me busy the last 2 months.

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On the Fey side

The Kealkill stone circle near Cobh in Ireland. Gift for my dad whose photo I used as reference. I added the fey castle in the background. The mischievous pixies are opening the portal. If you hear music, maybe don't enter the stone circle via its portal stones.

I just wanted to perch a dragon on that stone lol.

Black ink pens, white gel pens and markers on grey paper. A4 size.

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The last Christmas Island shrew.

Heavily inspired by the Death of rats from Discworld, but this is the Death of shrews, different skull. I learnt they got fun shaped skills with hooked teeth. Anyways, Death came personally to collect the last of a species, a proper send off.

The Christmas Island shrew or musk-shrew (Crocidura trichura) was declared extinct this month. Last confirmed individuals seen back in 1985. References are hard to come by, so I used some other artworks to help. The island itself sits NE of Australia and south of Java.

White markers, black watercolour pencils and normal pencils on brown paper.

A bit spooky drawing for Halloween.

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Inktober Undyingtales Crested Ibis.

I finished other projects so had time for full drawing, plus it's a white bird!

The crested ibis (Nipponia nippon) has been found in ancient texts (The Nihon Shoki, "Chronicles of Japan", which is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history and mythological origins) and imperial tombs in Japan. It is called "toki" and the name in kanji means "peach flower bird" for the pale pink blush of the feathers, and in China, it is known as a bird of good fortune.

Brought to brink of extinction it vanished from Japan. Yet conservation projects and reintroduction breeding projects have seen the bird return. It is mostly seen on Sado island.

White markers, watercolour pencils and gold paint pen.

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Inktober Ethiopian wolf

The Aberdeen Bestiary was written in the 12th century. It is an illuminated manuscript, commissioned by a rich patron. It is gilded with gold and silver and depicts all manner of creatures painted with expensive pigments. On Ethiopian wolves in particular, it says that they have manes in an array of many colors "so diversely coloured, men say, that no hue is lacking". The wolves can leap so high and far, that it is as if they have wings, and they never attack men. The author goes on to muse that the Latin genus of these creatures, "Canis" (which includes wolves, dogs, coyotes, and jackals) might be traced to "canere" which is the latin word "to sing", and might be attributed to the musical howl that a wolf engages in.

Last of my quick ink drawings. I've done a white drawing for the last one.

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Inktober Andean wildcat.

In Incan mythology, Qhoa was a feline deity, associated with lightning and rainstorms. In this aspect Qhoa was benevolent, but could also be vengeful and punishing with destructive hail. The clouds that darken the sky before a storm marked Qhoa's approach. The darkness and shape of the clouds were a sign of the storms' intensity. Rainbows seen in a thunderstorm were especially noted as harbinger of hail and lightning. The people make offerings to those rainbows so that lightning does not destructively strike crops or people.

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Octopus for a friend's birthday.

Just a lil drawing after learning she liked octopuses. A fun excuse to play with white and gold ink.

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Inktober olive tree and caiman

I missed a day, so two in one.

Olive tree tale: Posiedon, god of the Sea, and Athena, goddess of Wisdom and War, were at odds. Both wished to lay claim to the earthly land of the Attic Peninsula. To stake his claim, Posiedon rose up and plunged his trident deep into the Acropolis. His strike pierced through the dirt to became a deep well of salt water. This became the Sea of Erechtheis, a salt spring on the Acropolis. Athena made an olive tree spring forth beside the well. When the other gods of Olympus were called upon to judge which god would be the city's patron, it was decided that Athena's gift was the more worthy and precious one. Henceforth, the city became known as Athens, and olive trees revered as symbols of peace and prosperity throughout the Empire.

Colombian caiman tale: El Hombre Caimán ("The Alligator Man") who lives on the banks of the Magdelena River. He was once a human fisherman by the name of Montenegro. The fisherman enjoyed spying upon women bathing in the streams, and so he engaged the help of a shaman, who gave him two potions: one that shifted him into an alligator, and a second that returned him to human shape. The second potion required the assistance of a friend to apply it. After enjoying this for some time, there came a time when he returned from a jaunt to his friend, who clumsily opened the bottle. The liquid splashed across Montenegro's head and torso, which resumed man-form, but this left his lower half trapped as an alligator. Horrified at what he had become, shunned and hunted by his neighbours, he fled into the river and eventually out to the sea.

 

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Inktober Clownface betta

Little brush pen drawing.

Tale about the creation of Lake Toba in Sumatra. A farmer lived in the shadow of a mountain in that region. From the streams, he would fish. One morning, he caught an enormous fish, and when he pulled his catch ashore, it was transformed into a beautiful maiden. She agreed to marry the farmer, on the condition that he never reveal to anyone her origins.

They lived happily together for a while, and had a son. One day, the father quarreled with his son, and in a hot-headed moment, he cried out an insult. "That he was the son of a fish!" The fish maiden wife heard this and was saddened that the farmer had broken his promise. The earth trembled, and the nearby mountain exploded in a volcanic eruption. Flood, storm, and calamity ensued, and as the region filled with water, Lake Toba was formed. The maiden is called the Dragon Queen by the people who live on the shores of Lake Toba. She is the keeper of the lake. They say when she is vexed, she unleashes storms, and the waters of Lake Toba tremble with her displeasure.

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Inktober bleeding heart pigeon

A little ink and colour wash. 2 x 3 inches.

In a Mandaya folktale, the limokon (omen birds) once spoke like men, though they were birds. A limokon laid two eggs upon different banks of a river, and from these eggs was hatched a man and woman. Though they did not at first know of each others' existence, they eventually traversed the river and came together, and their children became the Mandaya people who lived along the river.

The limokons' cooing voice can warn of dangers or promise success, and individuals should take heed and let their actions and decisions be influenced by these signs, for to ignore is to court failure.

Ink pens, watercolour pencils.

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Inktober Silvery Lutung

This one came out looking creepy...

Folk lore tale from the Sudanese, I have heavily abbreviated. A son of the goddess fell for a princess. He was turned into lutung to fulfil a prophecy. He found the princess in a hut as her sister had cast her out. He befriended her, and they lived together, and monkey gave blessings. The sister on finding out made her sister marry the monkey. Yet still, their good fortune prospered. So the sister hekd a contest between her and her sister's husband. The monkey lost, and the forfeit was his bride's life. Yet he came to her defence, and upon his 'death,' the monkey took on his divine form and took his wife home.

Tiny ink drawing

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Inktober Asian Tapir

Undying Tales

A japanese 17th century text described the baku as a creature from China. It was a chimera that had elephant tusks, rhinoceros ears, cow's tail, body of bear, and paws of a tiger. This in turn came from a description of a 9th century Chinese poet Bai Juyi, who wrote of "mo" (giant panda) as a fantastical chimera creature consisting of various traits drawn from other animals, and it had the ability to ward against pestilence and evil. With the similarities of both colouration and markings of the panda and tapir, wuth chimera tendacues of the baku, the creatures became conflated.

In later times the baku became further imbued with magical nightmare-devouring abilities. It was often depicted in Japanese woodblocks, temple carvings, and netsuke sculptures destroying evil dreams. One cannot be careless about summoning the baku, however, for if the dream is not enough to sate its appetite, it might turn on the summoner and also devour hopes and dreams. But for the most part the baku is a benevolent creature.

Black marker brush pen.