How to Draw a Simple Rowan Sprig

‘Tis the season of ripening hedgerows, so I thought I’d share this tiny tutorial for drawing a simple sprig of rowan leaves and berries. Rowan berries start out orange before turning bright red as they ripen, and it is these berries that attract a wide range of birds in the autumn and winter months, including redwings and waxwings.

I drew this sprig using Procreate on my iPad, but it’s simple enough to recreate in most mediums - particularly acrylics, watercolours, gouache paint, coloured pencils or pastels. You could even forget about the colour and draw it as a simple black-and-white outline.

As always, don’t worry about making it ‘perfect’ - the best thing about drawing these autumn berries is capturing the beautiful red and orange colours, which could even be deepened and expanded into pinks and purples. The background colour is also optional - I just love pale pinks in autumn!