Nose to the Grindstone.

Last weekend I had a wonderful time on one of Frances Pickering's workshops.  This year's theme was Town or Country.  As you will see I chose Country.  It was held at Hawkwood College, near Stroud.  On Friday night I fell asleep listening to the owls hooting. 

On Saturday morning we awoke to quite a thick mist blotting out quite a bit of the beautiful views from the house.

These were the views from my bedroom window.

We started work straight away on the Friday afternoon and evening.  I made up a little book ready to be filled with drawings.  I was determined to draw on this weekend and to make the most of every minute.  Above is the cover.

And here is the centre spread.  I think it needs a bit more work to make it more obvious that it is an overhanging bank with a fallen tree in the foreground.

I made a hole in one page and then added others to create the view seen through the hole.

I have kept this tawny owl feather since finding it ages ago on our back lawn.  I plucked up the courage to draw what I hope looks like a tawny owl - again this page needs more work.

On my return home I spotted this little coronet of cherry blossom on one of the branches recently cut back on our tree.  Other little bits of blossom are appearing in several other places.  Poor old tree - it is supposed to be dying but still manages to surprise us.   Another lovely surprise on returning home - neighbours whose garden backs on to ours have got rid of a very ugly leylandii hedge and replaced it with a beautiful new tall fence!   It makes such a difference to the garden.

I have plenty of other pages to work on in the book and want to try out quite a few adventurous (for me) ideas for them.  I mustn't get carried away by my enthusiasm!