I haven't made an entry since Tegan died. It is time to start drawing again.

Tegan's ashes

I buried Tegan's ashes this morning.

Tegan

Tegan died today. She gave me fourteen wonderful years of love and friendship. I shall miss her so very much.

Brass, copper and clay

I am still trying to draw something every day and on most days I do. This study was difficult because of the metalwork. Not easy to capture in watercolour. I must remember to graduate my backgrounds.

James' cat Oscar has been hit by a car and will face the amputation of his right front leg today. Poor Oscar, I hope he recovers and adjusts to his disability.

Steam Train to Salisbury

An early start saw us hurrying down Warwick Road to the railway station. We needed to catch the 8 am train in order to get to Victoria soon after nine o'clock. We had plenty of time and soon the steam train Oliver Cromwell was brought in by an English Electric Co-Co and that was a bonus.

Soon we were off and steamed along at a good speed. We stopped at Staines and Brookwood for more passengers and again to take on water at Overton. At Salisbury, we alighted and watched as more water was taken on. Then we had a lovely sunny day in Salisbury and even managed to walk around to the water meadows and see the view that Constable painted.

Finally it was time to come home and the train kept perfect time all the way back to Victoria. A lovely day!

Ramblin' Rose

The rose painting was difficult and I would have had much more control with pastel. But watercolour does convey lightness better.

Lovely frog by the garden steps and two snails mating on the laburnum tree.

Bees

Watching bees in the garden is fascinating. There are many different sorts and not at all easy to identify. The red-tailed bumble-bee nests behind the grid in the wall below the kitchen floor and the white-tailed bumble-bee nests in the roof above my bedroom window. There are mason bees in cardboard tubes above the car port and a leaf-cutter bee has a tunnel in a plant pot in the greenhouse. It lines the tunnel with segments of leaves that it neatly cuts and carries.




The phlomis is an excellent bee plant and I do like to watch the bees land on the lower petal and push their way into the flower. Then as they do, the flower gets its reward as the stamens bend down and press the anthers onto the bee's furry back leaving a dusting of pollen. Off the bee flies to another flower where it will leave a trace of male pollen on the female stigma and so fertilise it and enable seeds to form. Simply wonderful!

Yellow Loosestrife

A very hot and sunny day and the shadows were strong when I painted this plant. For convenience, I picked the flower and put it in a small glass vase. The wind lept movng it and finally blew it over breaking the glass. I carried on painting as the flowers rapidly wilted! So much easier with a camera.

Earlier, I cycled to Hatfield Forest along the Flitch Way. It was good to see Geoff again and also Jackie, but she looked pale and I hope she is not ill again.

Painting Nature

Are my paintings improving? They still seem heavy handed and laboured, but at least I am painting from nature and not copying photographs. I went back to my favourite artists and looked at the books by Edith Holden, Janet Marsh and Benjamin Perkins. Such accuracy, detail and colour! I could never aspire to such work.

Bellflower

I am still managing to draw something every day and am currently wrestling with ellipses. Just for a change I painted this bellflower from life.

Cafetiere

I am still wrestling with ellipses and cylinders. I gave myself a harder task by then attempting to painting this cafetiere as glass and metal are difficult in watercolour. It came out quite well though.

Hawkweed

Drawn and painted from life. It made me appreciate the skill of artists like Rev Keble-Martin and Marjorie Blamey. It is not bad, but still lacks the freshness and rapid execution that I seek.

Onions

I tried to quickly draw birds on the move, but failed. I am just not quick or confident enough. So I sought refuge in these sprouting onions. I do like the pen and wash technique, but this scan is not very accurate and some of the colour gradations have been lost.

Kissing

Watching birds "kissing", I assumed that I was seeing parents feeding their young. Then someone told me it was part of a mating ritual whereby the female showed her readiness to mate and the male passed a titbit of food to her. I understood that human kissing had evolved from mothers chewing and moistening food so that infants could digest it long before we had baby food in jars. But that did not explain the evolution of passionate, sexual kissing. So perhaps our adult kissing also evolved from passing food from mouth to mouth - ugh!

Drawing

So far, I am keeping up with my intention of drawing every day. My work is still laboured and lacks the freshness that I admire elsewhere. I am still falling into the trap of overworking and putting in too much detail. The rusty pump is heavier than I would like and the phlomis flowers are reasonable, but the leaves are mucky and do not show the light shining through them as they should.

The garden has been so dry lately and beginning to suffer even though this year's flowers are brilliant and the best ever. Windy today, and some damage to plants, but now we have a heavy shower that should give them a much need drink.

Recently, I read two books by Michael Williams describing journeys by slow trains across Britain. Wonderful, evocative books and I must seek out some of the slow branch railways myself. At present, I feel duty bound to keep Tegan company as she is very old and feeble and will not be with me much longer. Perhaps I should have her put to sleep, but it will break my heart.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

The words of WH Davies ring true still and this Blog is all about stopping to stand and stare. We live in a crazy world of rush and noise where silence is hard to find and seldom sought. Most people seem to fear silence and seek to fill every moment with noise. This is a place to watch and reflect.

It does seem odd to be starting a journal at the end of May, but that is where we are now. So a brief look at the early part of the year may put things in context.

January was cold. So cold that we had record temperatures of -12 in the garden. Snow lingered long and we were visited by numerous redwings and fieldfares from Scandinavia. Then the cold gave way to heat and during April and May hardly a drop of rain fell. Garden and wild flowers have reacted well with incredible displays. A record breaking hot summer is forecast.

In an attempt to slow down, I have not used my car for months. I walk, cycle and take the train instead and feel so much better for it. I cycled all the way to Braintree along the Flitch Way - a disused railway track. Then I cycled along the towpath of the Stort and Lea to Cheshunt. Soon, I shall finish that journey by taking the train to Cheshunt and then cycling on to Limehouse where the Lea flows into the Thames.

Train journeys can be exciting, adventurous and relaxing. Sometimes I go just for the ride and had a grand day in Bury St Edmunds after travelling along a delightful single track. A much longer journey was to Teeside to see my son, James. With changes at Cambridge, Peterborough and Darlington, I saw so much of the countryside and all for £25 by booking ahead. I intend to log future trips here.

Much of my time is spent on wildlife photography and my photos can be seen on Flickr. I do not intend to post many here. Instead, I shall use this blog to talk about my paintings and drawings. Having read books by Richard Bell, I have been tempted to take up pen and ink work. So one of my first pictures appears at the top of this page.