Saturday 18th April 5.00pm The apple trees outside are heavy with blossom. I know how fleeting it is, so I head out with Reuben the terrier to sketch. We have about 15 apple trees and their main accomplishment is twofold: 1. to feed the huge rooks that are a nuisance around here, and 2. to…
Friday 17th April 4.00pm (BST) midnight (HKT), 8.00am (PDT) It’s late afternoon for me, midnight in Hong Kong and eight in the morning in Seattle. I am to do a sound check with Rob Sketcherman (Hong Kong), Rita Sabler (Seattle) and others to make sure all is good for our Urban Sketchers Live talk tomorrow.…
Thursday 16th April 8.00am I am always downstairs first in the morning. It’s just me and a quiet house, and my own privately indulgent “good morning” to the fluffy terrier Reuben. He is a nomad and sleeps anywhere, and is usually upside down on the sofa in the morning with four paws in the air.…
Wednesday 15th April 9.30am A scene from two angles: I am asked to send a photo of myself to the Urban Sketchers organisation to illustrate a live talk I will be doing on Sunday. Rita Sabler is the Education Director, and she wants something that is representative of where I am often to be found…
Tuesday 14th April 1.00pm I walk around the block: door to door, it’s a couple of miles and definitely more than two kilometres from my home, but not as the crow flies, which is how I justify it. The walk is heaven from start to finish. The first bit is open fields full of skittish,…
Easter Monday, 13th April 11.00am I feel obliged to paint the amaryllis blossom that has made its dramatic reappearance. That’s not the same as feeling compelled to paint it, and I have told myself for years to know and respect the difference. You feel obliged to paint the Eiffel Tower, but you feel compelled to…
Easter Sunday, 12th April 9.00am Hot cross buns out of the oven. It’s the recipe I found on Twitter and I made them last night. Heat 300ml milk, stir in 75g caster sugar, and when the milk and sugar are hand-hot add 7g dried yeast and stir to dissolve. Mix 500g strong white flour with…
Saturday 11th April 8.00am Liv (15) is up earlier than usual. “What are you doing up so early?” I ask. “You’re giving me a haircut,” she says, “and I have a Taekwon Do class at midday, so we need to get on.” Soon she is sitting in front of the mirror, her hair is straightened…
Good Friday 10th April 10.00am I receive a call from my sister-in-law in the UK, Monique. Our mutual sister-in-law has lost her brother to covid. He lived in the UK. I have never met him but my husband remembers him from his childhood as a keen fisherman and full of exuberance. He did not leave…
Thursday 9th April 3.00pm I head into the shed to look for petrol so I can mow the lawn. There’s a little bird flitting about in the shed. Its wings make the most darling beating sound as it flies across and back, clearly very bothered by my entry. I see, to my delight, that it…