I've had a week's break from painting but have just started a new pencil drawing, so work is back in progress. The sun has been shining and my garden has been beckoning, especially now the clocks have gone forward and the evenings are longer, so the challenge for me this summer is to keep my two greatest passions (apart from Roy!) working side-by-side; painting and gardening of course!  I always know when its time to get back to being creative after a break because my fingers are itching to paint and draw and my mind is awash with fresh ideas. I try to keep a log of all my ideas, but sometimes they flash through my mind so quickly or at times when I can't write them down, in the middle of the night or during my work hours that sometimes ideas get missed, but I always think that if its a good idea it will come back to me. Roy and I are hoping  to check on progress with the Portuguese house we bought in December very soon. I will make sure I pack some drawing and painting  material as I am sure to find inspiration over there. Apparently its 25 degrees at the moment and they like us have had a very dry year so far.

Roy and I went to London yesterday, a very long day catching the 7.17am train and arriving back at 11pm. We had a fabulous day, the purpose of our trip was to go to the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea and to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Both are well worth a visit - I got to see some work by two watercolourists I really admire, Shirley Trevena and Ann Blockley - I buy all their books and love their individual and modern approach to painting in watercolour. I also discovered other amazing artists such as Anne Shankie, Richard Price, Kate Osborne, Josip Lizatovic, Alison Rankin, Emmie Van Biervliet, Claire McKnight and Emma S Davis to name a few at Battersea. At the Mall Galleries John Glover deservedly won a prestigious prize - he's local to us and Roy has attended art lessons with him in the past. Also exhibting and those I greatly admired were Mike Bernard, Nick Osborne, Rosa Sepple and of course Blockley and Trevena. I could go on and on about all the artists I discovered, but I would run out of space!!!! Mothers Day today and its raining - mum and dad both have flu so couldn't visit them as planned and can't get outside to garden, so I am using the time wiselycreating art, updating this blog and doing some  internet research on all the fabulous artists I discovered yesterday.

I've been painting and selling poppy watercolours for years, in some ways they have been my signature flower, but for some reason I seem to be struggling a bit at the moment, it may have something to do with feeling under pressure with so many exhibitions coming up and not enough paintings ready. It may also be that I am my own worst critic and that this painting was not how I envisaged it in my minds eye!  This painting will be on display at New Buckenham Art Exhibition, Norfolk over the Easter Weekend. The weekend was spent on a gardening blitz, my idea of bliss; the sun was shining and it felt like spring had finally arrived. I can't wait to get out there painting my own flowers again. Last year we grew hundreds of poppies in the garden, mainly because when we moved house I came across a jam jar in the garage filled with seeds and not being sure what they were, threw caution to the wind and sowed them everywhere - beautiful though not long lasting, but they did fill up the space in my newly dug garden. I was in the lucky position of having a new garden laid to grass, so have been busily designing it and filling it up with my choice of plants - it looked a picture last year so hopefully with a years maturity it will look even more beautiful this year. We've already had the snowdrops, crocuses and daffs up in the grass and the bluebells are starting to show now.

A selection of my paintings and drawings can be seen on display and for sale at  The Lemon Tree Bistro, Framlingham, Suffolk. With kind thanks to Leo from The Lemon Tree. A link to The Lemon Tree will be included on this site soon. Excellent food, excellent venue, great ambiance, great art work!!!