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I tried to finish off the Benbecula paintings and have realised I don’t think I showed where this all started,

the original drawing done on the sand dunes at Linoclete,

the tutor gave us homework one weekend to use our sketches and make pictures with cut papers one in cool colours so I used the Benbecula drawing and used mostly magazine papers,

last week when I was at Jane’s Blue Pig studio I worked some more on the textured one,

then this week at the Tuesday art group I tried to straighten up and improve the thin painted one,

went to figure drawing weds eve and enjoyed it but didn't like my drawing so bined it,

I am stitching too though nothing much to show but here’s a peek at some felt I am stitching with cups and crosses,

When working in the garden this afternoon I found the remains of some creatures rabbit snack, there wasn’t much left just one leg joint and a seriously clean bone (back?) just wondering what creature on the island would make such a good clean job of it, no sign of any struggle or fight, no blood on the ground, recent too as the blood on the bone hadn’t had time to dry, I’m curious,

I met a friend last week and we had a lovely walk in the castle grounds, Stornoway, I took my camera with me,

Trees
Water
Wild flowers
The rest

The bbc radio 4 programme was on Mull this week and will be next week too, you can hear it via the beebs listen again button,



I have a blackbird nesting in my shed, I was looking at the old ladder on the wall and thought that’s a lot of bits of grass when I realised something on the pile of dead grass was watching me! she was soooo still and quiet,

Went to figure drawing weds evening and enjoyed, beautiful weather and lots to keep me busy, have a great weekend everyone,

this little (it is little) rabbit keeps hanging around where I found the remains of the dead rabbit a few weeks ago, looks as if it is looking for mum, why do I feel like Mr MacGregor from Peter Rabbit if I chase it out, as yet no damage to plants and I am very happy for it to eat lots of the dreaded grass, it looks soooo sweet but no I am not getting mushy it has to go before it brings in mates,

still spending lots of time outside with the (amazingly) still fab weather, art group Tues I’m still painting the flowers I started last week, figure drawing weds was interesting as the glasses I carry with me had lost a lens so no point in wearing them, I can see distant but no detail close up so I could not properly see what I was putting on the paper, the tutor thought this was good as I couldn’t get bogged down with detail but had to look at the wider picture, nearly everyone said it was the best I have done…..perhaps I won’t bother taking them (the glasses) next week,

in my bathroom is an old cast iron bath which, when I bought the new bathroom furniture I was going to replace but was told by many people not too as the old baths are best and you can get it re-enamelled, oh yeah, on an island off the north west coast, I was told a company comes over and does the work, well I never saw an ad for them but I do not buy the local rag every week, anyway last month I bought a copy and there was the ad ‘bath refurbishment’ so I phoned and the very nice man did the work this morning, just a new bath you maybe thinking well click to the other photo to see what fifty years of peaty water had done to it, amazing isn’t it!!!! I’m thrilled with the result and will no longer curse the people who told me to keep it,


over six years ago I rescued a camellia plant from the reduced shelf, it was a pathetic stick about as long as a pencil and thin as a matchstick, well 6+ years of copious amounts of tlc have given me beautiful results, now I think it has out grown it’s pot and so this winter I must give it more space, however if I put it in a lager pot I probably will not be able to continue to lift it, I would love to plant it in the garden but I am terrified the winter winds will kill it off, so my question is has any island gardener or someone you know got a camellia outside on the islands or anywhere where the winter winds are strong? Thanks in advance for any advice re camellias,


well it looked like the heavy brigade of rabbits was in the back larger garden this morning, 2 large rabbits looked like they were taking stock of the garden, they only seemed to eat a little grass, no plant damage, am I being lulled in to a false sense of ‘they seem to be alright’?
last night we had some rain,

still pushing on with the painting and drawing, haven’t done much sewing recently so need to change that, I did some more on the flowers at the Tuesday art group and I am getting bored with them so that’s it for now,

tried some colour at figure drawing on Wednesday, they had some pastels there for anyone to use so after I got started with graphite I then decided to have a go with the pastels, not bad for me (please note I am not being immodest I know how bad I am and so ‘for me’ it’s not too bad)

haven’t been in the garden much yet this week and it is starting to look dry, this is a photo of the ditch at the front of the house between my garden and the road,

I have seen it low before but I have not seen dry stones before, though last week when I did some digging I found just 2-3 inches down the earth is quite damp, not wet but very damp,
have a nice bank holiday everyone,