The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition, 2012

We had a very enjoyable visit to the Pastel exhibition at the Mall Galleries, last Thursday. It was a beautiful day. We walked from Waterloo across Hungerford Bridge, and the views were magnificent. The river was full of boats, mostly passenger craft with a few commercial barges. We walked on the east side to Charing Cross station then bordered the south side of Trafalgar Square to the Mall. ( On our return we walked down Northumberland Avenue and back on the west side of the bridge. It seemed a lot shorter and was certainly a lot less crowded.)

Red Stag in Bushy Park

It is the rutting season and unfortunately, this  year, several people have been attacked. The largest stags are gathering their hinds, so there is quite a lot of clashing of antlers and roaring. They are magnificent beasts. The one pictured above hasn't got a "harem". Maybe he's too old. It was a hot day and he was wallowing in a muddy area. There are fallow deer as well as red deer in the park, a few hundred altogether, roaming freely.

Trails in the Sky, 8am

This is the sight that greeted me when I awoke about two weeks ago. We live 8 miles from London Heathrow Airport. We are overflown like this all the time but the trails are not usually visible. How bad it must be for our health. No wonder we feel so much better and more energetic when we have the chance to breathe sea or mountain air!

Purple Water Iris

I have recently purchased "Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils by Ann Swan" and it inspired me to do some more coloured pencil work. Ann taught me how to paint with coloured pencils. I am a Silver Signature member of the UKCPS.
We grow these irises in our pond, but unfortunately they don't last very long when picked.
I used Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils on white Fabriano Classico paper. 5"x9"

A Good Year for Grapes

We have a heavy crop of grapes called Brandt. The vines are suitable for containers and ripen into small, very sweet black grapes. All our fruit is doing well, but we have very few french beans and the tomatoes look rather poorly. Probably due to the dry spring.

The Mistletoe Tree

Walking in Bushy Park last week we came upon this Silver Maple, absolutely covered in clumps of mistletoe.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

 We visited Kew last weekend. It was a cold spring day, but beautifully warm in the Palm House.

The Temperate House is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world.