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Slater's Bridge, Langdales.

Spent yesterday up in the Lake District in the boiling heat. Managed to avoid the forecasted storms and had a great day walking around the Langdales. We stopped halfway at Slater's Bridge where I did this sketch. There were some kids splashing about in the stream with an inflatable crocodile. It looked a bit surreal when we came across them in the middle of nowhere.

Gin & Slimline makes chairs bigger!

A sketch of P reading, done with the brush pen and watercolour. Will definitely be doing more like this. The brushpen has waterproof ink so doesn't run into the watercolour when it's washed over the top.

We're off to see REM this afternoon in Manchester and I'm trying to decide whether to take my sketchbook or not.

My mum

My mum had to have an operation yesterday to remove a cataract from her eye. It's a pretty amazing and wonderful thing to be able to do but the though of someone putting a hole in my eyeball makes me really squeamish and freaked out. Mum was incredibly brave and will hopefully be able to see much better in about 6 weeks.

I have done her this little watercolour to cheer her up. It's called 'Things to enjoy when the fog clears' and features her favourite activities.

There's a Woman's Weekly mag, her binoculars, a flower (she loves natural history full stop), the cherished photo she keeps above the piano, Coronation Street on the tv, a menu & a slice of cake at a cafe, one of the grandchildren who's reading, a birdtable and a squirrel on my dad's nuts which we all think is hillarious because he charges off down the garden to either bark like a dog or squirt it with a supersoaker.

Portrait Painting - From start to finish

Step 5...

Finished! Well I think it's finished. The actual colour is warmer than this photo shows.

Amongst other things I have painted the background with patterns from the wedding dress and then covered with different glazes to give a subtle effect. Other details have been added to clothing, jewelry and flowers.

Going to have the usual pondering session now where I try not to ruin the painting by over-working it.

Step 4