Monday 28th December 2020 - 3rd Day of Christmas

 Woke up to a white morning, no, not snow, but frost.

I also woke to the glad thought that I have the whole of this week off, and my diary for the week is completely empty!

After the second coffee I put on a coat and hat and scarf and gloves and went for a slow walk... it started to rain quite heavily soon after we left the front door... so we turned back... and the rain stopped. Still, it cleared the frost.

And it was enough to clear my head. 

Today was the day for getting acquainted with some of my Christmas presents; a couple of tubes of M Graham watercolours, and the Rosemary & Co Eradicator brush.

I cleared out two of the little sections in my china tray, to add Hansa Yellow, Pale Green, Crimson Alizarin and Deep Ultramarine Violet. They are glorious

 I'm also starting a new sketchbook, this time A4, which feels a bit ambitious. It is a statement of hope, as much as anything, in this current lockdown. What shall I sketch?

The Eradicator brush is designed to lift off the paint; I've watched a couple of videos but I need to watch some more. "I use it to create veins in leaves, and also window frames" says one blogger. I started with the leaves, but it looks as though the dampness or wetness of the paint is important. Making lines in the blue slurps of paint, and creating a window frame were the most successful.

Beginning any brand new book - sketch book, notebook, is always a bit scary. In the past I have tended to start at the back, in the hope that I will have improved sufficiently by the time I get to the front in order not to mess up the first page. Recently I read a suggestion that a good way to start a sketchbook is with drawing the pens, brushes and paints you are using. I have 'cheated' even more; these two pages are the inside front cover of the book, and the facing page, so in my mind they don't belong to the main part of the book.

I've started reading Georgette Heyer's Regency Romance 'Friday's Child'. A real paperback version, printed back in 1976, so I've had it a little while

. 

When I opened the book I was tempted to download a Kindle version. The pages are yellow, the glue is no longer sticking, and the print is minute...

I can just about read it comfortably if I shine the reading light on it. I reckon I'm overdue for the opticians (and the dentist and whatever else needs doing). Those days of reading books by the light of a torch under the bedclothes are L o n g G o n e. 

I don't think I've read one of her romances for years and years... there is a row of them on the top shelf so I've plenty to look forward to over the coming year.