I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have days which do not work out the way I planned when I got up in the morning. I don’t mind quite so much if there is an obvious reason for it, like having to unexpectedly accompany someone to a hospital appointment, or the car develops a puncture. Either is enough to upset anyone’s day, but when things just don’t go well for no apparent reason at all, it’s very frustrating.

Sometimes I seem to be extra clumsy. If I walk through a doorway, I’ll bash an arm against a handle, or a leg against a doorpost. If I have a mug of tea, or coffee, I’ll be guaranteed to spill it. If I go for a walk I know I’ll get stung or bitten by a bug AND all it’s family and friends!

On such days, the only thing to do is to grab an off-cut of paper and make a sketch of the first thing to come to hand. It doesn’t have to be a grand display, because you know it’s not going to be good anyway, so I look for something quite common which everyone has in abundance and probably pays little attention to.

In this case there is no shortage of Buttercups or Daisies right on the doorstep, or just beyond it. Some people may consider them the vermin of the botanical world and want to uproot them as quickly as possible, but I love to see them at this time of year, no matter how many of them may be in the lawn or the edge of flower borders. While the resulting sketch may not be so masterful, the act of painting them is sure to lower the blood pressure and to look towards tomorrow with more optimism.

The Thursday before Easter, and the morning began with clear blue sky and sunshine. The blossom on the fruit trees is still there despite a blustery day yesterday. Two young Blackbirds are being fed by a parent which looks smaller and thinner than it’s offspring. Our Robin has found itself a partner which is a good sign, and one fat pigeon still enjoys nipping off the petals from every flower it can find.

In the garden we have a cluster of Cowslips growing up through the grass. A variant of the Primula, it apparently hybridizes easily with anything in the same family. Mostly they look much the same as a Primrose but this one has a touch of red on it’s petals.

It is nice to think that as far as Wildlife is concerned, everything is right with the world.

The first of April, fine and sunny, but a bit cold if you stay still for too long. Primroses are doing well despite the number of birds who think it’s great fun to pull the flowers off. The rhubarb is making great strides after the big sleep of winter. We’ve started to sow some seeds in trays and pots, but keeping them inside as there is still a chance of frost. The little bird is a recent present and the water butt is just a water butt, it’s only there because it fitted the space!

Watercolour in Moleskine sketchbook

A sure sign of Spring is when the World bursts into pink blossom. Then you can be sure that Nature is waking from it’s Winter snooze. Despite all the chaos around us, the natural world carries on with the promise of warm Summer days, fruits and flowers to sustain us, and itself, through another year – and it does it so beautifully!

Having painted Daffodils in a number of still life arrangements recently, it was nice to see them growing en masse at Heythrop Park in a natural setting. Our garden ones are starting to come through but are still a bit sparse at the moment.

You don’t often see Mandarins with their leaves attached for sale, so when it happens, it is worth buying them to paint and perhaps adding them to some Spring flowers to make a Still life. They certainly bring a bit of colour into our lives. We seem to have lost the recent sunshine and even had a snow shower this morning.

I didn’t realize when I bought them that the daffodils were an ‘exotic’ variety. They were in tight bud so it was difficult to distinguish them from any other kind of daffodil. It was a bit of a surprise when they opened and presented an unexpected challenge.

Most of the spears are now in full flower creating a wonderful glow of colour. In the garden they are only just pushing their way up through the cold ground, so it will be a while before there are any flowers. However, it is a good sign of things to come, as once some shoots start to appear, others are sure to follow. There are already signs of a host of Spring flowers preparing to delight us.

Day three and the spears are opening up, enjoying the warmth and the light from standing on the window sill.

Thankful for a drink, twenty-four hours later the Daffodils are beginning to open.

I saw these Daffodil spears in the supermarket and immediately felt sorry for them, dumped unceremoniously and unloved on the end of an aisle, miles away from their forced but more colourful cousins, Tulips and Roses, which have been in the shops for weeks now, waiting for us to buy them in time for Valentine’s, still a couple of weeks away. By comparison, these spears looked limp and thirsty as they begged passers by for a drop of water to sustain them, when they should have been filling us with cheer and optimism that the end of winter may not be too far away.

I brought them home with the intention of sketching their all too brief lives. I know from past experience how much I will enjoy seeing their sunny faces.