Finally...spring

Spring has finally arrived in my world. The trees are budding out, and there are lots of pussy willows. We planted some bedding out plants in the gardens and the patio containers. Yesterday, we actually needed to put up the patio umbrella.

Holly the tabby cat, who likes to help with everything, chased a mouse out from under the deck and startled a baby rabbit. I suspect the rabbit is what has been nibbling on the tulips in the front garden, and we'll need to put traps down for the mice.

I have been taking a bit of an unintentional break from posting mostly because I've been indulging in my other passion which is baking bread. This week I made Anadama bread and Olive Oil and Rosemary bread which is delicious! I have also been using Bert Dodson's "Keys to Drawing". I've learned a lot, but haven't wanted to post those attempts. His style of drawing is very different from mine, so I'm ambivalent about the results. But the process is, I think, very good. The whole idea of blind drawing, and restating lines will teach me a lot. The first exercise was to draw your crossed feet. Who knew how ridiculously hard that could be? But seeing where your line went wrong, and how to correct is very valuable. So I'll soldier on in an attempt to become a better drawer.

Have any of you worked through the book? Did you find the process made your drawing improve?

The pussy willow is watercolor pencils in the Bateman sketchbook.