Tuesday May 15th, last day in Barcelona and Zoey and I have still got lots of weddingy stuff to do, and I have to pack and sort myself out to come back. So we go out and find what we can. I did manage to get a little line drawing of some washing, and a quick sketch of a couple of, yes, you guessed it – trees- in a small park near the coach station, where we had gone to get me a ticket for the morning.

May 16th. I get a coach from Barcelona to the Cost Brava, saying goodbye through the window to the dumpy pines and grey olive trees, we go along the coast for a while, the water glittering in the morning sunlight. The plane takes off from Gerona airport and we are soon up in the air looking down on the patchwork landscape. It is a beautiful clear day and we have amazing views of the mountains dusted with snow, the little towns, fields and woods. There are rows of little cotton wool clouds stretching across the sky, until we get to the sea, not a cloud in sight just blue, blue, blue, with dots and streaks of white, the little boats and then some dashes of reds and pinks, the ships. When we reach the coast of England it is fascinating to see how the clouds change shape, and follow the line of the shore. They are thicker but still spaced apart enough to see the landscape, this time a startling patchwork of acid yellow, the rape seed crops, and bright green fields and woods. We fly over London and over the O2 Arena, it looks like the Eastenders title shot on tv! I am soon back on the ground and in a lovely daze. I walk home from the station noticing how green and soft and fluffy it all looks. It is great to go away, but it is always nice to come home. I didn’t draw anything today, well not on paper, but I seemed to notice more, until I conked out and went to sleep!!

Thurday  May 17th. YMCA Hatfield Space Art Workshop day. We worked on our bluebell wood painting, and made loads of leaves and more collage bluebells. But when I get home I am too tired to draw, but I must do something, even if it’s rubbish, so I sit on the sofa with a lovely jug of tulips balanced on a chair, lazy sketching!! Actually it is calming and I am more pleased with it than I thought I would be!