This is the yellow rose which I sketched in bud a few days ago (see below).

Now it has these two blooms with more to come.

Behind are the trunks of the conifer that grows in the same flower bed.

The process of working in pastel over the past few days has helped me see things differently.

Next exhibition: 'Edge' 16-20 Sept 2025, Bunyan basement gallery 11-4pm.

Not sure what this small woodland space is called. It borders the Goldington road, Goldington Green and the Copse, the Spinney and Bury Walk.

Anyway, it is criss-crossed by well-used paths. I met a dog-walker who told me where Goldington brook (now piped underground) used to flow on the green space opposite The Copse. There's a newly planed orchard there now. 

I sat in the green light of the chestnuts and sketched this afternoon - pastel chalks on brown paper.
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At the top of Mowsbury hill, by the side of the path, there's a place where the conservationists leave logs and branches. From time to time, these are burnt on a bonfire - the remains of which I sat next to today.

Beyond the ash pile are big burdock leaves and a bank of nettles spiked by old stalks. White hawthorn trees grow along the ditch which edges the field and supplies water to the various ponds in the hillfort. Despite the dry weather, these are still full.

This drawing is, appropriately perhaps, done in charcoal and chalk pastels on a dark blue paper.

This is unfinished - just a start in pastel chalks. 

Yellow rose about to flower. Behind is the open back door and the shadow of the conifer on the wall. Morning sun.

When the sun is in the same place again, I'll finish it.  

I've struggled to draw this before. The geometry changes so quickly as leaves and stems come in and out of shadow.

I went down to the river to sketch. I took acrylic paints and my bike.

I have devised a way of using the bike as an easel. Although I did have to bungee some willow twigs to the frame to hold my canvas horizontal. My A3-sized pannier means that I can carry canvas and all my kit. This will not be the last such adventure.

Edge exhibition: 16-20  September 2025

Just below the weir, flotsam collects and forms an island of logs and branches. This is contested territory, as I witnessed. A pair of swans is nesting on adjacent 'island' and while one swan sits on the eggs, the other patrols the area, attacking any geese and goslings who think they'll make a claim.

I was surprised by the ingenuity of the goslings who, when attacked by the furious swan, dived underwater and reappeared when and where it was safe.

The geese were persistent and one took up this position unchallenged when the swan had gone.

Garden rose bush coming into bud - jade and peach pastels on blue paper.

I want to revisit this over the next few days.

As I sketched, the afternoon sun moved round and the bush went into shade, becoming almost a silhouette against the sunlit grass. In the foreground is the chaos of the flowerbed. In the background the sliding shadows of trees.

This evening I went to the opening of Anthony Mackay's exhibition at the Eagle Gallery.

Fascinating to see the variations of colour and light in his repeated paintings of the view up-river from the Butterfly bridge.

I also liked his multiple small sketches and doodles in which he explores compositions from upside down to test their abstract possibilities.