A Rose in colour pencil and harvest.

Life has been getting more and more stressful so my GP has signed me off work for a week and I was told to rest.  I have been up at my usual time (no lie ins) doing things around the house.  It has been amazingly soothing to just be able to concentrate on one thing and not a million.  Lucy at attic24 calls pottering around the house and tidying up "house blessing" and I think I agree; when there is no pressure on you to do the work it does feel like a blessing not just for the house but for you and your family.  Everything looks so nice when its tidy, not show home tidy but lived in tidy. 

I have taken myself out to lunch several times and enjoyed the peace of lovely food eaten while reading a good book.  I felt like I had given myself a treat.  I went on walks and did a lot of "window shopping" which I enjoyed whilst feeling no pressure to buy.   The Teen has finished school and is looking forward to a long holiday (so are we).   I cooked healthy meals full of fresh veg (for me) and have felt a definite benefit from such a good diet.

I also joined my local gym and I plan to use it before work 3 days a week; exercise should help with my stress levels and keep me healthy.  I was surprised at my gym induction to see how many "ordinary" people were using it.  It was quite heartening to see real people on the treadmills and not honed and polished specimens of muscular fitness (nice as they are to look at sometimes).  I am not fit; I managed the treadmill but when it came to the bike my legs protested very loudly - they protested even more on the cross trainer!  I didn't listen to the music on offer or watch the various television programmes that I could have accessed, instead I listened to an audio book. 

This weekend I went on a roses workshop and boy did it rain.  On Friday it stopped for about 10 minutes for the whole time we were there.  The birds in the garden seemed to enjoy it but I think the cats had the right idea; they curled up in fluffy balls around the house and slept all day, getting up occasionally and stretching and asking for food. 

I chose a beautiful dark rose to draw.  Its velvety petals were just gorgeous and it smelt wonderful.  My photo of it doesn't really do it justice.

It took quite a bit of work to get the initial sketch right, so that all the petals looked correct.  Then I started drawing.  I had major problems with the colour, once the sun came out the curled back parts of the petals had an amazing zing to them.  It was very difficult to capture that zing on paper.

The picture also looked grainy as I was using a different paper to the one I usually use.  I needed to change my technique slightly.  My tutor dealt with the first petal on the right for me as I was struggling so much - my job is now to try to get it finished. The three day workshop was, as usual, very good, with excellent teaching and wonderful food.  You can see other people's work here.

We also had a tiny addition to the workshop:

An adorable wood mouse who was obviously not very happy outside and didn't object to being brought in.  It drank some water from a pipette and ate some seeds.  The cats were too busy sleeping to take any notice of it.