Thank you to someone for adding me to the sketchbook blog site.  I have at last managed to get my first piece done in the sketch book. The title page and inside cover are now completed, for which I am truly grateful as I was beginning to wonder if they ever would be done. I now must start on the next pages as I need to get it in the post soon to Doreen. The title page is meant to look like a stained glass window, so I deliberately kept to only three colours but used two shades of each. It is a hybrid between celtic design and art nouveau, the pattern being based on  highly stylised plants. The centre represents a daffodil with its buds , then the red flowers in the next circle are tulips with the celtic knot corners representing shamrocks. the pattern is coloured in polychromus coloured pencil as the piece of paper I chose to do it on was too thin for paint. I did it on a separate sheet because I didn't want to put compass holes in the sketch book page.

I have a lot of pictures to put up in the next while . They will fall into two main categories, photos of plants, birds, insects etc. and art work. The photos will be divided into walks with Ben dog and garden plants. The art work will also be divided into RBGE Course pieces, Sketchbook Exchange pieces and other artwork.

Well its been a long time since I managed to put anything on this blog, as can be seen I have added to the title. This is to allow me to add sketchbook and other art work making it a more comprehensive and inclusive blog than just walking Ben Dog which is how it started. I shall be adding work from the Botanical Illustration Course I am doing through distance learning with Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and also from the Sketchbook Exchange of which I am a member. I shall also continue with comments and pictures of nature and garden as the seasons change.