Leaves and blossoms

Dearest

I have had a rather fabulous day. I am exhausted and hungry and have spent the day running around after children. So a very good day indeed. I have spent the day helping the artists with their creative activities, making leaves to put in an exhibition they are holding in one of the outbuildings at work, based on and inspired by the estate, mostly trees and nature. It has been fabulous seeing what children can make if the are given a leaf for inspiration and free reign over the materials (allowing them to use whatever paper and crayons/pastels/pencils they would like). Just to see how little ones can take a piece of paper and over it will flow ideas, until in the end, well, actually so many ideas end up flowing it all becomes a bit of a higgledy mess. Let’s face it, children have never been very good at reigning themselves in, so it starts off looking beautiful and original and ends up looking quite wild. Its when they grow older and develop their skills, or at least are better able to judge when enough is enough that the real beauty begins to show.

So that was grand, and I even got to have a go at creating my own, in brown wrapping paper. I traced around the outline of a very pretty leaf, (I should know the name of the tree it came from, but I can’t remember, so I’ll just sound like a terrible townie and say, it looked like an oversized ivy leave) and then over the pencil outline I wrote in fine point pen, in very small letters the name over every tree I could think of, plus a few I don’t think are really trees but herbs instead. Then the same with the veiny bits, so it looks rather good from a distance, then truly cool close up, especially when you realise that some of the writing is backwards. I love writing backwards, makes me feel smart, or a little too mental, either way is good by me.

I had to take it home to finish, since while there I sometimes am sat for hours bored out of my mind trying to keep myself occupied, sometimes I’m running around so much without a break all day, and today was the latter. But it is finished now and can be strung up on Wednesday, when I am back at work to man the drawing in the garden activity, where I shall try and finish the picture I started last time, rather than starting another one, which will be the exact same thing as the last three. I don’t need four unfinished pictures of the same bloody door. So I shall actually attempt to finish the one I started in June. Despite the fact I would quite like to have a go at painting it. Actually, I shall have to check the picture, see if it is actually finished, it may be. In which case I shall try something new, maybe ask one of the gardeners if I can have a few flowers to do a still life of.

So that is something to look forward to, something to help get me through tomorrow, my trip to Sheffield with Aunt Ice Queen. Though she has lightened up a bit, or maybe now I’m older its not so much of a chore to be around her brother’s brat.

All my Love