A fine day, lovely garden and great hosts, Avril and Richard, for our sketching today.  We had a variety to choose from:  an enormous walnut tree, other smaller trees, shrubs and flowers everywhere, beehives, chickens (if only they would stay still and not hide!), a little pond and more.  Some members arrived early and left early, others arrived later - twelve altogether.  
We agreed, there’s nothing nicer than tea in the garden on a summer’s afternoon, but especially when Richard has done the baking.  
​
Next week we’re at Earsham for the river, landscapes and animals - and of course to see our new exhibition there. 
​
PS  I gather my cultural reference to “Grasshopper” last week was lost on some of you and may have been taken for loopiness on my part.  In Kung Fu, Grasshopper was the nickname given by the old monk Po to the young monk he was tutoring.  No wiser?  Ah well …

​Click on images to enlarge them.

​Were there more planes - or parts of planes - here today than last time we came, in May ’17?  I thought there were and I’m sure it was hotter today.  And did we have a vulcan flying over to celebrate our visit?  (See first photo.)

Planes are notoriously difficult to draw or paint - all those 3-D curves, shiny surfaces and perspective angles to test a saint.  And you’d better be quick or it’s all changed, complicating matters even further.  But our intrepid members had a go, producing some creditable results in the time.  

There are lots of little museums dotted about, a shop, and the NAAFI where we had our tea and viewed our work.  The chap in the final photo produced a lap top and showed us paintings he had done, including some superb portrayals of aeroplanes.

PS  This little grasshopper was hard to shake off while I was painting.  Was he looking for a tutor?  Sorry, “Grasshopper”, no monks here to mentor you.
​
PPS  Avril's next week.  I have put some instructions for finding her place on Messages.