Another scorcher !

This morning I woke up to another beautiful morning. The house was all still and quiet and I could see the brilliant sunshine through the window, beckoning. So, without thinking, I threw on some clothes, grabbed my sunglasses and set off on my bike. I'd intended a 7 mile route. A 'Road Closed' sign put paid to that......in a good way. I took a diversion, probably adding another 3 or 4 miles to my route. Through the country lanes with rape fields in bloom I pretty much had the roads to myself, apart from a few pheasants, a squirrel and some rabbits. I met a couple of cyclists en route, all geared up in their cycling shorts and streamlined helmets. Me....well I just ambled along with my bottle of water and camera in the shopping basket of my 3 geared bike. Here's a beautiful scene I stumbled upon. I was home by 7.30am and guess what......... The house was all still and quiet - few snores coming from the bedrooms.

Landscape, foliage and blending Oil Painting Brushes

The 1 inch and 2.5 inch Bill Alexander landscape brushes are proving a very popular tool. Most students who use them in class have purchased their own for home use. My class brushes have really been put through their paces since I introduced them into classes nearly 6 months ago. They clean up well and are as soft today as they were on day one. We've all found that we are using my soft goat hair blender brush less and the large Alexander landscape brush more as it really does a good job of removing those brush marks. It's a 'mighty' tool, as Bill would say, much too big to dip into tins of white medium. I find it easier to tip out the medium into plastic trays and pass around the class. It actually ensures you don't load too much into your brush in the first place. At just £20 (which includes postage and packing) for the two brushes, these will last you quite some time. If you look closely, you'll see Bob Ross using these exact same brushes in his first recordings of 'The Joy of Painting' programmes.