I am soon off to Europe for a trip and should be full of vim and vigour. At least producing more sketches for my next project, but I’ve done little except moan about toothache, or a pain that could be sinus, or it might be…? Maybe tomorrow the periodontist will come up with a name, but meanwhile a winter sketch has lifted my spirits – a little.

I placed the mouldering apple and limp lemon on my desk and thought the arrangement needed something else. Ah ha! I hadn’t walked far from home when I spotted a leaf reflecting similar colours to the apple. Right, I was onto it, or almost, for by the time I finally got my gear out, I needed the light on. Good excuse to leave it until the morning. Except … The leaf that I had sketched in outline yesterday was a withered memory of its former self by the time I was ready to draw this morning. Never mind, I thought, deciding to finish off the apple and lemon and leave the leaf unfinished.

Am I happy? A little happier than I was, so I’ll stay with that. The apple I think is okay, but the lemon, well I feel a little sour about that. Bet you didn’t realise I used ten different coloured pencils to achieve this. The list includes: Indian Red, Pompeian Red, Burnt Carmine, Rose Carmine, Deep Scarlet Red, Lemon Cadmium, Lemon, Canary Yellow, Olive Green Yellowish and Dark Sepia. Oh, and there is a touch of 2B pencil in there too.

I plan to take a sketch book with me on my European journey, but shall keep to basics like pencils, a pen or two, and maybe a couple of colours like green or blue, to capture little scenes as they take my fancy. It will be summer where I’m heading, and not fearsomely hot, so all good. Bring on the holiday! Cheers everyone, and happy sketching.