Coming into Leaf

I love drawing but there is another side to my work: I also need to produce some text for my book.

Somehow I've now got to get the writing to flow in just the way a drawing does. Instead of sitting here at the keyboard or talking into the microphone, I'm going to use the method I used for Rough Patch of having two small sketchbooks and writing a first draft in one, copying it in a second improved version into the second and, if necessary, copying it out again in the first book in a third version.

I've got plenty of ideas about what I'd like to say, and a feeling about the way the whole book should shape up, but it's not much just having all that floating around in my head. Time to start writing.

However it's the weekend. Time to call on people.

And their dogs; this is Tessa, who belongs to our friends Jill and John.

I usually take out one of my Parker fountain pens to draw these days. The blue Parker Reflex is really for writing but it makes a change to do a drawing in blue - these are the branches of an oak and sycamore, still not in leaf, at Carl and Susan's.

As usual there are wood pigeons (apparently sorting out their spring territorial claims) in the tree tops.

Richard Bell, [email protected]