RUSSETS 6” x 6” oil on board

Our neighbours’ Russet apple tree looked lovely in the early morning light and I couldn’t resist doing a little oil study of it. Our family have a fondness for that Russet tree, which grows right by our garden fence . . .when our boys were little (they’re grown men now), our lovely neighbours told them they could scrump ‘our’ side of the tree whenever they wanted (how our boys loved our neighbours who, with great patience, would also return stray footballs etc and pass other treats over the fence!)
 

Now it’s Boo dog who goes apple scrumping and eats all the windfalls as they drop on our garden path. If you hear me bellowing, “Boo, drop it!!” at this time of year, it will probably be because he is wolfing down his third apple of the day! 🍏🍏🍏🐶

Winter Evening 8” x 10” oil on board

It is true that if you wait until you feel inspired to paint, very little painting will happen; so with that in mind and feeling just about as uninspired as I could possibly be, I picked my brushes up today. All I had really wanted to do was stay snuggled in front of the fire, but as always I’m really glad I forced myself  to paint as it’s always a calming thing to do and I always feel better for it. 

It’s been a fraught time lately, not least because we found another lump on our beloved dog Boo. He had only had surgery to remove a cancerous lump from his tummy just four months ago, and here we were facing surgery again - this time for a mast cell tumour, similar to one he had when he was only two years old. That time it had been followed up by several months chemotherapy, so we were very concerned this time. 

Thankfully Boo’s latest surgery went very well, and this evening we saw the vet to discuss if  further treatment is needed, I’m really relieved that the decision was that the surgery should be enough this time. You would think that, after all he has gone through in his (almost) 9 years, Boo would be very wary of going to the vet’s, but no! He loves it, can’t wait to get in there with his waggy tail and lick  all the staff, and do his “puppy eyes” so that he gets lots of treats! We are very fortunate to have such a great veterinary hospital at Chipping Norton; our family has most certainly been glad of it the past few months.