Getting organised.

Some of my time and energy this week has gone into tidying the garden shed and greehouse. On Wednesday I took everything out of both and cleaned the floor areas. It was such a lovely morning I was lulled into a false sense of security, but shortly after lunch my husband said 'I wouldn't leave it too long before putting things back if I were you'. How right he was. I had just about rehoused everything that needed to be kept dry when the heavens opened and I was actually marooned in the shed while the rain hammered down. We had a mini moat round the house for a few hours.
The painted wall and curtains in the shed are reminders of the time when our youngest daughter had it as her haven. She would spend hours up here reading and listening to music. There was no junk stored here then and it looked quite charming with pictures on the walls, etc. Now it has reverted to being a shed and a store for all the flower pots, seed trays and other gardening paraphernalia. The blue china pot is not what it might appear! It used to have a houseplant in it.

The greenhouse is a magnificent 7'x5' - hard to imagine that until yesterday those wooden slatted shelves, now up in the shed, used to be in here too. The green plastic units stood centrally, one on top of the other with the wooden ones on either side. There was scarcely room for plants.

It is right outside the backdoor and had become a real embarrassment in it's previous untidy state. It was all too easy to shove things out of the way in there. We still have to clean the glass and disinfect, then it will be ready for my geraniums to be tucked up for the winter.

I have just enrolled for a two year online course with Distant Stitch - the title is Creative Sketchbooks and will be quite a challenge for me. The main reason for taking the course is to improve my drawing and painting skills but it will also involve photographing my work and probably using Photoshop, as well as setting up a separate blog to show my work. The theme for the first module is fruit and vegetables and as I unpacked the week's shopping yesterday I reached for my camera before putting everything away. I love the colours in the picture above.

I like the slightly soft focus of the above picture, but have to confess I was aiming for a sharper image. I have been collecting images of fruit and vegs from gardening magazines but thought it would be good to have a few photos of my own. I shall need some to play with on Photoshop.

I love the shape of peppers and their highlights and shadows.

It is much easier to photograph them than draw and paint them!

Good enough to eat and a nice variety of textures.

I think I have everything I need for the course and start work on 1st Sept., and if I am brave enough to 'go public' I'll let you know when my new blog is up and running.

So much to do and so much to learn. Lovely!