Spring Sunshine and a Brixham Mermaid

It's April and today has been such a warm sunny day

 so we went to visit a lovely National Trust garden. The bulbs are in bloom and although the trees are only just beginning to show their buds, they're already looking so beautiful in the sunshine.

Tulips!
And what a beautiful shade of purple they are too. :)

 These strange looking yews look as though they might move around the garden at night don't you think? Or is it just me?!

On the way home we saw this lovely little wooden hut in the middle of the countryside. I'd love a bell like that outside my house, although on a windy night it might not be such a great idea!

This week has been a busy one, repainting things that need attention, getting our holiday lets in Devon ready for the summer season.

The gardens always needs tidying so we had our work cut out but the views from here make up for it as you can see.

The harbour's very pretty and I love those roof tops, all higgledy piggledy just how I like them.

The view from the sitting room's not half bad either. It's great when there's an event here (and there are many) because it's a ring-side view! About an hour after I took this pic, a Punch and Judy show was set up just to the right. Last year we had a lot of the family here for Pirate Weekend. It's a great place to sit if it's a rainy day and you don't want to miss anything!

Here's a little 30 second video I made last year on Pirate Weekend. :)

Did you notice the drawing at the beginning of this post? This drawing and the one at the top of the post is done with an acrylic background and then the drawing done in pen. The one at the top is done with Posca pens and Sakura Souffle pens and this one of the mermaid is drawn with just a black Pitt pen. Both these types of pen you can draw on top of a darker colour and it stays opaque, what a great invention. :)
Isn't that acrylic colour lovely? It's a brand called Pip Seymour that I bought a while ago at Totnes market. I sometimes paint the next page of my art journal with a background colour so that it's dry ready to draw on the next day. I do love a mermaid don't you?

I hope you're enjoying the beginning of April and that the sun shines for you!

Jess xx