Surikomi-Bake

I have been patiently awaiting the arrival of these Surikomi-bake Japanese stencilling brushes for about a month now, and today they finally arrived. 

The The handles are hand-carved from one piece of bamboo, and hand sewn onto the cluster of bristles which are made from deer hair.  They are exquisite and cheap as chips :-))  I am hoping they will transform how I paint bees and add texture to my watercolours in lots of other ways.  There's a larger brush too but for some reason I wasn't using it at this point so it's not in the shot.

Other than practicing bee painting, I finished a small painting that I will include (as a gift from me) with the card I made for my friend Elaine for her mum's 100th birthday.  Will get that and her card posted off to her tomorrow.  Glad that's done, it's a weight off my mind.  Also made Nikki's birthday card for her birthday later this week, and ordered a new sketch pad to take with us on holiday to Northumberland.  

I'm not planning on taking paints with me as I want to spend more time with my camera whilst we're away, but will take a sketch pad and some pencils just incase the urge to draw becomes overwhelming :-)

I've managed to book a Tesco delivery to go to the holiday cottage, which is great as I wasn't sure where the food would go in the car.  Lola's coming with us so luggage space is severely compromised and I don't travel light.  Packing will certainly be a challenge! 

In other news, Alan has now watched Bohemian Rhapsody five times since Saturday.  One day I will get to see it as well as hear it!