The first sunflower

The first of J's sunflowers has opened, and is a glorious, rich orangey yellow with a dark centre and a dark ring on the petals. There are lots more buds, so we are looking forward to lots of colour beside our greenhouses.

We had a rather slow day, after our very long Thursday - over twenty hours between getting up and collapsing into bed, together with the stress of travelling into London and J's appointments. It was a beautiful day, so after lunch J and I sat outside with my new Hockney book, looking at details and reading about how he started to make iPad sketches and paintings, spending several months experimenting with all the different brushes and effects. J is hoping to use her new graphics tablet to draw her sunflowers, so I hope she's ready to emulate his patience.