Good morning Wales

Wonderful start to the day and the year.

A day of indulgence for me as I headed off to Abergavenny for a Life Drawing class, the first of the year. Tempted to put a photo of my artwork up but realised pictures of the naked form, even a photo of my charcoal and chalk interpretation, could be an issue on here, so I'll stick to other sites (Facebook etc) for that.

Flooded fields still on the outskirts of Abergavenny from the last two weeks, the road had been closed but now re-opened with traffic lights at the flooded area. As I stopped at the lights saw two swans in the adjacent field, gliding majestically on what was now a small lake in the adjacent field. Would have been a magnificent blip as the sun was low in the East and like a spotlight on the swans. I was in a queue of traffic with nowhere to pull over, so I enjoyed the uplifting sight instead.

The Life Drawing class was at Llanfihangel Court, a Tudor Manor House the other side of Abergavenny. The large entrance hall was turned over to us for the day. I haven't been to Life Drawing for ages so it was good to be back, but occasionally I'd get distracted by the magnificent setting - the log fire blazing away in the enormous open stone fireplace, the brilliant morning light streaming in through a stained glass window on the landing of the ornate, richly coloured yew staircase and the fascinating detail all around was a banquet for the eyes.

For the lunchtime break I took a walk around the gardens; the house is set in 100 acres of mixed formal gardens and meadows, ideal for photography!

It's starting to get a bit colder here now, so I wrapped up warm, although it was such a clear day I was soon lost in the countryside around me and forgot about the cold. No photos of the place yet as it's a private house, but maybe on the next visit I'll have the owners agreement to use one.

Came away with a couple of sketches of model Penny. She's modelled for the group before; when I got back home I found that a friend had visited my Facebook page and "liked" a sketch I did of Penny on a previous occasion, about two years ago. I'd posted a couple of my early sketches on Facebook when I set up my account. Must be something in the air.