Hope sprouting

It's hot lemon and ginger season, colds everywhere in my city.

The garden seems to be in sympathy, the iris corms knobbly in the rich, dark earth, sprouting tough, bright leaves, yellow to green to blue-grey.

The snowdrops are glowing like exquisite little lamps. As I draw, I notice spikes of crocus leaf, a speckle of moss and plump curls of tulip.

I draw some of the tulip leaves from above, sculptural things – and time spent sketching them shows me subtle lines of pink at leaf edge, a promise of colour to come.

The new growth is fresh but still delicate and the light cool and soft so today, I reach for my traditional watercolours, a travelling box that's travelled with me since I was 21. Appropriate, perhaps, as the garden, and I, journey into the year.

Ballpen, watercolour and fineliner on handed-down paper.

Visit my Teemill shop for sketches on t-shirts and tote bags.