First drawing this year

 On the first of January I went for a walk on a gloomy grey day.   It was a high tide and as I looked out of my window I could see the wind was whipping up huge white waves against the banks on the shore and no doubt causing more erosion.  Although I would have loved to have taken a walk on the shore  it looked so wild and windy,  the ground so wet and muddy and with the tide coming in too,  it seemed much too dangerous.   So I kept to the road.   I soon realised I had made a serious mistake and left my gloves behind,  it was icy cold and my fingers were tingling with the cold and turning red.

The view was shrouded in clouds and the dampness seemed to cling to everything.  I stopped to look at the hawthorn trees, just a few blackened berries remain and I noticed how the green and grey lichen had grown on the branches this past year.  A few red berries were on the ground but in a poor state as they had been squashed or just rotted with all the rain.  Yes the rain,  it seems to be dominating our weather and has been  relentless.

 I was glad to have a walk,  it was fine and I really needed to blow the cobwebs away.  The chance of it pouring down was very likely but I didn't have much choice and it felt  good to be outdoors.  I  decided I would  enjoy looking and observing  as I walked along with just my thoughts for company.  I saw one person with a dog and wished him a happy new year as not another person was out walking.

It seemed such a grey day,  grey stone walls,  grey mist, and  I was pleased and cheered up to see the bright red glowing post box.  I glanced over the wall at the hens scratching at the muddy ground,  they ran to the wall expecting some bread but were disappointed to find I had nothing.  The red comb on the heads of the beautiful black and white speckled  hens was a wonderful flash of colour to my eyes.  

As I watched the hens I decided I would pick the rose hips from the bush hanging above the wall.  I reached up and snapped off various little stems and was careful not to cut my fingers on any thorns.  When I started to look at the berries I realised they were all different shapes and colours,  all in different stages of decay, the reds had changed to black bruises, brown, even greyish shades.  I collected more and knew this would be my first drawing of 2013.  Some of the berries had turned to a soft mushy state which just squashed in my fingers.  With a hand full of rose hips I quickly made my way home but it would have been a miracle if I had made it without a real soaking as the heavens opened and  I arrived home rather wet but my treasures intact.
So here is my drawing, I lined the stems in a row according to their state, with the decaying ones at the end of the row,  as I wanted to record the changes to the rose hips. 

I used my acrylic inks and painted with a fine liner brush number 3.  The painting has been difficult with such poor light and also explains why the photographs are not the best quality. Hopefully you can see what it is all about.

I have spent a little time each day working on it and now it is completed.  Yesterday we had a lovely walk on the moors and I have collected some treasures so hope to get started on my next little picture. 
Hope you enjoyed seeing my rose hips.  Thank you for all the comments with help and advice! I am  reading and  researching ideas.                                                              Bye for now    Millyx