About six times a year I go to Alton Abbey, to spend some time with the Brothers. It's a good place to draw and paint. Yesterday the weather was cold, grey and my room. comfortable and warm was not the side with a good painting view. "If you are feeling uninspired take a good look at your life and start there... a subject may have special memories that draw us to it each time we see it. ........jot down thoughts both visually and verbally, to get the creative juices flowing and keep you alert to your vereyday surroundings and experiences" (Ann Blockley, "Painting from the heart", The Artist, May 2012). The Alton community is Benedictine, its spirituality is very much about the Sacred in the ordinary, and Ann's comment struck a chord with me and the Benediction tradition. So, here's a log of the process; it'snot good art, but perhaps the process might resonate with the experience of other artists. From the window I could see autmn leaves, vibrant but not really lending themslves to a finished image: I've just discovered the limtations of this blog format or perhaps my lack of "nous" in using it: I had intended to place 5 small images with comments, but I'm beat. If anyone has any advice on this please comment! Anyway, there would have been two images of cars and leaves, one of autumn foliage, one of contemplative monks and one of the Abbey itself! Perhaps my best bit is to put them in the gallery, butey are not that good! It was porcess rather than end product which was fascinating me. Help!