I want to say a bit thank you to Patsy for her suggestions about blending and scraping back. I got my palette knife out and added some lines to some of the spikier bushes and used blending to create the wall and door. I added multiple layers on the door of blues, grays and blacks to create an older look. I had trouble getting the right contrast for the dust at the bottom of the door because when I blended it, it would smear further up the door than it should be. I was also able to create lines by added a line of blobs of oil pastel and then using the knife to smudge them together. As you can tell I had great fun painting yesterday afternoon and was beaten by the light. It went dark around three here in Cheshire which was unfair I felt. Today I hope to carry on working on some of the bushes either side of the door, adding the latch and as I'm looking at the picture now I need to make a clearer definition between the door and the wall. I also had a good look around at oil pastel paintings on the web and though I feel humble to admit it, my effort isn't all that bad. I got a voucher for my nearest artshop for Christmas. It's for £10 and if I'm lucky and it is open today then I am going to treat myself to 2 new brushes for oils. I want a long size 6 and 12. I have them for watercolour and I really like them. I also want to get another canvas box because I have none left and I did enjoy painting on the last canvas box - I will have to see how much they cost. Sainsburys wasn't so bad yesterday, apart from the cost of the shopping. I only got enough for 3 days and it cost £76. The woman in front at the checkout was travelling back to Torquay and after she had gone we had a conversation (the checkout lady and I) about this woman's journey. She estimated it would take her 5 hours, I thought that was cutting it a bit fine and if she hit traffic, which I told her she was sure to do because I thought it was busy on the roads yesterday, then it would be longer than that. We also discussed why some people pack their shopping into bags organised into fridge, bread etc. I'd like to but I always feel the pressure from the person next in the queue and tend to chuck my shopping into bags any which way. Afterwards I worried about that woman making that journey to Torquay - why?? I had a great time on the Wii, after the light had faded. I really like the golf on Wii Resort and I am going to have another go today before the kids get back. It's a big thing with me, golf. My ex husbands (not ex - we are separated) mum and dad play golf and they take his niece and nephews to play as well. It is all they talk about, all they are interested in and on one level I think that's fine because they are both in their 70s and it keeps them fit and agile but, on another level I can't converse with them. So over the years I have made a point of avoiding golf (apart from Crazy Golf) and loathe to admit that I enjoy it. So, it is with some difficulty that I admit I enjoyed the Wii Golf - although I am sure they would turn their noses up at it. At one point I texted my elder son (13) about my progress on the Wii. My text was at least 4 sentences long and as usual I got the teenage one word response. Luckily for me it was 'k' or 'lol' it was 'nice'. What does that mean? Us mums need a one word text translation booklet - you could read anything into that, it could mean 'aww mum its nice that you are enjoying yourself on my toy, enjoy it while you can because when I get back you'll get no chance' or it could mean 'I am so proud of you managing to even get past switching it on' or even 'that's nice for you mum - there there, I am busy go away' - who knows! Icy here! Better get the scraper out.