Steph has always asked me to put up pictures of a work in progress, the stages I work in. So here is the first stage of my current canvas - the drawing. You probably can't see it very well though. The photo also shows my rather horrible working area - on top of the chest freezer in the kitchen. It's a bugger when the kids want an ice pop. I have to move everything. And the light is T E R R I B L E.

I had some difficulties with this drawing. It just wasn't coming, the negative spaces were all wrong. So I left it for a few hours. When I came back I held my pencil by the very furthest end, the blunt end. And with massive gestural arm movements I put in shapes - carrots here (I wasn't drawing carrots, just defining the area the carrots occupied), radishes here, a plant pot there, and so on. And it all came together beautifully.