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After a hectic time getting a couple of publications into print I'm ready for
a complete break so I join Barbara and her Mum for some retail therapy
at the Meadowhall centre, Sheffield. I enjoy browsing
the bookshops but I'm so behind with reading and so enthusiastic
about drawing at the moment that I soon give up looking at gorgeous
books that I can't afford and I make my way to the entrance to the
Oasis fast food area where I draw these potted palm trees.
They're about 15 feet tall.
At first I think there's no way I'll be able to draw them: I start
at the top left (as this is a pen and ink drawing and I'm right-handed).
It seems so unlikely that I'll be able to make sense of those hundreds
of individual leaves. I'm soon holding my hand almost upside down
to put in awkward leaflets.
The thing that helps me find a way through all that complexity
is the pattern of negative spaces: those arch-shaped or elongated
kite-shaped spaces between the leaves. It reminds me of the tracery
of a gothic window.
The gentle curves of the stems remind me of the path of water coming
out of a fountain. 
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