The Cambridge Drawing Society Spring exhibition starts on Saturday. It is housed in the Pitt Building is opposite Fitzbillies on Trumpington Road.

The Cambridge Drawing Society has two exhibitions a year but this is the big one. To be a member of this society one has to pass a panel of committee members who choose artists who present a high standard and whose work has a distinctive style, by which I mean they won't accept someone who puts in a print, a painting and a sketch as the mediums are so different.

I applied and was accepted by the society when I first came to Cambridge but with two small children and full time work I found it difficult to find the time to paint to a high standard and let my membership lapse.

About 6 years ago I re-applied and was delighted to be accepted as now I have the time to paint far more and feel my work has a very distinctive style and is a far better standard.

This year the chairman told us the number of entries had been very high so I was delighted that all four of my paintings were accepted.

The exhibition starts on Saturday 23 March and finishes on Saturday 30 March. It is open from 10am to 5.30pm every day except 30 March when it closes at 4pm.

If you have a little time to spare please pop along and have a look. There are a range of media including paintings in watercolour, acrylic and oil; prints of all kinds, 3 dimensional work and plenty of greeting cards made by the artists.

On Saturday the Cambridge Urban Sketchers visited Eddington, the newest suburb of Cambridge and still in the process of being built.

To say it was windy was an understatement! Having biked there from North Cambridge with wind gusts of over 46 miles an hour straight into me, it was a slower journey than normal. The new open roads at Eddington seemed to swirl this wind round even more making it very difficult to hold on to my sketchbook as the pages flapped around and using paint would have been impossible.

I had two choices if I wanted to be out of the wind: to sit and draw in Sainsbury's or to sit at draw in the Storey's Field Centre. I found the later much more comfortable with its large comfy black chairs and several of us ended up there. But what to draw? I found the whole area rather dull and lacking in colour so I ended up drawing the view from both the windows.

I do prefer the old buildings in the centre of Cambridge but was pleased to be given a chance to draw there. I expect the whole place will look a bit better when the trees have grown but I shall just remember the awful greyness and that biting wind.

On a more positive note, it was a lovely cycle ride home with the wind behind me.

My students wanted to learn how to use watercolours today. Although I add watercolour to my sketches, I don't often set out to make an actual watercolour painting as I don't feel as comfortable using them, much preferring to paint in oil

So I taught them a load of techniques and encouraged them to experiment. I shall upload their images on my art classes Facebook page but thought I would share my daubings here.

Loads of colour and fun. Just to to give a sense of size, the snail is 7cms long!

It is always lovely to sell a painting , but even better when you receive a photo of where it hangs.

A couple of years ago I painted three small fantasy cow paintings. One was a purple cow with a golden crown and tapestry shawl, the second was a cow dressed up to go dancing in fish net stockings and a 1st Prize badge, the third was wearing moon and star pajamas with a bow in her hair and leggings. They were quite small and I painted the frames in tiny detail.

The first two sold quickly and I put the third one aside thinking I might do a few more. I showed it recently in an exhibition and sold it, I must admit I love it when people buy my crazy paintings.

What was really lovely was that I received a photo of the painting from the buyer. She had given it to one of her granddaughter who posed in front of it while standing on her bed.

Still makes me smile every time I see it.