I am preparing four mini paintings for a Christmas exhibition. I have two completed and two more to finish.

Each of them depict some trees with silver bark and somewhere along the bottom some very subtle millefleur. I am hoping these will be just about complete tonight so later in the week, when the oil colour has dried, I can add some moons in the night sky.

Then I can frame them. Thinking about framing them with lots of space around.

The Museum of Classical Archaeology is one of the least known museums in Cambridge. Run by the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge since 1983, it is located in a purpose-built gallery on the first floor of the Faculty of Classics on the Sidgwick Site of the University. Unfortunately it is hard to find due to lack of signage and several times I have arranged to meet my art students there and they are late and frustrated as they have spent time trying to find it.

Once inside, the museum is worth the effort. It is full of white casts of heroic figures that used to adorn public buildings. The collection spans the length and breadth of the Graeco-Roman world and covers a time period reaching from 1700 BCE to 400 CE.

Outside the university term time the museum is quiet and only a few visitors find their way in but during term time you might stumble into an informative lecture given by learned professors. Several times I have been there drawing and a tutor and their student/s have arrived and I can overhear how their essays are progressing which I find fascinating.

The drawings above are of the gorgeous Mattel Amazon and looking out of the window past the plaster cast heads.

A really enjoyable Urban Sketchers today on a beautiful sunny Autumn day.

We met outside Barnabas Church before finding something to sketch and there was certainly lots of choice. I walked to Gwydir Street and sat down to draw the antiques shop and got to work quickly before a car parked in front, which did eventually happen but I had a rough sketch and was able to work into it from imagination.

Eventually I had to leave as the smell of curry from the local Indian Restaurant became overpowering and I moved onto Mill Road itself and drew H Gee's shopfront. If you ever want a gizmo, this is the place to visit.

Our 2 hours were up really quickly and we met up in the Barnabas Center where the Mill Road History Society had asked us to show our sketches as part of their Open Day. We were unexpectedly asked to give a talk and our leader rose to the challenge and she also asked me a to say a few words.

Afterwards we went to Hot Numbers to eat cake, drink tea and share our sketches.

Small.

Recently I have been painting larger pictures and the detail takes me a long time so now I am playing with something a little smaller. The paintings are on panel which makes them nice and flat and I am quite liking it.

I have been asked by the wonderful Debora Cane to do a presentation to her Ely Society members.

I have never done anything like this before and although I have a few butterflies I am really excited. So what to talk about? I shall start with an 'how I got here' talk about my life in art from Art College to my classes, my urban sketches and my paintings.

I have nine weeks to prepare alongside helping organising a wedding, painting for the next exhibition at Byard Art and preparing for Winter Open Studios. What is that old adage? If you want a job done, ask a busy person.

I will update my progress