In-progress oil pastel sketch of Birkenhead Park It has been a very long time - years, in fact - since I had used oil pastels. I'd been tidying up my art studio when I came across them stored away in a wooden box. The photo above shows a nearly-finished piece based on a sketch done on location in Birkenhead Park, where I've been regularly sketching for six years or more. I quite enjoyed using the oil pastels, and so may well turn to them again. The drawing is on dark grey A4 Khadi paper. While tidying the art room I also found two tubes of watercolour so old they'd gone solid. Rather than throw them away, I carefully cut open the tube, scraped the pigment into a large-sized palette, ground it into powder then mixed in some water. This has since dried into two pats of paint, one yellow ochre, the other crimson, which will be put to good use now they've been given a new lease of life.. Our garden seems to be confused. The winter jasmine is now in flower but so are the f

  Left to right: Chris Doyle; Letty Curran; Richard Cosgrove-Bray; Adele Cosgrove-Bray; Eric Bray; Agnes Bray. Left to right: Chris Doyle; Letty Curran, Alex Dixon; Richard Cosgrove-Bray; Peggy O'Neail; Adele Cosgrove-Bray; Kitty Dixon; Vikkey Dixon. Twenty-five years ago today - that's how old these photos are. The children in the photos are in their 30's now. Peggy and my dad are no longer on this Earth. And as for Richard and myself, well, neither of us are as slim as we once were, and my hair's more silver then chestnut. Actually, Brougham Terrace, where our wedding took place, is no longer a registry office; it became Britain's first mosque. We decided not to spend much on wedding outfits as we were saving up for a deposit on a house, which we figured was far more important. So we opted for a fancy dress theme of cowboys and Indians, which many guests joined in with. (Think about it: the penguin suits and Cinderella gowns often worn at weddings are fancy dress