Fooled, then I stole from the grandchildren

Rick rang me up yesterday morning to apologise that he can't come to help with the boat painting as he had an unavoidable appointment. Disaster!! I kept my cool and said I would manage OK (knowing I wouldn't) until it eventually dawned on me that he was winding me up for April fool's day. You would have thought that at his age he would have grown out of such pranks!

So much relieved, I pressed on with my signwriting practice, having bought a new paint brush of the right type. I find that I can paint pretty accurately as long as I have a pencil line to work to, but not if I don't, so I have stolen from Grace not only her watercolour paints to practice with, but also a nice white crayon that writes on top of painted steel.

In true boat painting style, I worked on a near vertical surface using a mahl stick as arm support. The only thing I couldn't simulate was the gentle rocking of the boat. Woe betide anyone that steps on or off the boat while I am signwriting.

Just to get you worked up into a frenzy of excitement, here is a letter B, somewhat distorted by the camera angle. Note: these are definately NOT the colours I will be using on the boat! The bottom of the letter would be straight on the real thing as it would be masked off.