On Tuesday, Rose and I went to Surrey with our oil paints. We visited Waverley Abbey, the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott’s novel. It is a ruin, managed by English Heritage, and it is incredibly beautiful. Neither of us had a large canvas (not least because we knew that time would be limited), so we realised that we would need to choose our subjects carefully. We ended up very close together, in the ruins of the chapel, but the two paintings vary quite markedly in terms of focus and, of course, style. I focused on the window, and the view through it, while Rose focused on the intact part of the ceiling and its glorious arches.