Blossom - and a floral weekend

Look what is blooming outside my back door....when I came out of the house this morning, I heard the buzz of hundreds of bees and this was the reason. This tree sprung up in my neighbour's garden out of nowhere. It's some sort of wild plum and by far the best thing about it is this wonderful blossom.
I had a great weekend. My lovely friend Jo and I went on a watercolour painting course on Saturday afternoon. We spent four hours studying one spray of green hellebores, and I must say, it was very challenging. Here is Jo hard at work:

Jo produced a wonderful painting. There is a sort of William Morris patterny effect to her work. I have to say, my picture was absolute pants. I just couldn't get the zingy lime colours of the hellebores at all,  but I enjoyed doing it nonetheless and I learned some useful tips from our tutor Helen Hillson. It is really restful to spend a whole afternoon focussed on something which does not allow your mind to drift away to work matters or what you are making for supper. 

Here is my effort. I have found some of these hellebores growing under our willow tree, and I am going to have to attempt to paint them again....