There’s a beautiful, mature cherry tree in my back garden which blooms every year and yields a decent crop of edible cherries. The tree is a world onto itself and feeds a range of wildlife ; hummingbirds, racoons, squirrels, chipmunks and one year a family of brown bears. Each year in May, I lop off a few blossom laden branches and make a still life painting. This year I put them in my grandmother’s ginger jar and painted them backlit, using a white curtain with a bold printed design as a background.