One morning last week a friend called to say he had found a stoat in the lane. He said it must have been hit by a car but was unmarked and would I like it to draw? Waiting for him to turn up with the creature, I noticed that I knew nothing about stoats and had... Read more »
It has been two years this month since I picked up a paint brush. For two years or more before that I had been finding oil painting increasingly confusing. Nothing pleased me. At times the multiplicity of choices – brush, colour, tone, surface, subject and so on – had, without exaggeration, begun to make... Read more »
This week I’ve been posting out catalogues for my forthcoming show at Beaux Arts Bath. It’s been a pleasure packing them up and sending them out to friends and clients, old and new – not least because the essay by Rev. Richard Davey is so sensitive and well written. He seems to understand and articulate... Read more »
Charcoal and sepia ink on 650gsm Arches paper. 103cm X 153cm I’ve been working on this drawing all summer and now it is finally finished and off to the framers ready for the Beaux Arts show in October. The first spark of inspiration for the piece came from a walk down to Frenchman’s creek with... Read more »
March Moth, (left,) December Moth, (right,) and Winter Moth, (below.) Three more moths from the ‘Seven Winter Moths’ suite of drawings. All are 12″ x 8″ in charcoal, inks, pigment and watercolour on Aquari hand-made paper. Click on any image to enlarge for more clarity. If you have enjoyed looking at this blog, please consider... Read more »
Sand Martins are the smallest of the European hirondines. Flying all the way from south of the African Sahara, this one made landfall in South Devon at the weekend but probably died of exhaustion after Sunday night’s storm. I was moved to tears as I drew, thinking that this tiny, weightless, and now lifeless... Read more »
“When we step outside and look up, we’re not little cogs in the capitalist machine. It’s the simplest act of resistance and renewal.” Kathleen JamieGaurdian Review April 7th 2012 Kathleen Jamie’s words are deceptively simple. They may even seem naive. But stay with them, act on them – they do subtle work. They have stayed... Read more »
This is an experiment. A small drawing in charcoal and watercolour photographed every twenty minutes or so throughout the process of drawing. I’ve been reading a little book on Japanese aesthetics by Donald Richie and came across the term Hosomi – an emotional delicacy, a determination to slight not even the most trivial, to understand... Read more »