A long long time ago I turned over an exam paper to face the question: “What is the point of museums?” At the time I was barely 18 years old, obsessed with Botticelli and cringe to think what answering nonsense some poor examiner had to read. My 62 year-old self would, I think, try... Read more »
Hannah Munby of the Fen Ditton Gallery in Cambridge recorded the following interview with me toward the end of a 6 month residency with the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, in 2022. Dr John Fanshawe invited me to come to Cambridge to work in the David Attenborough building and at the University Museum of Zoology. The residency... Read more »
“…and in a moth’s life in the ditch’s low level sky by the glow of a flower in the clothes of a messenger maybe this wish whatever it is will simplify.” Alice Oswald ~ In the two years since my last blog post I have had the enormous privilege of working with four seriously... Read more »
The end of the year and, for some reason, my mind turns to Cennini: FUNDAMENTAL PROVISIONS FOR ANYONE WHO ENTERS THIS PROFESSION CHAPTER III You, therefore, who with lofty spirit are fired with this ambition, and are about to enter the profession, begin by decking yourselves with this attire: Enthusiasm, Reverence, Obedience, and Constancy. And... Read more »
There is something wonderful about printmaking. Often thought of as the poor relation of painting, it is hard on the hands, messy, brain-tanglingly difficult, (you work in mirror image) and frequently frustrating but to those of us who love it …well there is nothing quite like it. However difficult it might be to explain why... Read more »
This is my studio for the summer. In January I had the great good fortune to meet a man whose passion for art extends far beyond acquisition. Over the years, he and his wife have quietly and consistently looked for creative ways to provide practical support for working artists. This place, on a hill in the... Read more »
It is hard sometimes to see any good in humans. Listen to too much news and it can seem as if we do only harm, contaminating all we touch. Echoes of King Midas, who, we are reminded by Aristotle, died of starvation – an ‘unforeseen consequence’ of his own vainglorious wish. At the moment I’m... Read more »
Late in the summer of last year I had the great pleasure of re-connecting with my old tutor from Oxford – Nicholas Mann. After a happy exchange of e-mails, towards the end of August, he and his charming family drove down to spend a day with me here in South Devon. I remember pale sunshine,... Read more »
In the mornings, before I go into the studio, Daisy and I walk. About half way round our usual hour-long route is a steep meadow. Strictly speaking a meadow is a field of grass ‘ shut up’ against cattle between March and June or July, mown and then grazed until the following spring. These days... Read more »
