2021

Hiking in the Lake District

In September we stayed in Kendal & Keswick and did a lot of day hikes. Superb changes of light and lots of interesting tree and rock forms. Silhouettes of trees and bushes along a steep-sloping hill. Lime-green lichen. The dark pool of Blackmoss Pot. A beautiful rowan festooned in berries. Thoughts of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and John Ruskin, with his steady eye and hand, making beautiful drawings and watercolours

Trees, roots & fields

The endlessly varied forms of trees are fascinating – the way they cling with clenched roots to a wall or tor, or seem to hold the ground around them, standing upright between earth and sky. Bleached moorland grasses on Dartmoor. Stone circles whispering of ancient rites and beliefs

Studio images and collected objects

I am always adding things found on walks to the collections of reference material that I have in my studio – seeds, leaves, stones, twigs and grasses – along with pressed flowers. Over the years, drawings of these appear within the works I am making. I suppose I also like having them around me as I work – sparks of detail to prompt memories of places and events