Getting ready

Ive been getting ready for Spring. More than ever I feel a connection to the seasons and through the Winter felt obliged to hibernate! It's been a time of reflection. I've been taking stock of who I am and where I want to be and as these dreams grow with the energy of Spring, I look forward to sharing them.

I am delighted to have had my work included in a watercolour technique book, 'Just Add Watercolour" by Helen Birch. You can have a preview here (I'm at 1min 04 seconds!): 

The image featured 'A Slow Spring' is available to buy as a print in my shop:

A Slow Spring

I'm now on Instagram if you'd like to keep up to date with how I'm seeing the world!

Autumn Days

I love this time of year and this year, Autumn is excelling herself. The colours are rich and the days have been warm and enticing. Each day I have collected a leaf and worshipped their variety and sugar infused hues.  I am savouring each day, knowing that soon the rich colours will be gone.

Through the Lens

I don't like to work from photos when creating my landscapes. They stunt the experience I had in the landscape and can never fully record the moment and the sensory experience I had. I prefer to capture the moment in my hearts eye and work from that, aided by colour notes and a sketch maybe. When using photos to work from its easy to get caught up in the details of the photo, and not the excitement of what drew you to stop and want to paint the scene. Photos capture too much, and not enough!

I do love photography though and so I've learnt to use photography as a record of things that appeal to me. Colour, shape, seasons and mood all get recorded and these become palettes and themes for my studio paintings. To draw all this visual information together, I am starting to develop mood boards that inspire my collaged paintings.

So here is the first that I've shared, and the piece that developed from it. Its been a dry summer, and I've noticed the bleached out, muted colours of the landscape that were the inspiration for this piece, Faded Summer. Its available as a print in my Etsy shop.