Month: January 2026

76 x 56 cm – acrylic and watercolur on paper.

Two hours of plein air painting . Big seas, near gale force winds and frozen hands. Wouldn’t be anywhere else .

Reflections of thin birch shiver in a dark pool. These woods are pitted with small circular coal scrapings from another age. A deers velvet antlers glow in the half light as a buzzard skews its presence. The wind picks up, veering to the east. Means cold. I startle a hare, it hurdles dead thistles, grass, away. First spots of rain.

watercolour pencils on paper.

Nobbly rocks, sea glass, driftwood.

A dreich morning gives way to a sharp cold sun in the afternoon. Walking across the stubbled field icy splinters of nippy wind smart and I bury my head deep into the collar of my coat. Along the field edge I spot a shard of blue and white pottery sticking out of the mud. Is there a field anywhere that doesn’t have bits of once used and cherished bowl, platter or teacup ? Rubbing the smoothed glazed surface brings to mind the other finds I have stowed away in various coat pockets. From acorns to pebbles, feathers to more blue and white pottery, they lurk in their darkness, my own hidden curation of walking. I turn my back to the field and look at the edges of the wood, the verticals of sun and shadow, watching the light recede into its own interior . A hasty drawing to think about this , an act of translation, from the original into a loose approximation of understanding. I walk back across the field scanning the earth this way and that, alert for the next piece for the collection.