A quick wash and brush up

Friendly Rivalry

Making plans for Nigel

Best Friends

Hair styles of the day

The Sheep Fair

This weekend is the annual Sheep Fair in the market place here in Masham. Inspiration abounds as you will see from some of my photos. My sketch book is full too.

Norwegian Summer

I have spent two fantastic weeks exploring 62 fjords, filling my sketch books and enjoying the sunshine. I don't usually like to bore people with my holiday snaps but thought you might like to see some of the inspirational sights I shared with the other passengers on board Minerva.

We were treated to waterfalls, glaciers, rainbows, colourful cottages and the most amazing sunsets made even more magical by the whales that played in the reflected lights on the waters surface.

Kippers for tea

There is nothing like the smell of Oak Smoked Kippers, fresh from Fortunes Whitby Smoke House Yummy!

Summer Skies

Every day there is something that makes me smile. Today it was the Summer bunting fluttering above Whitby Harbour.

Secret Corners

If you are like me and love to have a little look at other peoples gardens you might like to see where I do some of my thinking. This is one of several corners of my garden which I have designed to be quiet spaces, each one catches the best of the sun at different times of day and each one gives a me different view of the garden. Our resident family of blackbirds are so confident that they are happy to splash in the bath whilst I sit and drink my tea and record their antics in my sketch book. At the moment I have so many ideas for new work it is difficult to know what to paint first but at the moment I am concentrating on the work that will be on show at the Exhibition in the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate. More details of that can be found on my events page. I hope you are enjoying the glorious sunshine, I am off out now to help at the Wetherby Lions Real Ale Festival that should be fun and I expect more inspiration for another painting!

Things that make you go aaahhhhh.

Last week I took a trip to Devon and Cornwall to visit some of the great people I work with. Of course I stopped here and there to sketch and take in all of the things that inspire and delight me. Whilst visiting favourite places and walking favourite paths I came across some unexpected treats along the way. Like this gorgeous little harbour side house.

A happy family tucked away in a quiet backwater.

And this has to be the prettiest salad I have seen. Zoom in to see the fantastic colours of the tiny leaves, almost too good to eat.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Sometimes I just need to take time out and watch colours, feel space and empty my head. Being beside the sea I love the sense of freedom mixed with invigorating energy from the waves, the wide horizon temps me to wonder what journeys lie ahead, and great breaths of sea air are like nourishment for the soul.

As the sun goes behind the cloud the colours become more subtle and calming. These abstract snap shots are natures works of art for our inspiration.

Just over that hill is the beach and these little cottages are sheltered in the valley from the winds off the North Sea.

Sandsend village.

Last week my friend Sandie and I took off to the seaside for a breath of fresh air and to visit Tom in the Reading Room Gallery in Whitby. One of my favourite places on the North East Coast is Sandsend where I spent happy childhood holidays and days out. My brother Tim and I had a favourite game, when the tide came right in we would see if we could run between one set of steps to the next without getting soaked in between waves. Timing and speed were essential but we always seemed to turn up for tea soaked through head to toe and weak with laughter. I guess Sandsend is so special to me and reflected in many of my paintings because it is such a lovely mixture of country cottages and fabulous beach which is a great place to hunt for fossils.