Latest Work 2021/22

The Narrative Series 

series 1  A Quiet Night In   
Original sold

 I must stop listening to the radio. I'd heard just about all I could bear of Covid related incompetence and the next minute this painting had quite literally painted itself.
The rabbits have decimated your harvest; the birds have scoffed all the fruit because you forgot to put up the nets. No one was fooled by the dangled strawberry on a string and frankly, that's the least of your worries as your house appears to be on fire.

series 1 Barking, (up the right tree).

 
Every day my dog barks at something or someone. Sometimes for a valid reason but often as not for no apparent reason other than to inform himself of just how loud he is. He's pretty loud. Two weeks ago he started barking at illuminated Christmas trees in other peoples gardens. It occurred to me that maybe he was barking in appreciation for once. I'd like to think so.

 series 1  Bountiful
Original sold

My ideal village again. Enough for all. Fish in the rivers, fruit on the trees, wheat in the fields. I live in a dream world.

series 1  Coastal Walk
Original sold

Loosely based on Saunton Sands in Devon, as it was when I used to go which is 20 years ago. I imagine its been “gentrified” by now but it wasn’t then.

series 1  Glamping in Autumn
original sold

In the long lost days of camping with my son, I took so much stuff that a couple of tasseled standard lamps, (as in the picture), was not beyond the bounds of possibilities. It was only when I heard my own voice shouting across the campsite, “did you bring the fresh basil?”, that I realized maybe id taken it too far.

series 1 Lemonade and Runners
original sold

 
One of the early paintings of series 1. Paint/write what you know. That summer I grew lemons, (enough for one jug of lemonade) and runner beans, (enough to feed the entire south west of England).

series 1 Somewhere Quiet to Park Up 
   Original sold.

I sold my motorhome and bought a static caravan on a site in mid wales. It has no Wi-Fi, no radio or TV signal and no mobile signal either.
But it does have a river running through it and a book club.... oh and wine, lots of wine.
A bit like being in Narnia but with Sauvignon.

series 1  The Great Escape
original sold

I spend a lot of time walking my dog around my home town. I walk past loads of allotments all beautifully tended by avid gardeners. It just so happened that one day I witnessed two men driving a small group of deer off their allotments. I wasn’t sure which of the groups had most of my sympathy. In the painting I substituted a hare for the deer. Although it’s not easy to see in the photo, a gold shape surrounds the hare. It’s just that gold paint doesn't photograph well.
Ah well, that's my cover blown.

series 1  The Snow Tree

This was another "walking past the allotments" picture. I always stop there and check how everyone is getting on. This day I saw the last of the spring blossom falling and spotted the first of the dandelions spreading their seeds everywhere. I tutted to myself about the hell it is to weed the things out. A man with a giant schnauzer walked past, (bottom left) and I lost concentration on the weeds. All the cats immediately left the scene. I walked home thinking, "All life is here". Good day.

 series 1  The Thicket  
  Original sold.

As winter approaches the evening walks with my dog become more difficult until I am forced to wearing cycling lights attached to my handbag and walking with a very bright torch to illuminate a black dog on a dark night. One evening I stupidly let him off the lead in the local woods and he spotted a rabbit. Never again!

series 1  While the Cats Away
Original sold

I had to rehome my beloved two cats having suddenly developed a severe cat allergy after 6 years of having them. It nearly broke my heart. The only thing I didn’t miss about them was their murderous instincts. My bedroom was often littered with disembowelled mice. What I didn’t know but found out a few months later was that they kept away the rats.  Enough said on that subject.

 series 1  The Village
original sold

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Simply my ideal village. More trees, more wildlife, more growth, less houses and inhabitants. The last of series 1.

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Some photos to show the framing....

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Series 2

 Series 2 paintings are a variety of sizes and are priced accordingly. They are located in different galleries. The prices start at £350 for the smaller paintings and £390 for the bigger size.

Ask Alice
sold

I ramped up the colour with this work and the painting became more about an incident than my normal concerns with the landscape. At the last minute I put in the two rabbits and it was then that the shift into conversation came. A friend mentioned Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane’s “Go Ask Alice” which I found on You Tube. As a child I read the Lewis Carroll’s books. I loved them more than I can say here. I’m a big fan of anthropomorphism.

acrylic on plywood 40x40 cms in a white wood hand finished 4cm wide frame.

Wood for Wine
 currently in the studio

A much bigger painting on canvas and then stretched over plywood with pine battening.  68x54cms  £500
The painting continues around the frame but is painted with Paynes Grey acrylic.
I returned from a wine shop in a huff as all my favourite Sauvingnon had either sold out or not been restocked or was idling in a lorry at a port in Dover . Grumpy painter indeed. The land mass at the bottom of the painting seems to have more wood and all of the wine….how did that happen!
 

The Garden of Heavenly Delights
currently at 212 Gallery Gloucester road Bristol

This painting followed swiftly from Ask Alice and again was concerned with slightly more surreal concepts. When I visited the Doges Palace in Venice, on the left hand side as you enter through the main door, I realized I was looking at one of my favourite paintings…Hieronymus Bosch’s  “Garden of Heavenly Delights”. It’s tiny and protected by a bulletproof glass case. It’s also absolutely stunning. He’s been dead far too long to laugh at my meagre efforts. My apologies Heironymus.

acrylic on plywood 40x40 cms in a white wood hand finished frame

Three River Walk
Sold

Truthfully, its one river divided into three sections by roads and bridges. the walk goes around the outer areas of my home town and culminates by the boat yard which sits under poets walk and the main headland. Its glorious walk in summer, although very busy since Covid, but in the winter months when the wind crosses the estuary bringing sleet and hail from Wales and funnels down the river directly into your face.......Well, then its a different walk entirely.

Acrylic on plywood 40x40cms in a white wood hand finished frame 

Down to the River
Sold

During the summer months of the initial Covid outbreak, the river that runs through Clevedon was heavily used. People brought paddleboards; canoes and all manner of flotilla so that they could bob about in none too clean water and annoy the ducks and moorhens. The elderly resident dog walkers, (that includes me), huffed a bit, nodded at the heron who was furious at hunting grounds despoiled, and walked on. I decided that if I ever bought a boat, it would be a Viking inspired coracle.
I never put other people in my paintings but one day I may paint an elderly woman in the distance. In the meantime, all incidents need a witness. That’s why the owl and the hare look out of the picture frame.

Acrylic on plywood 40x40cms in a white wood hand finished frame

I'm in the Pink
Sold

I realize this is my second caravan painting but I love camping, it reminds me of playing house when I was a child. Anyway, the elderly like to repeat themselves. Underneath the curly foliage on the left hand side, was a grey factory reminiscent of some L.S Lowry painting of the Lancashire mill towns. I hated looking at it so much I had to hide it, but you get the idea.

 Acrylic on plywood 40x50cms  in a hand finished white wooden frame 

Run Rabbit Run
currently at 212 Gallery Gloucester Road Bristol

When I first moved to this area, I was overwhelmed by the amount of tiny rabbits that sat by the edge of the road on the edge of town. Totally unfazed by the endless drone of returning commuters, (of which I was one). Then they disappeared. For years. I was gutted. A few weeks ago I spotted a few in the field adjoining the main road. I cheered loudly in my van as I trundled past. Then I realised I was shouting “run” to the next group of soft grey bundles. I love rabbits….have I mentioned that!

Purple Patch
in the studio

Anyone who walks a dog knows this fact. Most green areas become inaccessible during the winter months. I used to think I had “boots” before I became a dog owner. Now I know what real walking boots are. I also know just how much mud a pair of boots and 4 paws can tread through a house. When the river bank/seawall becomes beyond bearable, I walk the back streets for 2 hours a day. So does everyone else. Freddie and I meet a lot of dogs taking their owners out. Freddie barks at all of them. That’s his job. I look for signs of spring. That’s mine.

To the Lighthouse
Sold

I listen to Audible a lot. I paint all the time so I rarely read and anyway I love narration. Doris Lessing said that if you didn’t enjoy a book after 15 minutes then you should stop reading it. There were so many books awaiting your attention. Like many people I have spent thankless hours trudging through “worthy” novels because “I thought I should”.
I  struggled with Virginia Woolf and many others and so this painting is dedicated to her as frankly I require more immediately accessible “stories”.

Harvest Home
Sold

Last autumn I watched the local farming team bring in the harvest. A brilliantly orchestrated team of trucks, tractors and lorries worked tirelessly and without a single break to bring it all home. It was also watched by every seagull in the southern hemisphere who wheeled and screamed at the crows fighting each other on the ground inches from the cutting blades to see who could get anything worth eating  first. I felt as if I was in a Hitchcock film.

Velvet Bottom
Sold

Is a place near where I live. Last time I visited all the inhabitants, (rabbits) had died of disease. Fortunately, rabbits breed rather well.

Birds of a Feather
original sold

The bushes by the river are a flutter with nesting birds. I foolishly stuck my head into one to find out what the hysterical twittering was about. The sparrows left on mass and I got caught in the brambles.

Stand Alone
Sold

A recent trip to Wales gave me the opportunity to see for miles, something you really don’t get much opportunity to do in a town. Peering over the hedgerow/brambles knee deep in mud, (does it ever stop raining?), I saw four isolated trees with its own collection of sheep lying in the shade offered. I didn’t paint the sheep…in Wales you can get blasé  about sheep.

Strawberry Hill
Sold

“I’m surprised you haven’t painted this”, said a friend whilst out walking. So now I have. Strawberry Hill doesn’t look much like this to be honest. I think was taking my influences from Bedminster and Totterdown in Bristol. I just added trees. Since I completed this, I’ve taken some photos of the site and will undoubtably return to the subject

Festival
currently at Bluestone Gallery Hay on Wye

I have a caravan on a site in Wales, close to Hay on Wye, home of the famous and fabulous literary festival. I wanted to paint more of how I feel about narrative in general rather than sticking to the reality of white tents and wake boarders. Consequently the look is more circus than Hay. Truth is, I don’t paint much white.

I painted 2 suns in the sky in honour of Frank Muir who when asked by Robert Robinson, “What opening line of a book would stop you reading any further”, paused, looked upwards and replied, “ Thall looked upwards to the twin suns of Zygrablagh and sighed…”

Houseboats
currently at Bluestone Gallery Hay on Wye

Clevedon is full of boats of every type. My favourites are the tiny boats stuck like barnacles into the mud down by the boat yard. When the tide comes in, they lift off from the brown gloop and seem to bob about in the grassy field used by local dog walkers. The “rock pools” are in actuality, large holes in a grass bank. Fred loves jumping into them after stones. That’s why he’s on the left hand side of the painting

All Saints

Most evenings I walk Fred along All Saints Lane. Its one of my favourite areas of Clevedon. The houses are all different from each other and on the quirky side. One is reminiscent of Agatha Christie novels whilst another could have been used in the Harry Potter films. At the end of the lane is All Saints School and All Saints church, which is Victorian Gothic. I changed the spire to a more classic style just to fit the composition. The birds are red in colour to reflect the colour of the school uniform

Amongst Friends

It was spring when I painted both this and “Stranger Danger”. The bushes in Clevedon are literally bristling with birds. Just walking too close can flush over 50+ birds into your direct line of sight. The council have littered various walkways with signs asking people not to feed the birds which we all ignore. That’s why we have a rat problem

Stranger Danger

This is a bit of an odd painting in as much as I decided to paint the 3 birds more realistically, maybe just to see if I could. I had two male robins in my front garden who obviously hated each other. They would lie in wait for each other to visit the bird feeding station and then swoop in for the attack. Consequently all the other birds got all the food whilst these two were fighting it out from tree to tree. I’d be shouting at them from behind the kitchen window. Selective deafness .

Where the River Meets the Sea

In Clevedon, you just follow the water and you’ll get there. Initially its green but then it turns brown but on rare days when the sand stops churning and the sun shines, it glistens cold forbidding blue. I’ve been here for over 20 years and I’ve seen that happen twice.

When the Boats Come In

This painting is located just past the pier towards Ladye Bay.
I’d watched the  “Waverley” chug up and down the estuary several times and thought it pretty non descript but then I know nothing about boats. I just made my boats more friendly, like “boaty mc boat face.”

Breathe In, Breathe Out
SOLD

This painting started with the trees at the top. They looked like bellows to me so the rest of the painting hung off them.
If there are trees then everything else follows. The moment I see the local council cut down a tree, I paint trees. I paint a lot of trees.  They’re like friends.

Hope Springs Eternal

Inspired by the plethora of cherry tree blossom that blooms beautifully all over Clevedon,(esp. by the cottage hospital) which is then blown away by the howling winds of April .
Spring is also the time of year when the pigeons perform their seasonal acrobatics by throwing themselves off rooftops and gliding ungraciously onto another one.

Huddled Like Bison

My parents used to live in Broadway Evesham. Wandering around the pretty Cotswold town I spotted a large group of tourists holding cameras aloft all focussed on a woman thatcher who was repairing the roof of one of the larger homes on the main road. As she hauled herself up and down the ladder with armfuls of fresh thatch a shrill American voice could be heard exclaiming, “I love these little thatched cottages, they’re huddled like bison on the highway”
Bison in the US must be bigger than I thought.

Fading Light

One late afternoon I was on the Failand road heading back to Clevedon and the light suddenly changed. Thunder promised but a shaft of sunlight hit the field of oil seed rape in the distance. The sky reminded me of Elvis Costello’s line, “the sky was a purple bruise”

Winter Has Me in its Grip
original sold

At the top of the Clevedon Court estate is a lookout point so you can sit and admire the valley below. I trudged up there in terrible wintery conditions and sat down. A granny and her pre teen granddaughter arrived shortly afterwards. “ Look Granny” said the girl. “ I can see your house down there”. Quick sideways look at me..”The big one”

Driving North for Christmas

Washing Pound Lane

In the 1960s I would be bundled into our hillman minx every school holiday and driven from our centrally heated semi detached modern home in Buckinghamshire and driven over 200 miles to the artic tundra of Lancashire. My northern relatives all seemed to live in vast multi storied victorian villas heated only by one coal fire in “front room”. Should you require toilet facilities you had the choice of finding the outside toilet in the dark or climbing at least 2 sets of stairs to the indoor privy. This also had to be performed in the dark as no lights were ever put on and I was too small to reach the light switches. Ah memories!

Autumn Came Early

Walking through a local park in august and kicking the  fallen leaves about, I thought,”hang on it’s August why are the leaves dropping already?” Drought in 2022, that’s why.

Patched and Sown

The field patterns in my area remind me of old patched blankets from years back. There was always a heap of mending and darning sitting in a basket by granny’s chair close to the fire. She would “colour match” the wool of the blankets with the nearest colour she could find. This meant a green blanket would have little beige or blue squares sewn into it. Who even has blankets these days?

A Golden Summer

The heat of this summer was so intense that the grass turned crispy golden really early in the year. The air was thick with its own intensity. The only green to be found was in ponds  or stagnant bird baths. My lawn turned to dust. And then it rained!

A Dip in the River

During covid the local river found new visitors. The children jumped off the bridge in the summer heat, people brought boats across the fields to slip into the water, long boards appeared and most fascinating of all, someone brought a coracle. To facilitate this activity a local resident cut a huge hole in the brambles so his dog could slide easily down the bank and cool off. There are sheep on the other side of the river. Ill leave it there.