Temptation

Back to the Garden

Limited Edition (of 25) Signed and Numbered Linocut

(Somerset Archival Paper)

10.5" x 9.5" 

Unframed

£30

Click Here to Purchase

Adam and Eve has been painted and illustrated by artists for hundreds of years so to achieve something original in the compositional design for this presented quite a challenge. I have lost count of how many iterations I did before finalising on this design – of which I have two versions and hope to begin cutting the second this week.

Back to the Garden

Limited Edition (of 25) Signed and Numbered Linocut

(Somerset Archival Paper)

17.25" x 16" 

Framed

£90

Click Here to Purchase

First Impressions

It’s been a while since my last Blog post. Mitigating circumstances are that I’ve been tackling ‘Creation’ and that does take some time. I have been working on my first relief print from a linocut block. I thought I would start at the very beginning – God creating light. I could have chosen something easier I suppose but this was an exciting challenge that I embraced and enjoyed. How could I depict God creating light?

I worked up several ideas then many iterations of each one to determine how it would translate into print. In contrast to how I work when I am painting where I have physical subject matter to arrange and compose into a final image, with my print I had nothing to begin with - Which seemed entirely appropriate given the subject matter. I found it really exhilarating working with nothing but a concept to go on. What surprised me was how patient I was (not being the patient sort) during this process.

Having settled on a final design the time came to cut it into the lino block. Here I wasn’t quite so patient. Having cut the entire design out on the block I realised that it needed to be cut in reverse for the image to appear the correct way round on the paper. You might imagine it took hours and hours to cut this design out but hey ho. Then the next day toward the end of the second attempt, this time the correct way round, I was tired, I slipped and took Gods eye out. At this stage I was rather hoping this wasn’t going to take ‘seven days’ to cut the block. On day three success! Image cut the right way round with Gods eye intact. In the process I had fulfilled the expectations of the authors of both the books on relief printing that I had read and cut myself several times with my nice sharp Swiss cutting tools. How we artists love to suffer for our art . . .

My shiny new press arrived a few days later. I was like a kid with a new toy I couldn’t wait to get started but at the same time I was a little apprehensive that after all my work cutting the lino block the image might not come out as well as I hoped. I feared that it wouldn’t work and I would have wasted a lot of time.  I chickened out and didn’t attempt the print for a couple of days while worked on ideas for a different design for another subject to print.

Eventually I plucked up courage, inked up the lino block and pressed a couple of trial prints on cartridge paper. The printing process is almost as tricky as cutting the block. One needs just the right amount of ink on the block and just the right amount of pressure with the press. Once I had figured this out I tried a proof with the Somerset Archival paper. As I withdrew the block, paper and press blanket from the press I felt like an expectant mother. I was beside myself with anticipation to see the result of my labour. And here it is . . .   

'Let There be Light'

Limited Edition (of 25) Linocut Print

(Somerset Archival Paper)

Image size 7.5" x 12"

Framed Size 14.5" x 18.5"

Click Here to Purchase Framed £90

Click Here to Purchase Unframed £30

 Thank you Clare at The Framing Studio Holt.

Open Studio Dates for 2018

Here are the dates for my 2018 Open Studio Events

SPRING OPEN STUDIO EXHIBITION

Friday 30th March - Monday 2nd April 2018

Daily 10am - 5pm

NORWICH & NORFOLK OPEN STUDIOS

Saturday 26th May - Sunday 10th June 2018

Daily 10am - 5pm

HOLT FESTIVAL OPEN STUDIO EXHIBITION

Saturday 21st July - Sunday 29th July 2018

Daily 10am - 5pm

WINTER OPEN STUDIOS

Saturday 1st December 2018

Sunday 2nd December 2018

Saturday 8th December 2018

Sunday 9th December 2018

Saturday 15th December 2018

Sunday 16th December 2018

Saturday 22nd December 2018

Sunday 23rd December 2018

Daily 10am - 5pm 

The venue is my studio - 22 Station Road, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6BS

Happy to Help

You know that you’re knocking on a bit if the phrase ‘when I was your age’ hasn’t been used by anyone referring to you for as long as you can remember but you appear to be surrounded by increasing numbers of people to whom the phrase would be relevant. I am also reminded of the rapid passing of time when filling in official on-line forms where date of birth is required - I have to scroll down for an eternity to find my year of birth.

And so as another year comes to a close inevitably some of us reflect either masochistically or triumphantly on the past twelve months. My year began on a high with the addition of another dog to this humble household. My Open Studio events were successful through spring and summer. Then I had a ‘bummer’ of a time with vertigo for the best part of the second half of the year. However people have been very kind and understanding which helped me a great deal and I am very grateful to everyone.

Being unable to work for five months and growing increasingly concerned about finances I have found great encouragement in reading about how others have dealt with adversity and succeeded. I was delighted to find a rare interview with Lucian Freud on the BBC IPlayer which opens with Lucian whispering:

“I think many people are astonished that anyone would sacrifice the possibility of comfort and what is thought to be an agreeable life for a life of uncertainty and loneliness perhaps. Where you are engaged, to them, in an incomprehensible activity with results that are fairly unlikely to change or affect your situation in an economic way. The thought of that, it seems to many people, is astonishing”. . .

Nothing much worthwhile in life came easily to anyone.

Now as I continue to recover and learn how best to manage my condition I have got back to work. Over the past couple of weeks I have really enjoyed working up several designs for the first of my relief prints. I have researched and sourced the best affordable equipment to produce them and I look forward to getting underway with them in the New Year. The enforced lack of activity on the painting front has provided me time to consider how I want to take my work forward. I have been reading Michael Wilcox brilliant book “Blue and Yellow Don’t make Green”. Wilcox has worked as both a professional artist and an engineer which led to a study of light physics in relation to the needs of the artist. It has changed the way I think about colours and in turn those that I use on my palette. To familiarise myself with Wilcox theories I am closing in on just over 2000 colour mixes.

A whole lot of colour mixing going on 

Then along came Christmas and the dogs got into the spirit early. At the beginning of the month my Aunt and Uncle popped in to drop off a Christmas present for me. “Not to be opened until Christmas Day” I placed the beautifully wrapped slightly squidgy gift on a tea trolley in the corner of my living room where it would forego temptation until the big day. The following day I was out and my neighbours kindly came in to let the dogs out from time to time. That evening I returned from 8 hours in the car through snow and traffic jams to a house littered with thousands of small shreds of wrapping paper - my Aunts wrapping paper.

I spent the next half an hour searching in vain under sofas, beds and cupboards for whatever it was that had been in the wrapping paper. No luck – perhaps it was edible? Eventually I phoned my Aunt and she told me that I should be looking for “A nice warm scarf” Then my neighbour phoned to tell me that the fist time they called in to let the dogs out Turner greeted them enthusiastically with what appeared to be an old rag in his mouth. It is at times like this that any guilt I feel about his pending visit to the vets at the end of January for castration simply melts away.

I confess to being ‘Bah Humbug’ about Christmas. To my mind it has become overly commercialised to the detriment of its origin and true meaning (in this country in particular). So this year I volunteered to help out at the Holt Community Centre Christmas Lunch.

I arrived at the centre on Christmas morning at 10:30. The tables were already decked out with festive runners, poinsettias, balloons, napkins and crackers. The place looked fabulous and that was all down to the efforts of organiser and head chef Carolyn Burns whose Birthday and Christmas does actually come at once – Christmas Day IS her Birthday (I know you couldn’t make it up). Her organisation was impeccable and shortly after she had briefed the 16 of us volunteers people began to arrive and we all knew precisely what to do to make the day a success for our guests. 150 turned up for the lunch. There was turkey with all the trimmings, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies, chocolates, a raffle, quiz, live music and carol singing. I managed to work through a couple of dizzy spells without dropping anything or falling over and the day went without a glitch for all concerned. By about 4:30 everyone had gone, we had cleared everything away, I was happily exhausted and ready for a large mug of tea back home on the sofa with the dogs.

When anyone asks me what was the best present I had this Christmas, I will tell them that it was looking up from my bowl of Christmas pudding to see the expression of utter contentment on the face of a sweet old lady (of 98) in a lovely lilac outfit as she nodded off to sleep after her meal. Something money can’t buy.

“ That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil – This is a gift of God” Ecclesiastes 3:13

And despite their bad behaviour at the beginning of the month the dogs didn’t miss out. As you might imagine, there were plenty of turkey scraps to bring home . . . unwrapped.

A very healthy, happy and prosperous 2018 to one and all.

2 Mad Dogs and an Englishman - Online Studio Sale . . . 30% OFF

By golly it was cold on our beach walk this afternoon. A strong icy wind was whipping around under a winter sunset sending up magenta washes on the horizon under pale violet clouds. The low tide waves reached way up stoney sand generating balls of foam for the dogs to chase hither thither. Grateful for the warmth of my coat, the thought of a large mug of hot chocolate on my return home progressed me along the shoreline.

I value walks like this in the winter as much as a barmy evening stroll barefoot in and out of the surf in the summer. Just me and the dogs soaking it all in - so invigorating.

So here is the last piece in the Online Studio Sale . . . 

Halftime

Oil on Gessoed Panel

14" x 11"

SOLD

. . . and here it is in its frame - total framed size 19.5" x 16.5".

Changes - Online Studio Sale 30% OFF

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” This infallible gem of wisdom was imparted to me many years ago by a multi-millionaire. Such sage advice from anyone successful in life might well prove noteworthy so I return to it whenever things aren’t going to plan.

Having been unable to paint since the end of July I have had plenty of time to reflect on the changes that I have wanted to make to my work for some time. Eight years ago I painted like this: 

 Greengages

Oil on Linen

Around this time I sold my work through Quantum Contemporary Art in London and felt caught in a commercial trap. Each piece like the one would take a week to paint and sell through the gallery (who took 60% commission) for around £2400. “What’s wrong with that?” you may well ask. Well it was “Soulless”. I was producing a commodity rather than a work of art. I felt like a copyist, there was no personality in the work, no ‘Nick’ in it. I would shudder when anyone said “Oh it’s just like a photo!” Well there you are, I don’t want to be a camera. I want to be an Artist – and that’s the really difficult bit - you need to stick with me here.

In 1948 The Philadelphia Museum of Art held a retrospective show of Matisse’s work. In the Exhibition Catalogue he wrote an essay “l’exactitude n’est pa la verite” – Exactitude is not truth. Of his four self portraits in the show, which were simple contour drawings with great liberty of line and strong in character, he said ‘ These drawings seem to me to sum up observations that I have been making for many years on the characteristics of a drawing, characteristics that do not depend on the exact copying of natural forms, nor on the patient assembling of exact details, but the profound feeling of the artist before the objects which he has chosen, on which his attention is focussed, and the spirit of which he has penetrated’

In that paragraph Matisse nails it. That is the difference. Some people will ‘get it’ and some people won’t.

Four years ago, when I was living in France, I managed to get closer with my work to where I wanted to be with this piece:

Apple Blossom

Oil on Panel

There is undoubtedly some ‘Nick’ in it and there is spontaneity and a freedom in the impasto brushstrokes. Unfortunately I got seriously ill shortly after painting this had to return to the UK for major surgery and lost a lot of confidence specifically in ability to paint and in myself generally. Consequently when I got back to painting again I tightened up and reverted a bit toward how I used to paint.

However, after another prolonged period on the sidelines thanks once again to illness and the financial implications associated with my inactivity I have acquired an attitude of “In for a penny in for a pound”. Surely now is just the time to give painting how I would really like to my best shot. In a bizarre way it’s all quite liberating – there is nothing much left to loose.

Managing to get back into the studio over the past couple of weeks I have begun a new journey with my work. Going back to basics in some areas and experimenting with the new in others. It’s not easy, it’s very difficult and at times it seems that there is only frustration. Goodness knows when I will produce anything that will see the light of day. But for inspiration on one of my walls I have the words of someone whose work I admire and who continued to change and adapt successfully throughout his career:

“It’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfil other people’s expectations. If you feel safe in the area that you are working in you are not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you are capable of being in. Go a little further out of your depth and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom you are just about in the right place to do something exciting” David Bowie

Daffs in a Bottle

Oil on Linen

11" x 8.5"

Framed

£190

Click Here to Purchase

And framed it looks like this and measures 17" x 14" 

pretty then . . . 

Walking in Circles - Online Studio Sale 30% Off

Goodness me we were windswept on our walks today. The wind threatens to blow away what remains of one of the most colourful autumnal displays that I can recall. The gusty weather infuses even more madness into the dogs and in the early evening darkness keeping track of what mischief they are getting up to becomes increasingly difficult.

Those of us who enjoy walking seem to be in an ever decreasing minority. I was taken aback to learn that in the findings of a survey of visitors to National Trust sites, the average distance people walk from the car park is a pitiful100 yards! Aren’t people aware that beyond the Gift Shop/Café/ Toilets lay some of the most beautiful open spaces in Britain? Nope, it seems that people don’t want to walk much now-a-days. The cruel irony is that when they no longer can walk it will be the one singular thing that they do want.

The health benefits of walking cannot be overstated and there is still a great deal to discover in the big outdoors . . . even in this country. Maybe I am just old fashioned or a grumpy old man – potentially both. I believe that people are missing out on so much and that the decline in walkers will in turn mean more public footpath closures. If access to the countryside becomes increasingly limited then so does general awareness of the natural world and care for wildlife will be in decline. We risk losing something very dear, something very precious. We’re all doomed.

How the values of the British public have changed since I was a lad. I’ll wager that come the spring, on a sunny evening when I take the dogs down for a walk over the marshes, I will struggle to get a fag paper between the cars parked around the green at Salthouse. The first time I witnessed this, my heart sank thinking that there would be hundreds of people making their way out to the sea. They weren’t of course; they were all at the Dun Cow pub. Granted they were actually ‘outside’ in the pub garden. However, they were oblivious to their surroundings (and each other) glued to their phones or tablets apparently only able to experience the world via a small screen. Perhaps they were watching ‘Springwatch’

Here is today's (bargain) painting:

Beets 'n' Leeks

Oil on Linen Panel

8"x 6"

Framed

£85

Click here to Purchase

And framed it looks like this and measures 10" x 8" . . . and looks great in the kitchen

Spinning Top

I have begun to feel a bit better recently. Less vertigo, occasional dizzy spells generally feeling a bit spaced out most of the time (what’s new?) . . . sort of drunk without the fun really. As my energy levels have also improved my mood has shifted from despair through frustration and anger arriving now at determination. So I will push on no matter what and beat this malady. Which is all well and good but . . .

My dogs; Elgar and Turner are Border Terrier Poodle crosses. They love unconditionally, are intelligent, are good with other dogs and have more energy than EDF. They are surprisingly fast and will chase anything over great distances until they are literally dots on the horizon. At times they can be a handful (like when the Tesco delivery man comes) but they are my constant companions and I wouldn’t have it any other way. They are also a great motivator for helping me to overcome this vertigo malarkey by getting me out walking every morning and evening.

A week or so ago it was our regular morning walk at Salthouse. It was 7:30 on a grey gusty morning and as I parked the car to let dogs out I could see that the combination of a high tide and a strong wind was washing the North Sea over the sea defences. Huge ‘Turner-esk’ clouds were rolling in and it began to rain. “Looking ominous” I thought and revised our normal walk to a simple circular route out and over the marshes to and along the defences for half a mile then back over the marshes joining the footpath over the fields, returning to Salthouse.

The marshes were almost completely flooded. The water on the footpath came up to the tops of my wellies and slowed the dogs’ progress as they half walked/ half swam alongside me. “This is crazy” I thought “I really should turn back” but then my determination got the better of me and drove me on “No I am going to beat this illness and get better. This walk is just a challenge that I need to meet along the way”.

The sea defences at Salthouse are banks of shingle that rise sharply about twenty five feet above the marshes and slope down on the other side naturally into the sea. Some days they take on a ‘Canute’ character and this was one such day. As we struggled off the flood plane and clambered up the shingle I could see how rough the sea was. The waves were crashing just below the very top of the defences sending stones clattering down to the marshes. Remind me whose idea was this?

As we forged ahead, with me trying to ensure the dogs didn’t get washed away in the surf, I was deep in thought considering the possibilities for the headlines in the Eastern Daily Press the following day:

‘Dog lost in rough sea’

‘Two dogs lost in rough sea’

‘Dog walker lost in rough sea leaving two dogs homeless’

‘Dog walker and two dogs lost in rough sea’

And at that point a Hare tuned up out of nowhere right in front of us. Yes a Hare as in ‘a fast-running, long-eared mammal that resembles a large rabbit, having very long hind legs and typically found in grassland or open woodland’ .

So why was it here for Petes’ sake?

According to Fergus Collins who is the editor of Countryfile Magazine - In order to get full nutritional value out of its grass and herb food, a hare must pass it through its system twice – it eats its own droppings. This method is known as refrection. It also means that the animals spend less time out in the open grazing and can do some of their secondary ‘eating’ in safe hideaways. Rather than thinking it was a safe place to eat his own pooh I think Hares live on the Marshes feeding off the grasses there and this one was simply stranded on the shingle between the flooded marshes and the sea.

Fergus goes on to tell us that The main predators of hares are foxes, weasels, stoats, polecats, buzzards and golden eagles . . .and today my dogs!  And Fergus reliably informs us that Hares have been recorded running at up to 72kmh (45mph) to escape danger.

Still stunned at discovering the Hare I just stood and watched in a haze as the dogs also noticed our long eared friend. It was like the start of the 3:30 at Kempton. Usain Bolt would have had trouble keeping up, so dizzy Nick in wellies on a shingle bank had no chance. But they wouldn’t catch it, would give up and come trotting back in due course. I was more concerned about them getting swept away in the waves than catching anything.

But I watched them continue to pursue the Hare . . . and gain on it. They were working as a pair; Elgar above and now slightly beyond the Hare and Turner swimming along below in the flooded marsh forming a pincer movement. And they caught it! . . .

After scrambling around I eventually caught up with them all and from there on in it was a bit like the Battle for Stalingrad. One dog barking the other yelping, the Hare screeching, the rain now lashing down in bucket loads, waves crashing over the defences and me shouting utterly futile commands while desperately trying to remain upright.

Each time I got hold of one dog it would open up an escape route for the Hare thus resuming the chase for the remaining dog. What a nightmare. Eventually I got hold of both the dogs.

The Hare, like me had seen better days but was OK.

BTW A male hare is called a Jack, a female is a Jill.

Steady On - Online Studio Sale . . . 30% OFF

I have lived here in North Norfolk for just over 4 years now and still at times fail to understand the broad East Anglia accent. I don’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of understanding my neighbours elderly gardener. In early autumn I answered a knock at the front door and there he stood in my porch in his gardening outfit comprising of a far too tight fitting beige jacket, a ladies hat and wellies turned over at the top. I froze, not because of his attire but in the knowledge that we (well he anyway) was about to enter into a form of communication that only one of us would comprehend.

I greeted him with “Good Afternoon” and he grunted something which I took for confirmation that it was indeed afternoon, maybe a good one - maybe not. Then it was his turn. He went on for a while in his strange dialect, stopped and then looked at me expectantly. I have absolutely no idea what he had said. Thinking on my feet I came up with what I thought was a clever ‘open’ response that should cover all eventualities for anything that he could have said.

“I agree, yes indeed”

With that he nodded, grunted, pulled his ladies hat down at both sides by its wide brim, turned on his wellied heels and was gone.

Phew it was over. There have been times when I have been abroad and not spoken the native language but have understood more of what was being said.

A couple of days later the dogs were barking persistently at something in the garden. I peered out of the window to investigate. My neighbours' gardener was in my apple tree, bag in hand picking everything within reach. Mystery solved then.

Staying with the accent - on another occasion I overheard a conversation about farming. I think it might have been on BBC Radio Norfolk. It was an agricultural item and the discussion was about a farm, with apparently 5 Sows and Pigs. Goodness I thought, How on earth can they make a living? and carried on with my work. Later when I had tuned into the accent a bit better I realised it was a farm with five thousand pigs. Deary me.

All this is leading up to a recent walk (looking at the horizon to help with my vertigo) when we met a fellow dog walker who is a native Norfolk man. We got to discussing the obedience of dogs  and recall.

You need to imagine the East Anglia accent here when he said:

“I reckon my uncle had it about right. He used to say I never had trouble training a dog . . . they always come back after a couple of weeks”

Here is today's (bargain) painting:

Carrots

Oil On Canvas Panel

 12" x 8" 

Framed

£180

Click Here to Purchase

. . . and here is how it looks in its frame (framed size is 15.5" x 11.5") 

Balancing Act - Online Studio Sale . . . 30% OFF

In most cases it would be difficult to identify someone with a vestibular disorder by simply looking at them. Mostly we look well, so it’s particularly frustrating when people believe that I am making it up while I am trying to be sociable with a spinning head and nausea. Full of scepticism for my plight they tell me how well I look. I have learnt to avoid people like this. They won’t think that there is anything wrong with you unless you offer up a severed limb. For some idea of what it is like with a vestibular problem go to http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/symptoms

I have been continuing to ‘work through’ dizzy spells when at times I feel that I should stop before I either lose balance or throw up or maybe both. This seems to be the key to recovery from a vestibular problem. One has to do it to re-calibrate the brain - It’s difficult, necessary and beneficial.

Walking in wide open spaces is helping too. Another favourite and regular walk of ours is on the coast at Salthouse. The village takes its name from the production of the once valuable commodity of salt - in the Domesday Book it is referred to as ‘The House for the Storing of Salt’. For what is now a small village of 250 people it has a rich history. Evidence of human activity in the area has been discovered dating back as far as 2000 BC and there was once a Roman Settlement here with a small port. I love the place as it is today, it has a really good ‘vibe’.

Located 4 miles north of Holt, Salthouse looks out onto 66 hectares of costal grazing salt marshes. It is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of the North Norfolk Heritage Coast and an area of international importance for wildlife – particularly birds. Part of the joy of walking here is to be amongst the cacophony of birdsong at dawn or dusk. I will never tire of the sensation of being beneath the low flight path of hundreds of geese, or a pair of mute swans. In the summer I regularly spot the turquoise flash of a Kingfisher along the banks of the canals that drain the marshes. Back from the coast in the heath land above Salthouse Night Jars and Nightingales can be heard in early summer. Twitchers Paradise.

Our walk takes Elgar, Turner and me up behind the Dun Cow Pub toward the neighbouring village of Cley over farm land above and back from the marshes. The footpath cuts diagonally across a few wheat fields making this walk fun during the summer. Strolling on a sunny day through golden waist high crop while looking across the marshes and out to sea. At high vantage points along the way we can see the tower of St Nicholas Church of Salthouse behind us and far in front the tower of St Nicholas Church of Blakeney . . . so I’m in good company. After a mile or so the path leads down and toward the coast alongside a large pond at Snipes Marsh. Here we cross the coast road and head back on ourselves along the grandly named “Attenborough Walk” which joins the marshes of Cley and Salthouse. At the end of this path we head out toward the coast and over the sea defences onto the beach, often meeting a seal or two on our way back to Salthouse along the waters edge.  

Any hopes of seeing David along the “Attenborough Walk” are dashed, it’s not a regular haunt . . . he did open it though. The Norfolk Wildlife Trust bought the 8km stretch of land in 2012 and over the following three years the land was transformed from its former use as commercial shooting ground to a protected coastal site. Much nicer to look and appreciate things than to shoot them eh?

Here is today's (bargain) painting:

Little Sunflower

Oil on Gessoed Panel

6.5" x 4.5"

Framed

SOLD

. . . and framed it looks like this (and measures 8" x 6")

Giddy Up - Online Studio Sale . . . 30% OFF

Following the advice of my consultant surgeon I have been ‘doing as much as possible within reason’ and spending time walking outside looking at the horizon. The dogs, as predicted, love it. With the exception of a dizziness/vertigo episode last night while watching ‘Blue Planet’, which put me to bed early, so far so good.

This morning after a good 12 hours sleep I walked the dogs over one of our favourite walks. From the centre of Holt we walk over Spout Hills – The site of the towns’ water supply during the 19^th Century where it was drawn up from a bore. That is long since gone and Spout Hills is now 14 acres of common land given over to wet meadow, bracken heath, woodland and pond. There are trees smothered in blossom in spring, orchids in summer and fungi and golden beech in the autumn.

Beyond the common land we descend down some steps through sloe bushes onto a path that was the old Midland and Great Northern railway line. There is no longer any track just a path and the cuttings are now heavily wooded either side. Much to the delight of Elgar and Turner (my dogs) this is home to dozens of squirrels and some Muntjac deer so they get plenty of exercise chasing them while I get a great deal of amusement at their unsuccessful yet valiant efforts to catch something.

At the end of the track we pass through a wood of huge beech trees which is full of Bluebells at the end of April and the start of May and now has a carpet of crunchy autumnal leaves. The path leads us out onto a field given over to pasture where the dogs chase each other and I take in a magnificent view over rolling fields and woods as far as the eye can see. Facing west, it’s a great vantage point to take in the sunset during evening walks. We continue on over fields of sugar beet and winter wheat to an old ford adjacent to a water meadow close to the small hamlet of Letheringsett from there we return home.

This morning it was marvellous - crisp, cold, bright and sunny – barely a cloud in the sky. And at a time when it doesn’t seem like a week can pass without the media telling us it was the coldest, hottest, wettest, or driest day, week, month or year on record its reassuring that the weather occasionally behaves vaguely as it should for the time of year.

Right back to the linocut for me . . .


Here is today's (bargain) painting (but bigger this one):

Tomatoes & Spring Onions
Oil on Canvas Panel

9.5" x 9.5"

Framed

SOLD

And framed it looks like this and measures 15.25"x 15.25":