St Ives rocks

 First marks for a new painting, oil on canvas, working from sketches of the rocks around Man's Head in St Ives.

The painting progresses, and disappoints for some reason, trying to get some gutsy painting marks in, while holding the image, I struggle with that tension between the image and the abstract qualities, I keep thinking that the good paintings lie in between the two, but they keep slipping away.

Brave Souls

The painting finished, I see these trees silhouetted against the sky as individuals, hence the title, I feel as if they are struggling; enduring their existence, with a storm behind them, I hurry home to be warm and safe; but they stay out there, and fight on in the dark, animated and rooted; they serve out their time  

Work in the studio

 It was at the end of last summer that I saw these two firs on the horizon as I walked up the valley from Great Wishford, they were a feature in a sketch, the more I looked the more I wanted to paint them, i wanted to cature their character. A friend saw a sketch of this and thought it looked like a Montague Dawson, which I was chuffed at, because I  had seen these like the masts of clipper ships struggling in a heavy sea, I don't know what they communicate, but I think I will be working on this image for a while