After my week in the lovely Orkney Isles, I’ve spent most days in the studio at Waldringfield Boatyard, catching up with ‘stuff’. I’ve even managed to paint a picture or two… dabbling with acrylics for a change, inbetween doing ‘proper’ jobs: These are small squares of board which get paint splashed on them at random…. continue reading »
The timing of this post is a little askew as I’ve been gadding around in Cornwall and only just catching up, but this inspired me back in March so it’s going in. It’s about shipwrecks, teaching, questions and stories, if you were wondering whether to read on. So pour yourself a glass of wine, sit continue reading »
I learn more from teaching than my students do; there’s nothing to focus the mind quite like having to explain something clearly, to show how to do it and analyse why it’s going wrong for someone else. Drawing, I tell them, is just thinking with a pencil. Don’t blame your hand for your mistakes, blame continue reading »
My studio table and floor is disappearing under pieces of paper and chapter five is well under way. Writing and illustrating a book has its own pace and momentum; you have to keep a part of your brain connected to it or it’s hard to pick up the threads again. On the other hand, twelve continue reading »
Several days of thinking ‘must update my blog’ usually pass before I get round to it. The plan is always to sit down in the evening with a clear head and a glass of wine and get inspired. This rarely happens. The glass of wine always happens, but not the clear head, or even the continue reading »