In these strange times we all need to stay safe, have patience, and do what we need to do until we can all get back to normal, or maybe we will have to find a new normal. For now though we are all in this together and we must all do what we can to get through these difficult times.
Pat and myself are very lucky in that our studio is at home, and so for us in many ways it's business as usual. Except that we have nowhere to exhibit and that feels like a tea without a scone. Our response is to make much more use of our website. You can expect to see a lot more posts here and we will be particularly focusing on what is currently happening in the studio. We will try to highlight the process and development of each painting and at some point we will bring it all together with an in-house online exhibition. And we will share any interesting virtual arty things that we come across.
Our normal practice begins with a sketch book, or to be more accurate it starts with a walk and a sketch book. At this time of year we would normally be dusting off our vintage folding caravan and planning our walks in faraway places: the Cornish coastpath, the Hartland peninsular or the open spaces and wooded valleys of Exmoor and Dartmoor.
Alas, not this year! We are, like everyone else, grounded. The caravan remains folded in the garden, and we are currently working on paintings that were started BC (before corona-virus). Pat is working on a painting inspired by Shapwick Heath and I have returned to a derelict barn near Stourton that I have painted before. Sadly both these places are beyond the reach of walking or cycling, but hopefully we have enough material to finish the paintings in the studio.
After that we will be trawling back through our old sketchbooks looking for inspiration, or maybe using much more local locations. We still go out for walks or cycle rides most days and there are a lot of beautiful places in the immediate vicinity, so we should not be short of ideas. Or maybe it's time for a few still life's? Or self portraits? Watch this space!
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