Alone under the sky

I have been painting for a very long time. Forty years or more, but mostly nudes and portaiture and I continue to do so, having established a new line in online portrait commissions with sittings via Zoom during lockdown. 

When lockdown eased though, I began my sidetrack into landscape painting by treating myself to a two day painting course in Wiltshire. I found that once I’d negotiated the uncertainty surrounding the physical process of getting my paints and brushes into a field and back again, the actual painting came easily. 

In the landscape, with a paintbrush in my hand, I experience a freedom that seldom occurs in my studio. I may not want my painting to closely match the terrain, but I do want it to capture something of the atmosphere, and this applies in most part to the constantly changing sky. 

In my part of the world we like to say ‘if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute’. Our sky is seldom cloud free and I am constantly surprised by how quickly it changes and how much it inspires and challenges me.

I was delighted to be elected as an Associate to the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art at the end of 2023.