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For the last few years, I have travelled up to Scotland with my partner Jo and we have stayed at Watercolour Cottage in Ardgour on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. The landscape is stunning in all its majestic wildness, particularly the passage over Rannoch Moor, through Glen Coe and of course the ever-changing form of Ben Nevis across Loch Linnhe. I have begun a series of work called ‘Mountains and Mist’, exploring the subtleties of landscape contours as they disappear and reappear through the swirling mists. I’m delighted to say that the first three of the series have been taken on by Resipole Studios & Art Gallery Nr. Strontian and will be on display there shortly. I’m looking forward to carrying on with the series, working from some dramatic and beautiful photographs taken during our visits to the area. I may also experiment with memory and imagination. Watch this space… Misty Peaks, Glen Coe Ben Nevis Emerging (1) Ben Nevis emerging (2)

Following on from my last blog, here are some more dark stirrings painted in watercolour using mainly indigo with hints of other colours.

There are times in my life when I feel swamped by darkness for whatever reason – it may be triggered by current circumstances or it could be a ‘dark night of the soul’ that hopefully will pass. Thomas Moore wrote, (in his book with that title) that if you find yourself in the dark belly of the whale, all you can do is to be there and be carried by it. The other thing that he suggested was that you might find your own way of expressing it – whether it be through music, poetry or art, etc. Here are a few ‘dark stirrings’ from the belly of the whale….

‘Be Still’ is my second piece following our trip to Iceland. Often the most profound landscapes are the quiet ones – those you have to be still in order to fully ‘receive’. The title is taken from the words ‘Be still and know that I am God’ of course and looking at this beautiful and subtle landscape, I had the sense that God was in his heaven and all was right with the world. Since returning to the ‘real world’ after our trip, much has happened to challenge this but I will always have the painting and the memory to remind me.

We have recently returned from a short break in Iceland where we were lucky enough to experience the Northern Lights. I have created my first pastel interpretation of them on black card and really enjoyed the ephemeral nature of the subject. Most of the pastel was applied to my fingers first and then to the surface which was a very subtle technique – echoing the way that the lights gradually emerged from a hint through to a dancing, intense display.

I’ve been working on a new series of oil paintings over the last few weeks focusing on Northern Skies. I’m really enjoying the subject and the buttery blending qualities of the medium. Here are a few examples

Following my art & soul workshop with the Northumbria Men’s Group on Sunday, I was reflecting on the importance of ‘soulwork’ in whatever we do. In my own work, I sometimes try and drop down into a deeper place before starting a piece of work, perhaps by listening to what’s going on inside of me or just becoming still for a few moments or maybe listening to some music. Then I just try and let the image or images flow through me onto paper or canvas. Here are some of a recent collection of such ‘soulscapes’ and you can view more by clicking the ‘innerscapes’ tab at the top or by scrolling down your dropdown menu.

I ran a small group activity this weekend with the Northumbria Men’s Group  about letting soul express itself through pastel painting. It was about letting go, keeping an open mind, enjoying the process and choosing colours,  tones, gestures, marks and shapes that express stirrings of the soul in some way.  Always difficult to describe these things in words so I worked on a fairly spontaneous piece to introduce the idea and here it is…

We recently spent a week up in Ardgour, Scotland where the scenery was wonderfully dramatic. Here’s the first of what I hope will be a powerful series of paintings. This one was painted with soft pastels.

I have recently returned to watercolour wet into wet work and have really enjoyed moving between landscape inspired moodscapes and purely abstract pieces. There’s a great freedom in mixing a range of colours and tones, wetting your paper and launching in with no clear idea of how the painting is going to look. Here are some of them…