Creative Art Courses

13/10/2026

Eight hours walking. A stone, a shell, and a tree I left behind.

This morning in Hamble, I watched the last clouds move from west to east after miserable weather. From the garden, I could see the day opening up. I put on my hiking shoes and went out at ten. I came home around six.

Along the way, I found a stone and a shell and carried them with me for the rest of the walk. I also stopped beside a bare, weathered tree—not something I could bring home, by the way.

On the way back, I paused to photograph my two companions beside the water, in the place where I found them. A wooden post became their little stage, with the Isle of Wight on the horizon and the sun partly behind the clouds. I photographed them from the shaded side.

I don’t quite know why I chose those two objects. Something about them made me want to keep them close.

Now they are here at home. A little of today came back with me.

Hamble, 13 October 2026.

12/10/2026

Back to nature. Back to painting.

A canvas, a few colours, and time to look.

I want to return to that simple connection: being in a place, putting the phone and camera aside, and allowing my eyes, hands and feelings to find their own response.

Every place has a palette. Every hour changes it. There is the light moving across water, the colour of the earth, the shifting shadows. And there is the approach of night, when colours fade, edges dissolve, and the familiar landscape slowly becomes a dark, open space.

Spending time observing these changes brings me closer to the world I belong to. We are part of nature. Painting can give us time to feel that connection, to explore our surroundings and perhaps understand something of ourselves.

You can begin wherever you are, even if you have never painted before. Pick up a brush, a pencil or a piece of charcoal. Let your response to the place guide you. There is no particular school or style you need to follow.

I have been painting landscapes for more than 40 years, and I would love to share that experience with anyone drawn to this journey: walking in real places, observing together, and finding a personal way into painting.

If this speaks to you, send me a message.

10/08/2026

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Oxford

28/05/2026

09/05/2026