Landscape Painter, Life Writer, occasional Nomad in perpetual pursuit of a dream
My plan worked: Escape at the beginning of March, stay a month, then return once spring has arrived. Okay, it might not have been as well thought-out as that, but that’s more or less what happened. Apart from arriving back to an overwhelming mountain of work (in terms of missed course work, new assignments, paintings …
What a difference a day makes. This is how I always think of February on the West Coast: Crisp, clear and bright. Frosty mornings with a hint of warmth in the sun, almost coats-off weather in the middle of the day. February hasn’t really played the game this year with a succession of storms, named …
Another year over… and a new one just begun. And what food for thought it is. A monumental, life-changing decision has been reached, though not without the odd tear. I will share news as and when it happens, but there is a long way to go yet before we see any real movement. It’s been …
As I shiver under my plug-in, heated, faux-fur throw and write the last update of 2022, I am very glad to report that I will soon be shedding a layer or two and giving the storage heaters a well-earned break. Anyone who knows me will realise I don’t winter well, and the view from my …
At the most hectic time of the entire year – being so busy at the pottery as we strive to get everyone’s orders out in time for Christmas; organising watercolour card-making workshops for local learners; commissions to be executed and posted, and the inevitable social calendar in which I fail miserably to participate – I …
Last night the clocks went back, and while I’m always glad of the extra hour that gives me, it’s a depressing time of year; I’ll be coming home from work in the dark with no chance of a quick swim in the river or paddle in the kayak which I’d often look forward to during …
It seems like summer has finally arrived in the Highlands, and it’s certainly better late than never. Some of us had begun to sink into a closed-in, resigned kind of depression as if already curled up for a long winter hibernation, believing we had been bypassed this year in favour of just about everyone else …
A ‘memory’ popped up on my Facebook page last month. It was, apparently, six years to the day that two of the first pots I decorated emerged from the kiln. I had been, quite rightly, excited. One was a painstaking rendition of harebells in various shades of blue, which would have been chosen with more …
I thought I was going mad. I was in the small, walk-in storage area which houses my hot water tank and freezer, where I keep excess food supplies: big bags of rice; tins of tomatoes; cartons of oat milk; tea bags – and treats, away from everyday temptation. I reached into the large carrier bag …
