Landscape Painter, Life Writer, occasional Nomad in perpetual pursuit of a dream
I have just returned from a rare kind of trip. One which took place in the middle of the busy Scottish summer (usually a complete no-no for those of us self-employed and involved in tourism), and one without any kind of ulterior motive, other than to see as many close friends and family as I …
I escaped. A plan hatched in the depths of winter, over a new year ‘zoom’ call involving too much wine and much-missed old friends finally came to fruition last week as I flew – yes, flew! – further north than I’ve ever been to a land where the sun never sets. For one day of …
…and somehow it becomes May again. It’s unseasonally cool, grey and breezy from time to time but the primroses are out in force and I’ve had at least one gloriously warm, peaceful day sitting among the birches, trying to paint them. The result was a disaster, as you can read about on my Vistas blog …
The heralding of spring, some feel, is brought by snowdrops. Highland Stoneware has put them on a mug. No matter how pretty and hopeful they are undoubtedly are, however, snowdrops mean snow and, to my mind at least, ‘spring’ and ‘snow’ do not equate. With the exception, of course, of the yearly ‘lambing snows’, which …
Despite the somewhat incredible fact that I’ve now been working at Highland Stoneware for around 7 years (albeit on a self-employed basis), I’m still a relative newcomer. Many of the extremely talented staff have been involved for decades and I feel very privileged as well as grateful to be a part of this successful enterprise, …
When I first abandoned my established, comfortable life in a leap towards unpredicatable instability, few people had heard the word ‘blog’. Not everyone had an e-mail address, and a computer was a luxury rather than a necessity. As I left my old life behind I bought my first laptop, on offer in Tesco, for £299. …
Perhaps another ice age is on its way. The sea in the harbour is frozen over in large patches, breaking the otherwise perfect reflection of the village, the surface scarcely disturbed, even by the river as it exits below the stone bridge. There is not a breath of wind; the air itself seems to be …
How strange to find myself here, at this time of year, with no imminent plans to be anywhere else. The winter solstice is a special day in my calendar; the turning of the corner, the bringing of light and hope, the promise of warmer days returning (although in reality there are usually more cold ones …
Following my recent experience, described in the last post, here is the ghost story (almost entirely factual) which I promised to share. Comments welcome on this one! (Photo: Revisting Cornwall and my favourite childhood haunts, crossing the stream at Tin Pan Alley in 2016) Tin Pan Alley On a rutted farm track on the edge …
As weeks go, last week was a pretty decent one. The world breathed a collective sigh of relief that at least some sanity prevails across the pond, although it’s still a bit early to herald the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, which has seemingly been promised for as long as I can remember. I …