Welcome to my first artists blog

Although I have painting for over 25 years, it is only over the last few years that I have been working towards fulltime art practise or creative ways of working. I’m interested in how other creative people manage out in the commercial world. This blog and website is kindly managed by my daughter Ruth who first introduced me to the idea of blogs.


My work at the moment.

I’m working on 4 paintings at the moment, all Spring flowers with dark backgrounds, like some of the Spanish still life painters favoured. I’m working in acrylic, the first time I’ve used acrylic for still life pictures in this way. It’s a bit of a struggle trying to get the effects that I want, particularly the luminous dark background. I usually work in oils, so this is all experimentation at the moment. Any tips gratefully received


The other area of work for me is planning and delivering a couple of weekend courses with a friend that include art and meditation. We have a weekend for women this weekend with a theme of how to find and work with your inner guide. At the end of April we are running an urban arts retreat.

These courses have arisen out of my interest and practise as a Buddhist, I was ordained in 2002 and my interest and work in the arts over the last 25 years. It seems particularly helpful in my experience to have a meditation practise as an artist, it certainly seemed to have helped me get over the psychological barriers to starting work on a picture and to sustain interest and concentration when working.

One of the main difficulties we have come across, is how to reach the sort of people who might be interested in coming along to such events. Being in London perhaps isn’t as helpful as first might appear, as there are so many things on offer, and so many potential people, spread over a large area.

See my work
There are 3 of my photographs a water lily picture and 2 of Beech trees in Autumn in Epping forest, in a great Italian café art lounge on Roman road Chicchis. The owner Alphonso is a really lovely man, who is interested and excited by artists and their work The food is very good to I recommend a visit if your in the East end of London.