A Quiet Return It’s been a few years since anything new appeared on this blog. No dramatic exit, no crisis, no grand story — just life unfolding in its own quiet way while I wandered off into a long stretch of creative exploration. I didn’t spend that time chasing expectations or trying to produce anything impressive. In fact, it was the opposite. I let myself make things without pressure, without anticipation, and without any need for an audience. It was a good kind of absence — the sort that gives you space to breathe and rediscover what you enjoy. Along the way, painting slipped out of my hands. Not abandoned in frustration, just… released. It had carried me through many chapters, but eventually it felt like a language I’d said enough in. So I turned to sculpture, almost by accident, and found myself on a long, meandering tour through every material within reach. Papier‑mâché came first — messy, forgiving, and strangely liberating.Foam followed, stubborn but full of possibility.Cardboard had its moment too, proving far more architectural than I expected. Each material taught me something different about form, weight, and patience. And then, gradually, I settled into polymer clay. It felt right — structured but flexible, expressive without demanding perfection. It opened a new path, and with it came another journey: exploring genre, tone, and character in ways paint never quite allowed. So yes, I’ve been away. But not idle.Just quietly occupied in the kind of creative work that doesn’t need announcing. Now the blog returns — not as a relaunch, not as a promise, but simply as a continuation. A place to share what I’ve been shaping, learning, and enjoying along the way. If you’ve found your way back here too, welcome. Let’s see where this next chapter leads.

It has been a busy week so far having completed the final piece for the exhibition with two weeks to spare, entitled 'Lakeside' it is quite ironic that at this benchmark time in my career the final piece takes me back to the waters that welcomed me when first arriving in Cumbria 6 years ago; I now have 5 large canvases complete, these in addition to other smaller works will be sufficient, only the admin to do now, the part that I hate the most, the cards, the biography and the headache that is trying to explain the unexplainable.

Lakeside

acrylic on canvas

81 x 102cm

In addition to painting the computer has been quite demanding with my mailing list now topping the 400 mark, interviews with BBC Radio Cumbria, The Big Issue and the Community News Wire, in addition to an afternoon with Trevor, the man to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for my first professional break.

I have also managed a trip down memory lane and visited my old College and spend time with those who are busying themselves in preparation for their presentations at the end of the month, fortunately I was just in time to get a timely reminder that the college exhibition is due to start next week.

With it only being Thursday I am now looking ahead to the weekend, walks in the countryside, time with my long suffering partner who is slowly but surely accepting second place to art, poor soul I do feel for her but thankfully she realises that art is more than the ability to draw, paint or sculpt, it is a journey that, once started becomes an all encompassing vocation that is impossible to walk away from.