my work is nearly always inspired by the environment I find myself in and either my or others’ relationships with it. It wasn’t much of a gamble then, to predict that I would soon be producing work inspired by the landscape of my new area, especially not given how striking it is. Possibly a result of the lack of daylight hours in the first few weeks of my time here, or possibly because my new working routine has meant I am out and about at night more frequently than I might have been when teaching (yes, I have returned to the simple pleasures of bar work), my latest output has been directly driven by my observations of light, or the absence of it, either natural or otherwise.

Playing a major part in both photographic and predominately watercolour pieces, light on the estuary will form the basis of a new series of larger canvases that deliberately abstract the changing shapes and colours on and around the horizon. Well, that’s the plan anyway but we may just have to see what washes up with the tide!

In the meantime, you can see a full series of eight Estuary Abstract sketches and five Leigh Nocturne photos on the Sketchbook page of this site.

When I last updated in August, I mentioned that I had been working on some drawings exploring impermanence as a deeper investigation into themes inspired by Buddhism and Buddhist imagery. I felt quite drawn to these principles, especially as I had been encountering a great deal of uncertainty and change in my personal life. It seems somehow poetic then, that the result of these developments, culminating in a series of five digital collages titled Impermanence Series, should be receiving an airing as my final exhibition of work before I leave Manchester for pastures new. Even more so as the images contain drawings made in and around the area I'm moving to! The new work will be in display at the Manchester Buddhist Centre's Arts and Imagination Festival show 'Touched by the Dharma'  throughout November 2015.

I have always found my work driven by responding to the  environment I find myself in and so it's no surprise that place  and my movement from one to another should be featured in my work. I can only imagine what inspirations I will find following my relocation to the Essex coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea but as it has already found form in my work I think it's a fairly educated guess that it will affect the future of my creative practice, whatever that may be!

Driving on in a conceptual vein, I have decided to begin exploring notions of impermanence, a key principal I have discovered in Buddhism, and personally very relevant to some of my recent experiences. Whilst I very much enjoyed reconnecting with painting and mixed media, in moving forward I have again reverted to drawing and sketching. This has seemed especially appropriate as the theme I have now chosen to explore encourages recognition of our desire to ‘capture’ moments in time which are necessarily fleeting. Photography is an obvious tool for attempting this, recording a fraction of a second with the highest shutter speeds, however drawing, and the time required to sit, observe and translate the three dimensional and dynamic world around us into a static two dimensional form brings with it an interesting dichotomy of process and goal. Interestingly, it also embodies another Buddhist ideal; that of mindfulness and integration of ones experience with the present moment.