Firstly, my apologies, I realise that I haven’t added to this blog for sometime. Life has been tricky here, just like it is for most of us at the moment. As well as continuing to paint full-time, my husband and `I have been caring for my parents for the last 4 years. This year has been particularly gruelling, as my 90 year old father has had 3 ops following a spiral fracture of his femur and finally had his left leg amputated in May. He is doing as well as he can, full of strength and bravery as he looks forward to a bedridden existence. We do our very best to keep him entertained and comfortable.

As you can imagine, we have had several broken night’s sleep and an upsurge in phone calls and emails to relevant health care professionals. I have found the Procreate app to be the perfect solution to those troubled moments in the dark. In order to find something to draw, I have been researching famous birthdays and using good Googled images as a starting point… perfect, as I don’t want to turn the light on and disturb Stephen. The following images have all taken around an hour and I have been posting them on my Instagram Sketchbook account, often with time-lapse videos (a lovely feature of procreate).

My passion is to paint the sea and landscapes of course, but working on a likeness is excellent eye training I find. There is no getting away from it! I lose myself in the moment with all my work; I am incredibly lucky that art … and my wonderful husband and family have helped me navigate this period. I hope too that you enjoy the results and can find a similar way to reach a quiet place.