armona island

i sort of knew i was going to like the formosa natural park
as we flew over it into faro for a short visit to portugal



a brief taxi ride from the airport to alhao port....
a ferry ride
and you're there...the island of armona

there's Carlos bar on the beach at the jetty

and a walk through the picturesque holiday cottages brought us to to our destination

casa bougainvillea

beside the lagoon...that filled and emptied with the tide..
especially high with the full harvest moon

the samphire glowed as the sun set

and the wise dog from carlos bar
came to visit

he knew i would come back

lavender fields

last month i visited snowshill lavender fields

once again it was harvest time...
in fact the very last field was being harvested....

luckily the test planting area was still uncut




and there was an added bonus this year


i was looking at the photos and my sketches because i wanted to paint lavender today...

but maybe i want to paint sunflowers...
oh decisions decisions...
i'll go to the studio and see what happens

...or maybe roses...
i am listening to this

those forest sheep...

a few years ago there was a project to create a flock of fibreglass forest sheep decorated by schools and by local artists.

sheep wander the forest freely around here... very much a local feature
the project was called sheepscape and it was great fun more here

i painted 'spring lamb'


i recently freed him from storage where he had been kept for the last couple of years

and i wish i hadn't!
he proved to be a bit troublesome in the 'i'm a forest sheep' way that they have

i had just finished a pair of commissioned paintings that i was looking at on the shelf above mr lamb...when disaster struck
a gust of wind blew one of the paintings down...
straight on to the awaiting pointy ear...

and this was the result


so another pair of paintings were painted and now there are three!

the sheep doesn't look even a bit sorry!

arraiolos memory

arraiolos memory
100 x 100 cms
mixed media

a painting inspired by stitching and churches and walls and music

and grasses and being outside in the sunshine

the alternative name for this painting was

'this is my church'

new limited edition prints

Hope over at Darcy Gallery has been very busy producing these limited edition prints of my work
i'm very pleased with the quality...
the colour and the way the texture is captured is excellent
if you'd like more information please contact Hope at Darcy Gallery

silver and gold...

in the evening the shadows on the walls were blue....really really blue
we tried to draw them

then i painted the walls

back home in the forest i have been painting to this

on a milk white horse

she points her toe...bends her knee