Somerset Art Weeks

16th Sep -1st Oct 2023

Autumn started with a week-long heatwave following a glorious summer that saw plenty of rain and reasonable temperatures. The ferns in shady lanes didn’t shrivel and the trees weren’t stressed; the badgers were able to dig for worms and there were puddles for the house martins.

The past few years have seen increasingly high temperatures and therefore the heart-breaking prospect of major threats to life on earth. So much has been lost already and I read accounts from nature writers of old, detailing the once-common farm birds such as the corncrake, with much sadness and nostalgia. It seems we can’t have nice things like plentiful insects and wild flowers anymore, in the drive to monetise the landscape and produce food that ends up being wasted.

My response to this is simply to honour what beauty there is to be found, painting the things that move me the most: the comforting lines of hilly places, the secret hollows, the deep shade of ancient trees, the ever changing skies and the magnificence of humble wild flowers.

My collection of new work this year has been made in the hours in which I am not undertaking caring duties, paid and unpaid; occupations that bring with them many rewards and unexpected pleasures. Life is indeed a rich tapestry.

I look forward to welcoming visitors old and new, to my studio at the back of my little red-brick house.

5 Pilton Road, North Wootton, Shepton Mallet. BA4 4ET

16th September-1st October, opening times 10am to 5pm. Refreshments available.