What a strange time we are living in! Although we are all in lockdown means we are forced to say at home (except for all the wonderful and dedicated keyworkers), this time has given me a sense of freedom that I can spread the wings of my imagination and memory. And to be honest being forced to stay at home means I can be in my studio much more which is a bonus.

I have been doing a lot of playing in my studio – playing with ideas, playing with colour, playing with methods using watercolour and various media. Some have worked – some definitely haven’t – others I’m not sure about.

At the moment I am working on a series of paintings reflecting my impressions of the immenseness of distance. Social distancing got me thinking about it. What is distance? Standing on the deck of a ship looking out over the vastness of the ocean. Standing on top of a Dartmoor Tor surveying the landscape rolling on and on all around me. I’ll never be a mountaineer but wherever I go I like to climb to a vantage point for a view be it on Dartmoor, in Norway, in Greenland or a low rise in the land of East Anglia, and I wonder what is beyond the distant horizon that stretches before me. I like to sketch from these viewpoints, and on the walk to them. Even in my studio I look out at the distant hills and wonder what is going on in the towns and villages on the other side of them. From these ideas and sketches I have been working on paintings portraying my feelings about the immenseness of distance and also when we are alone (social distancing) how small we are in that vastness.