I must admit the last long, long lockdown became more of a struggle as it progressed. However, I decided to take advantage of being confined to my locality by exploring footpaths near home and finding places I had no idea existed - all within five miles of home.

This inspired a series of paintings of previously unseen views, and is still inspiring work I am doing now. Some feature near views of woodlands and country lanes, others look over fields towards distant horizons at that time out of bounds.

Back at home 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 and experimenting with different surfaces - all inspired by the new views I discovered.