Lighthouse Keeping – Seas pleat winds keen fogs deepen ships lean no doubt, and the lighthouse keeper keeps a light for those left out. It is intimate and remote both for the keeper and those afloat. Kay Ryan (from my sketchbook)
James Hollis & the second half of life
Did I mention that I have been reading the Jungian analyst James Hollis this summer? Hollis has written several books on what he calls the second half of life. I am not in any way ready for making a meaningful, abridged, account of his perspective on life. But I might give you a glimpse into his way of…
Still here
— sketching my way into autumn, having great fun mixing gouache & watercolours on my sketchbook pages
Summer days
Staying at home when everyone else is on holiday makes the everyday look a little bit different. The streets are empty, and so are the supermarkets, playgrounds and schoolyards – all deserted. All is peaceful … almost forsaken. Still I’m here, doing my daily sketches, recording what is. But I’m not only sketching, peaceful days…
Completely ordinary and unremarkable
— portrait of a washing line
Into the green
— a Sunday Psalm Albrecht Dürer, Great Piece of Turf /Das große Rasenstück (watercolor), 1503. It might not seem like a big deal. Just an unordered group of wild plants. But look again: the subject – grass & wildflowers – might look rather ordinary, but the rendering of this little piece of nature is not. Das große Rasenstück makes us see…
Florilegium
Or: How my love for walks, nature writing & sketching currently seems to merge in a joyful celebration of all things growing – Phacelia tanacetifolia; “purple tansy” or “fiddleneck” It seems I am about to sketch a florilegium for myself, for the simple joy of doing it – . The florilegium – a short history In…
truth be told
Though there’s an industry built on telling you otherwise, there are few real joys to middle age. The only perk I can see is that, with luck, you’ll acquire a guest room. — David Sedaris (2018)
A Palladian Odyssey
or: Seeing and drawing in Veneto with Liz Steel & a group of wonderful sketchers – If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path. –Joseph Campbell I…
Living a More Considered Life
“It is a bewildering thing in human life that the thing that causes the greatest fear is the source of the greatest wisdom.” C. G. JUNG
