In this book, I have drawn on three strands of my working life. From a background in journalism I have found ways of articulating a love of words, of drawing, and of the natural world. Many of these drawings arise from observations on the coastal edge where I live, in the wonderful end-of-year light when trees and plants display so dramatically their skeletal forms. Building my vocabulary of marks, guided by imagined possibilities and with an intention of risk, studies are further charged by working in black and white. Rhythmic orchestrations of dragging, dabbing and smudging become tangled wayside hedges, swathes of scrub and vases of bunched dried stalks bearing seed heads. My attention is increasingly focused on the wild margins between town and country – spaces that are rapidly disappearing. From the open downland, to tumbling, urban gardens, not yet obliterated by decking or sold off altogether, others that blend almost seamlessly into the downs, the dwindling corners of jumbled growth between buildings, and our precious allotments with their triumphs of creative recycling when it comes to the paraphernalia required to grow produce - these are spaces, some protected, others not, to be treasured. My work is stimulated, not only by subject matter but also by the imagination, intuition and thinking demonstrated through other creatives in forms such as music, drama, film making, photography, prose and, of course, poetry. I am grateful to have permission to reproduce in this book some examples of photography and the written word that I have found particularly inspiring. I continue to push at my own boundaries, seeking fresh ways to express what I see and feel. It’s an on-going exploration and, happily, there appears no end to this journey. This book includes 59 drawings.
