Artwork projects
Vanishing British wildlife
According to the BBC, 'the UK is one of the world's most nature-depleted countries, with on average about half its biodiversity left - far below the global average of 75%. It means the UK is in the bottom 10% globally for biodiversity.' Some of our most loved, iconic creatures are fast disappearing. Hedgehogs, dormice, and bumblebees are all under threat. As I love nature, and take such personal delight and solace in the creatures that share the island that I live on, I find these facts very hard to face. My drawings of British wildlife are like little love letters to some of the animals that give me joy.
Life in trees
I am lucky enough to live surrounded by an abundant garden full of trees, brambles, and a diverse range of British birds. They provided diversion and solace during lockdown. I also live near some ancient woodland and I never get tired of photographing and drawing trees. They feature in my imagination as characters as individual and demanding of attention as mammals, birds and insects they give shelter and food to. Having read Susan Simmard's book, 'Finding the Mother Tree' I start to understand why this might not be so far fetched after all.
Dragons of the east and west
A few years ago, I went to see an exhibition of Chinese art, and was mesmerized by the Nine Dragons scroll by the 13th century artist Chen Rong. My Cloud Dragon (bottom left) is inspired by this extraordinary drawing.
In Wales, the dragon is alive as a much-loved national symbol, My picture, The Red Dragon and the White Dragon (top left) is inspired by the story, LLudd and Llefelys, included in the Mabinogion, the earliest British prose stories.
It fascinates me that in Chinese mythology the dragon is largely a benign creature that saves humans from floods and storms, whereas in western mythology, the dragon is a dark force associated with fire
Digital painting
Learning to 'paint' and draw in Photoshop was both liberating and frustrating. The main difficult problem to overcome for me was that I use a Wacom tablet and unlike drawing on paper, your eyes have to be looking somewhere other than where your fingers are. In digital art I am let lose with colour. The Tiger pictures were commissioned for a book cover.
Vector art
There is something addictive about the manipulation of shapes and layers in Adobe Illustrator. As I have a long-standing love of illustration and graphic design, I find it a wonderful medium to play with. I have a much neglected project in progress to turn one of my novels into a comic book. You can see the first pages on the website I maintain for my books here.
Water-colour
Sometimes what is exciting in nature is colour rather than shape or line. I was born by the sea and I feel freest in wide open spaces.