Finished my first painting of the residency! Warmer weather speeded up the drying process and I’m starting to feel home making painting a pleasure. This finished painting is created using Cotman watercolours, natural water from the waterfall on the beach and some “Bideford Black” pigment from the nearby cliffs making a very unique and special artwork. I’ve also been painting another watercolour at the same time but it’s top secret at present for an upcoming exhibition so I’ll be sharing it at a later date. Met some people who actually knew one of the artists who lived here and have some of their original paintings, “yours are not dissimilar” was a comment he made, praise indeed! Looking forward to whatever tomorrow inspires me to paint.

Finished my drawing this morning and then went for a lunchtime walk on the beach. Actually not just for pleasure although I sat at low tide on the rocks and had my sandwiches with a view to die for! I actually wanted to collect some water for my painting from the waterfall so I can carry out my intention to use natural watercourses for all my paintings at Bucks Mills. Still not the nicest weather but had some long sunny spells and I made the most of them.

Arrived at the cabin on Monday 19th to start my two week residency feeling slightly demotivated at the wet and windy weather but unloaded my painting kit and took up temporary residence in this incredible time capsule. I was slightly nervous at first and almost scared to move in case I disturbed anything but soon felt at ease once I’d got used to the tiny interior of the cabin. Sadly due to the weather plein air painting was not on the cards so I took a photo of the village from the beach and got down to some drawing.

As part of my 2019 must do's for my artwork business I've decided to create a blog where I can post progress on my work and generally keep anyone that's interested in my artwork and sculpture up to date.  It remains to be seen how disciplined I will be at posting but I have lots of interesting things happening this year such as my Residency with the National Trust at the Artists Cabin in Bucks Mills and I'm running various teaching sessions and courses over the year including watercolour courses for The Plough Arts Centre at St Annes in Barnstaple.  
I'll be constantly adding to my portfolio of paintings of the North Devon area and my inevitable Motorcycle and Car paintings ( sorry cant stop doing them) and adding to my hand carved stone sculptures.  Not much else for me to say in this opening "Blog" other than I hope you enjoy reading them!     John.