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We are in the time between winter and spring. We have just passed ‘Imbolc’ on February 1st and 2nd , originally a Celtic fire festival to celebrate the forthcoming spring, the return of the light and to honour the goddess / Saint Brigid. According to Irish folklorist and academic Ó Catháin in his book ‘The…

I have finished my second Lino of my winter print series. (If you missed the first one it’s here) About 10,000 years or more ago, before the gradual shift from Neolithic hunter gatherers to Bronze Age farmers, female deities were worshipped more often than the gods that finally took their place once a patriarchal society was…

If you have bought one of my prints or about to buy one, here are some tips on how to frame it. The easiest way is to take it to a reputable framers, as they should do a good job and it takes all the stress and work out of the steps required to frame…

Inspired by the witches hair lichen on Dartmoor, I delved into the internet to find out more about it. And one connection led to another. The first thing I found was its latin name which is Alectoria Sarmentosa. When I typed the word into google I found a similar first word – Alectorus Rufa which…

A meeting with a Dartmoor blackface sheep My day was over at Ullacombe barn where my two week studio space for Devon Open Studios was taking place and like most days I decided to blow out the cobwebs on the moor. I went to Black Hill which is the east side of Dartmoor, just a…

One moonlit night before sleep as I slipped into reverie, I was sure I heard the susurration of feathery wings, rippling through the midnight air outside my window. I’d been watching the swallows on the moors swooping and diving, small gulps weaving a beautiful sky dance, exuding joy from delicate wings, seemingly a pre-migration celebration…

Pic by Jim Wileman – Devon Artists, Powderham This year I won an emerging artist bursary award from Devon Open Studios. Have a look at the bursary winners here. I also won the Joanna Radford prize which was a cash prize to help me purchase some more (much needed) materials. Here I am emerging from…

A journey to White Moor stone circle, Dartmoor.  ‘The sublime is in turn of different sorts. The feeling of it is sometimes accompanied with some dread or even melancholy, in some cases merely with quiet admiration and in yet others with a beauty spread over a sublime prospect. ‘ (1764, 2:209 Kant) Yesterday I walked…

Over the last year I experimented making paper using : shredded receipts tea bags and coffee garlic leaves Grass and old Lino prints I was quite fascinated with the garlic leaf paper . I admit the colour wasn’t great 😆 but the plant must have so much …. something in it to make it feel…