‘Keeping Watch’ is one of two paintings on paper I made this week.  I’m working exclusively on a small scale at the moment because my studio is in a ‘state of flux’.  Having expected to move in April but been diverted by Corvid-19, all my materials are packed away except for the ones I can carry in a bag.  It seems inevitable that our sale is going to fall through and worse, that our buyers are going to claim costs against us.  This is because the conveyancing contract takes no account of a lock down and because my wife, Hilary, is self isolating for age and health reasons.

Many sleepless nights have followed but our greatest compensation and boost to our well-being is the experience of living where we do and the walks we can take through the local coastal countryside.  Part of our daily lock-down routine is to take our dog for a walk through the fields adjacent to my studio.  These fields are bounded by Cornish hedges, a feature of much of my work for some time now.  Mostly its difficult to see over the top of them, but when they become dilapidated, which they inevitably do, and before they are rebuilt, its possible to see over the top of sections of granite walling that are crumbling.  Instead of just hearing the cattle, pulling on the grass with their mouths, we get the occasional view of the top of grazing cows who we try not to startle as we walk past.