Our ancient mythology tells us that on February 1st each year the Celtic goddess Brigid takes over from the harsh old woman of winter, the Cailleach. The light returns and the plants begin their growing season. I’m particularly fond of this image from Pompeii of Flora, another goddess of fertility and growth in the natural world.

After a slow beginning and a lot of wet and cold, you catch sight of the first aconites and snowdrops and from then on the plants and trees on Burgess Field join the race to bloom and thrive. The bird song mirrors this energy, beginning with the thrushes (alongside the robins which have been singing throughout), and soon the finches and warblers, perhaps a cuckoo and of course we dream of nightingales. Over the years I’ve been trying to capture the sound of birds in a sketchbook. These sketches are impressions of the song and this exercise compels the mind to focus on just that sound. It stays in your memory and does its magic.

I rarely sit and draw a landscape but often stop on a walk, make a few marks and a few notes. I work in a windowless studio so I must fill up my imagination, rather like a bee collecting pollen and take the store of information inside with me in order to paint. Photographs have limited use in my practice and I never refer to them when I paint.

The second image is of a recent painting which derives from walks and observations on Burgess Field. The hawthorn trees are a treat, winter and summer. This is an image of two of them entangled on a winter’s night under the stars, waiting for Spring.

Blog update January 2026