Welcome to the first in what is an experiment in basically writing regularly my thoughts on art, life and faith. Before I begin I thought I’d just lay down the expectations, as someone with a tendency to procrastinate and get stuck in the perfectionist reeds that stop me from posting/communicating at all. This is my reminder to re-read and remember what this is about.

This is a place where I tend to keep things raw, simple and I will write my observations of the day whether that be a comment on the weather, wildflowers spotted, or what I got up to.

If inspiration strikes me during the day relating to art, sketching, life as a mother and as someone with faith then I’ll share that here too.

Things may feel unpolished, there are likely to be grammatical errors and typos but I hope you will enjoy this insight into my life on a daily basis or just dip in once a week, however you wish to use it is entirely up to you.

Don’t worry I’ll only send a mail out once a week to remind you it’s here, but you’ll be able to access it daily after 9.30pm just before I go to bed.

So I guess I better get started….

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Welcome to my 26th post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

It’s the season for village shows here in Cornwall. Fruit, veg, craft, cakes, flowers are put on display for everyone to see- the good, bad and wonky!

I thought this would be the ideal subject for our Process and Play this month and an inspiring way to draw still life subjects in a fun way.

I firstly take a look at a few of my sketchbook pages from village shows I’ve sketched at in the past and then dive in to creating a brightly coloured double page spread with a range of mediums, inviting you to do the same.

I decided to break out my fountain pens and ecolines for a change along with my usual mix of materials.

I share with you all the materials I use in the post below, along with PDF of the images and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

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It’s almost the end of Summer and I thought it apt to share a catch up with you after what feels like a while.

Good news I have been fully discharged from the perinatal mental health service, which means that I no longer receive any home visits, text or voice calls to check up on me. Whilst it was reassuring to know that support was there the last 9 months of appointments lasting from 60-90 minutes every other week felt quite intrusive when I just wanted to get on with my life and enjoy being a new mother.

Sunny is now crawling, standing independently and generally interested in anything that tickles her fancy. She loves spending time with Tony ‘dada’ when they cook dinner together and asks to be lifted up whenever she sees him going into the kitchen.

She enjoys her books and everyday we read a fair few. The Uh-Oh Nico books by Chris Chatterton and anything by Eric Hill seem to particularly capture her attention along with my friend Becky Strahle’s book The hope of Heaven, requested each night to read. We tend to go to our local library every 3 weeks to stock up our book pile, but find it can be quite limited in what is on offer. I’m all ears for any book suggestions you think we should seek out…

We continue to go out as a family each day to walk, enjoy nature, and find a spot to sit and sketch whilst we feed Sunny her third meal of the day. It’s something that we’ve all come to enjoy and find space for no matter how busy things get and particulalry before the weather turns.

Current Routines

A typical day for me currently is to wake around 5.30/6am make breakfast and get Sunny’s bottle ready for her first feed at 6.30am. Sunny remains under Daddy’s care for night time so I will go in and get her to give Tony an extra hour or so in bed, particularly needed if she has woken in the night.

Sunny and I then have breakfast; bananas and blueberries (her no.1 favourite fruit) with oats and we then read and play together before Tony comes and joins us an hour or so later. Recently I’ve been taking her out for a short walk to the swings which she loves and likes to greet any dog she sees on the way there very enthusiastically. Sunny goes down for her first nap around 9am and then I get to work on client work or personal projects.

Encouragingly over the last month I’ve had client work and inquiries begin to trickle back in to my inbox. Currently I have been working on couple of projects; one features hand drawn maps in my sketchbook style incorporating the flora and fauna of the Canadian Gulf commissioned by a writer who grew up in the area.

It’s very much what I want to be illustrating; work inspired by nature, the land and the wildlife that inhabit it. The maps will be used on her website to display the world that she has written about and hopes to pick up publishers to take her book further.

The other project is working with an executive chef on illustrating some dining cards for a national competition that will be televised. I have no idea what program it is for but again the subject matter is something I enjoy illustrating. His dishes are based on different aspects of Cornish life- the simple pleasures.

So I have been drawing illustrations relating to crabbing, eating ice-cream in the sunshine, visiting Heligan gardens and the Eden project and enjoying fresh produce from the land and sea and of course a Cornish pasty.

I have been working on these alongside my regular map clients Ferment and Glug and usually get a map from them to illustrate each month. I’ve had to get used to working in short spurts here and there and also not be tempted to run in and see what’s happening with Sunny and Tony when I hear a squeal of delight or pain! Headphones are a must.

Tony takes on the lion’s share of Sunny care each week from Monday to Thursday and I do Friday-Sunday to allow Tony time to prepare for Sundays. In the mornings she wakes from her nap around 10.30am and then is with one of us until we all gather for lunch at around 1pm. After a hearty dinner she then goes down for her second nap of the day around 2pm. If all goes to plan she’ll sleep for an hour and a half and we can then do a bit more work.

Once Sunny wakes she has her 2nd bottle of the day and we then get her dressed and ready for time outside. We pack up her food and a few bits for ourselves and then make our way out the door usually by 4pm.

We spend around 2 hours outdoors, including the drive there and back and try to find a location with a walk, view and spot to sit. Our favourite spots usually involve places with pebbles, swings, water and grass.

Surprisingly (not to me-Tony) I’ve finished my second sketchbook of the year through these short sketching times and although they often feel unfinished I continue to keep going as I find it keeps my tools and mind sharp.

I’m intending to collate all the sketches into another zine and call it Sunny Days Out as a reminder of this time where Sunny has been with me each time I have sketched. I have bought her her own sketchbook now, a small yellow square one and perhaps over the next few months she will begin to make her own marks in it.

Back home we start the lead up to bedtime with bath time around 6.30pm, bottle at 7pm, teeth clean and dance time (more like swaying in the sling to praise music which I’ve done with her since I returned from the MBU) which calms her down. We aim to get her in her PJs at 7.30pm and then read her bedtime books and lights out by 8pm. It can take a further 15-20 minutes to find her comfortable spot and drift off to sleep.

Tony and I then crash (I call it calmly sitting - Tony) on the sofa, eat our fruit, review the day and pray before I become like a zombie and fall into bed around 9.30pm. Everyday feels so full, so both of us are usually utterly exhausted (night owl actually wakes up at that time -Tony) but thankful for everything that has happened.

Return to Kynance Art Collection

I have now completed a mini collection of works on paper inspired by my time at Kynance back in the Spring. I had intended to launch it at the beginning of Summer but things felt too busy for me to cope with all the shipping. Now that Sunny is a little older and a bit more settled in some kind of routine launching in the Autumn seems to be the better time.

I also think the colour palette is more suited to Autumn hues and I hope you’ll enjoy browsing this mini collection when it launches. I will be sending a separate email to invite you to view them in September and the originals will be available to purchase along with a postcard set.

Postcard book Project

As I mentioned in my last catch up post I still have plans to finish my Postcard book, which slowly but surely is being worked on. Looking at it with fresh eyes made me realise there were areas I needed to rework so this will take a bit longer to complete than first realised. I do hope to finish it this year.

Something that I will be starting here for my Seasalt and Serpentine community will be posting a short journal entry each day. I often find myself thinking what have I been doing each day, and although I know I have been doing something I find it so easy to forget and move on to the next thing without taking stock of what I’ve done. I would also like to improve my writing so this will motivate me to do that. The format will be simple, a few words and pictures that describe elements from the day-the good and bad. If you already subscribe then you can expect my first entry to land in your inbox the 1st of September. I won’t be posting them to your email every day but you can if you want to access them on my substack page and read what’s going on.

I also think this will help me write my round-up posts for each month as I get back into the habit of writing regularly.

Well I think that’s it for now, I have been writing this little by little over the last week after Sunny has gone down, a paragraph at a time, so I hope it’s not too rambling! (my favourite past time -Tony;) Hope you are well and you’ll hear from me (and Tony in the edits) again very soon.

Edit: Please find the replay below and catch up on our time of creativity together

How are you all doing?

Our next casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session is happening on Thursday 27th August 2.15-3.15pm -an hour of creativity to use as you will.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met.

If you want to watch the replay of last month’s session you’ll find it here:

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Create a piece of art in an hour

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 2.15pm BST.

Subscribe now

The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

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Welcome to my 25th post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

Do you steer away from drawing people or including them in your sketches? This is something I certainly find in my everyday drawings. Mostly beacuse it’s the landscape that my focus is on, but every so often there are scenes where I can’t avoid people and this is one those.

We’ve had a number of weeks here where it’s been really warm which has meant on our daily aftenoon outings we’ve been looking for shady areas to sit when we feed Sunny her evening meal.

On a recent walk we decided to go to Coverack, a village right on the sea here on the Lizard Peninsula. The tide was out which meant we could sit on the beach and even better we could sit in the shade of the tall sea wall. Being so far back from the sea meant we had full view of the people enjoying the beach so when I came to sketching I knew I had to include a few of them!

And in today’s Process and play post people will be our main focus- people on the beach.

You’ll see how I approach capturing people and see what works and what doesn’t! Hopefully you’ll be inspired to try it yourself when you’re next on a beach.

I share with you all the materials I use in the post below, along with PDF of the images and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

Read more

Edit: Please find the replay below

How are you all doing? Here in the UK we’ve had very warm weather for several weeks, which has meant lots of time spent attempting to keep cool, but also given lots of opportunity to go outside and sketch. I tend to find early evening/late afternoon the best time. Sunny has her evening meal fed to her and we then sketch together under the shade of tree and my second sketchbook of the year is almost full.

Our next casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session is happening on Thursday 30th July 2-3pm -an hour of creativity to use as you will.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met.

If you want to watch the replay of last month’s session you’ll find it here:

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Create a piece of art in an hour

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 2pm BST.

Subscribe now

The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

Read more

Welcome to my 24th post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

The other week Tony, Sunny and I visited the area around Loe bar situated just at the top left of the Lizard not far from Porthleven- but approaching from the south at Chyvarloe. We had actually been twice before when it was bright sunshine but this time it was completely shrouded in fog.

After I did my quick sketch we went exploring near the water’s edge -lakeside and discoverd these beautiful yellow flowers.

I had a feeling that they were some kind of Poppy and vaguely remembered them being mentioned in my Lizard wildflower book. I hesistated to touch them and so glad I did as I found out they are the Yellow Horned Poppy- a very toxic plant which if you handle can cause serious issues to your brain.

At the time I decided to take a few photos of the poppies and the landscape hoping to use them at some point for future inspiration.

And so here we are…in this month’s Process and Play they’ll be the focus for our time together and we’ll be adding another dimension to our sketch, collage.

I share with you all the materials I use in the post below, along with PDF of the images and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

Read more

Edit: The replay is below, please scroll down to watch

Join us for a casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session happening on Monday 29th June 2-3pm -an hour of creativity to use as you will.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met.

If you want to watch the replay of last month’s session you’ll find it here:

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Create a piece of art in an hour

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 2pm BST.

Subscribe now

The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

Read more

Welcome to my 23rd post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

It’s May time and all the wildflowers are coming out in abundance here in Cornwall which can be very distracting, but in a good way! It’s hard not to want to sketch them and capture them on paper. However sometimes it can be tricky to know where to start particularly if there are a lot of them and you don’t want to draw every single one.

In this month’s Process and Play I look at ways in which to do this, sharing a simple technique with Neocolor IIs. We’ll also work with pencils and markers to achieve a layered sketch.

You’ll get to peek at some of my wildflower sketches I’ve done on location this and last year to give some ideas as to how you could approach sketching them too.

I share with you all the materials I use in the post below, along with PDF of the image and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

Read more

In just under 2 days time I’ll be participating in the Cornwall Open Studio event at Lowenek studio . This will be my fourth year sharing my work at Pippa’s studio and this year will be no different in that I’ll have all my sketchbooks on display and available to flick through.

I won’t be running any workshops this time but you’ll find me sketching and painting my way through the days and I’ll be happy to answer any material questions. You’ll also be able to see works in progress.

I’ll have a just a limited number of items for sale (cards mostly) but will have my new zine based on sketching at Kynance Cove. This will be available in my shop after the event too.

Pippa will be there with all her pottery, Kriksis with her illustrations, Fiona with her handcrafted stories and new for this year James Good- Pippa’s husband who will be sharing his woodworking items.

It really is a wonderful time of sketching, chatting, meeting new and old friends and artists, drinking tea, sharing stories, and welcoming travellers from far and wide.

Share

If you would like to visit, please find the details and days that I will be available below; I’d love to meet you.

• 23rd May Saturday 11-4.30pm

• 25th May Monday 11-4.30pm

• 28th May Thursday 11-4.30pm

• 29th May Friday 11-4.30pm

• 30th May Saturday 11-4.30pm

Open Studio Venue Address:

Lowenek Studio, Trewince St Martin, Helston, Cornwall, TR12 6EE

Look out for the blue sign at the end of the single-track farm drive.

Parking on-site and toilet available.

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EDIT: The replay is now ready to view-scroll down to watch.

Join us for a casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session happening on Wednesday 27th May 2-3pm -an hour of creativity to use as you will.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met. I’ll be in the midst of Open Studios but want to make time to have our usual hour.

If you want to watch the replay of last month’s session you’ll find it here:

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Create a piece of art in an hour

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 3pm GMT.

Subscribe now

The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

Read more

What a week! I’m writing to you after what has been a whirlwind of art creation, sketching on location, feasting and walking here on the Lizard.

We’ve had exceptionally good weather here and I was thrilled that our group could enjoy all the Lizard had to offer in the sunshine. As expected it’s back to high winds and heavy downpours as I type this morning.

Maytime is also when the wildflowers start to appear and they did not disappoint with Bloody Cranesbill, Sea Thrift, Sea Campion, Navalwort, Gorse, Mustard to name a few, all making an appearance alongside the not so local Hottentrot Fig, a non-native but still stunning.

Our group of seven intrepid sketchers took the opportunity to get stuck into drawing on location and it was a joy to lead them around the village and coastline sharing views and hidden spots I love to sketch.

Our time was split between sketching on location, preparing sketchbooks and learning ways to capture the landscape quickly and simply and drawing from our drawings to create more finished pieces. We used a mix of media on a number of different substrates.

On the morning of our preparation there was a gentle hum of creativity as we painted and created sketchbooks to take out with us in the afternoon. It became an opportunity to become a little more familiar with our materials and methods for capturing the landscape before we went out on location.

With all the visual information we drew on location we had plenty of inspiration to draw from back at the house and were able to create some finished pieces. This for me was really interesting to see as each person had their own distinct style despite been given all the same materials, methods and views. It reminded me that everyone has their own way of seeing and interpreting.

It was amazing to see all the work created at the end of the retreat which we laid out in the drawing room for a mini exhibition and feedback session.

Penmenner House was the location for our retreat and although there were some building works going on it didn’t interrupt our time together, nor spoil the views from the house.

We had wonderful home cooked meals on both the first and second night with our final meal at Tregullas Farm for another delicious meal and hearing about life on the farm from Rona and Elsa

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our art retreat and perhaps next time we’ll see you there?

Massive thanks to all who joined it was a real pleasure and treat to meet and spend time with you, and I appreciate the kindness shown to me and my family. Thanks to Becky for the photos she took of me in action! And of course to Tony who took care of Sunny which gave me the opportunity to do it all. Tony was able to briefly say hi with Sunny and it was lovely for them both to meet those who have only heard of them from afar.

Until next time,

If you’re eager to start sketching on location and don’t know where to start my course The joy of Sketching on Location is the perfect intro and of course you can join our Seasalt and Serpentine community for more tips and advice.

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Welcome to my 22nd post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

I spent a lovely hour the other week walking through the estate of Penrose here in Cornwall. I had charge of Sunny in the buggy whilst Tony was running errands. I had packed my sketchbook in case there was opportunity and motivation to sketch.

We had been walking for around 20 minutes and just as I turned the corner this beautiful scene came in to view. It literally made me stop in my tracks. My photo probably doesn’t do it justice.

I looked down at Sunny and saw that she was sleeping so quickly took out my folding seat, scrambled for my crayons and pencils and set to work sketching the scene.

Here is my final sketch done on location in roughly 10 minutes.

I decided to use this circular format or portal as it makes you feel like you’re looking into another world and I like how the trees add to the framing with the path leading you in. I also really enjoyed the challenge of capturing the trees with their twisting branches and expressive trunks.

And this is the inspiration for our Process and Play this month- expressive trees!

We’ll be studying the same image to give us time to work on capturing the trees, foliage and the play of dark and light shadows on the path.

We’ll work with a mix of media, starting with a background of ink. We’ll then work with pencils, neocolor IIs, neoArt 6901 pastels and neopastels to sketch the scene.

I share all the colours, brands I use in the post below, along with PDF of the image and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

Read more

Edit: please find the replay to watch below

Join us for a casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session happening on Thursday 30th April 2-3pm -an hour of swatching/playing in or out of our sketchbooks.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met. Below I sketched this in our session and noted that I didn’t get too obsessed with details because I was chatting and listening to others.

If you want to watch the replay of last month’s session you’ll find it here:

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Create a piece of art in an hour

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 3pm GMT.

Subscribe now

The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

Read more

Dear Listener,

Welcome to another episode of Explore and Draw.

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The clocks have changed and suddenly everything feels lighter and brighter. I must admit I do prefer BST time and the shift to Summer time, the longer days definitely suit me best.

I thought it be nice to write a mini spring update of how we are and things that are in the pipeline. Also below are some springtime discounts for my online courses- a little Spring gift to you.

I’ve asked Tony to write an update too as I know some of you will be keen to hear from him and news on Sunny-jump to the end to read.

Springtime Course discounts

If you’ve been thinking about sketching on location then maybe now’s the time to enrol in one of my courses! I have two courses that cover sketching on location- The Joy of Sketching on Location and Where the Wildflowers Grow.

One is a general overview and gives you all the instruction to get you outside sketching with realtime footage and lots of tips and the other one has the focus of wildflowers introducing you to over 100 wildflowers, simple ways to sketch them in the field and then in more detail back at the studio. Both are filled with stunning scenery, filmed around the Lizard landscape here in Cornwall.

If you prefer to get creative indoors then you may enjoy my Wild Woodland course or my recently released Let’s Decorate course. The Wild Woodland course covers a whole range of drawing and illustrating woodland plants, animals, birds and insects with the option of making an advent calender (obviously you don’t need to make this right now)!

The Let’s Decorate course introduces you to painting with acrylic and the encouragement and guidance to get you decorating everyday objects. Lots of fun and tips along the way. Great for young artists too- perfect for a holiday project.

Use SPRING26 at the checkout and you’ll get a 20% discount off all courses valid until 20th April 2026.

Explore courses

Spring in the Valley -A new body of work

As some of you will know sketching on location is something that I’ve done for some time now, almost ten years, I began in the September of 2017 when we moved to Porthleven. It was a way for me to connect with my new surroundings and reset for the day ahead.

Since returning back home from being in the MBU sketching everyday has been a lifeline in returning to some normality. Tony made it his mission to make sure we have been going out each afternoon, rain or shine for me to sketch, even if it’s just for 10 minutes. It’s something we have built into our family time.

And because of that I’ve found a new body of work has been emerging based around the scenery of Kynance Cove. It’s the one spot that we have consistently returned to, finding it’s scenery to be beautiful, dramatic and wild. We’ve seen it in the rain and mizzle, gale-force winds and now bright Spring sunshine and each time I attempt to capture it’s presence on paper.

My last Process and Play session was actually based on the photo and sketch I made of the valley in Spring, inspired by all the blackthorn blossom coming into bloom.

I now have a large number of sketches ready for me to work through and be inspired by. I have already scanned them in to make a zine and I’m working on new original pieces with a mix of media as I type. I hope to launch these new works over the next month, beginning with a small collection for Springtime.

I’ll be sending out a dedicated email to launch them so do make sure you are subscribed to receive news of their release.

Seasalt and Serpentine Retreat

I’m currently putting the finishing touches together for our Retreat coming up in May and excited to welcome a small group of artists to the Lizard. We’ll be exploring in and around Kynance Cove making lots of sketches, looking at colour, movement and light and then take these outdoor studies back to the studio to work further from. I know it’ll be an immersive, productive time and am so looking forward to seeing what everyone will learn and produce.

366 Postcard Book

Now that I’ve completed some larger projects like the Let’s Decorate course and planning the Seasalt and Serpentine Art retreat, I’ll be returning my attention back to the Postcard Book I began writing last year. I hope to complete it by the end of June and will launch to fund it’s printing in July. I feel even more certain about the healing properties of drawing on location and the benefits I’ve seen to my health and mind so there will be an emphasis of this included in the book, along with the 366 postcards that were completed during 2020.

Tony’s Update

Hi it’s been several months since I last wrote anything here and boy doesn’t time fly, last time I wrote Sunny had just begun wearing 3 month+ clothing, she needed 4 naps a day so as to not get overly tired, and she had just learned to laugh after watching an episode of Mr Bean and hearing canned laughter for the first time (she did an almost adult laugh whilst watching daddy drop some pans). Meanwhile Mel was awaiting her first reduction of medication and struggling terribly with sedation, but desiring to get back to creating.

Sunny is now 6 months + and has grown a lot both in size and character, she loves to laugh particularly at nap and bedtime often at our initial attempts to settle her (often followed by moaning as she realises we’re serious), has started wearing size 6 month+ clothing, started weaning, although to be honest she started tasting things weeks ago (table legs, curtains, books, toys, cups, my beard, oh and some pureed fruits), and is now enjoying doing quiet but more strained poos (she is sneaky now, couldn’t hide them before eek). And we continue to wait for her 2 front teeth to emerge she has now been teething since before Christmas bless her.

Meanwhile Mel has begun the reduction in her medication, not without a fight there was a difference of opinion between what the MBU Doc said and Cornwall mental health understood him to have said, but Mel stood her ground and her dose is being decreased monthly with positive effects every time, she is still a tad sedated but nowhere near what she was. The biggest hurdle was first decrease as that was what they call the lowest therapeutic dose, the dose that deals with any of the hormonal causes that caused the episode, so once that went without any recurrence I think the local doctors fears were relieved and she has been helpful since then. I am still the nightwatchman for Sunny as the Meds still put Mel to sleep for the night, but for the last month Mel has been relieving me at between 6am-7am something not possible when she first came home from MBU.

Life has been largely positive, as a family we function well and the assigned members of Cornwall post natal mental health team who have regularily visited us spend most their time saying how peaceful our flat is and how happy we all appear (Sunny has a knack of being a little angel when ayone visits, then releasing all the energy after :).

On a personal note, I am a Part-time Pastor of a tiny church, which sadly had to close during the period of Mel’s illness initially because the roof on the building was being replaced, which we only found out a week or two before Mel fell ill, now there’s divine timing! The roof was finally finished and we have now reopened with our newest member Sunny on board, whilst Mel has resumed playing guitar and leading services. The weather in Cornwall has finally gone sunny after several stormy and wet weeks, so walking has resumed in earnest, it’s nice to get out and not have to worry about getting drenched or blasted by the wind. That’s us up to date…. I think…. sleep deprivation may have missed something…. ;)

Tony :)

Thanks Tony, well, that’s it for now if you want to see more sketches I’ve been doing on location follow my Instagram feed or Facebook page, for slower process and life updates my Youtube channel is good place to go or join the Seasalt and Serpentine community here on Substack for art advice, techniques I use in my sketching and joining in with live sessions.

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Wishing you a hope filled season ahead,

Mel x

Welcome to my 21st post in our PROCESS & PLAY series.

One of the things I’ve observed if you regularly go out and sketch on location, particularly if you start in the colder months, is that if the weather just improves slightly you really do notice it.

I found that to be true this week when we went out for our usual afternoon sketch session. We left the house later than usual around 4pm and by the time we got parked and set up it was around 4.20pm. Usually I’d be worried about the light going and the temperature dropping but to my surprise the light remained and it felt rather pleasant.

Other things I noticed were the blackthorn and gorse coming into bloom. I love seeing this, as it transforms the landscape into a patchwork of white and yellow clumps. The other flower that is dominant at this time of year are the violets- small purplish blue flowers you see sprouting up in their hundreds dotted around the gorse and thorn. They all say to me Spring is here!

And this is the inspiration for our Process and Play this month- a Springtime late afternoon landscape. I loved how the light softened the landscape giving everything a glow.

We’ll be studying just one image that I took at Kynance Cove alongside 3 close-ups of the flowers I mentioned.

We’ll work with a mix of media, starting with a background of ink, salt and alcohol.

We’ll then work with pencils, neocolors and neopastels to sketch the scene.

I share all the colours, brands I use in the post below, along with PDF of the images and video process.

If you’d like to find out more upgrade to paid or if you’re already part of the community scroll on down to watch the pre-recorded video and access all the links and photos.

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Thanks for reading and hope you can join one of our sessions!

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Edit: Please find the replay below

Join us for a casual Swatch, Sketch and Share session happening on Thursday 26th March 3-4pm -an hour of swatching/playing in or out of our sketchbooks.

It would be lovely to catch up with you and hear how things are going since we last met.

Why not use the time to…

• Try out some new materials

• Organise your art supplies

• Swatch colours

• Catch up on an art challenge

• Experiment with a different way of working

• Paint a subject you haven’t before

• Finish or start a project you’ve been meaning to

• Simply hang out with others and chat

At the end of our time we’ll share what we’ve been up to, it’ll be great to see what you’re currently sketching or being inspired by.

You are also welcome to chat as we go or if you prefer to just have this on in the background and silently get on with something then please do.

If you’d like to join, upgrade to paid (you’ll also gain access to all my previous paid posts) and just turn up on zoom using the link below at 3pm GMT.

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The session will be recorded and will be uploaded in this post, so you’ll be able to catch up or watch again in your own time later if you can’t join live.

Hope to see you there!

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It’s with great pleasure that I can announce the launch of my new course Let’s Decorate! - bright ideas for painting everyday objects

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Dear Reader,

It’s with great pleasure that I can announce the launch of my new course Let’s Decorate! - bright ideas for painting everyday objects

It’s been something I have been working on in the background before I gave birth and over the last few months have been slowly chippping away a bit at a time to bring it to completion. I must admit I didn’t think I’d ever finish it working in such short bursts, but I’m so glad I peservered and can now tell you all about it. Read on for more details…

This course arose from a desire to be surrounded by beautiful, everyday objects in my home, featuring favourite subjects like wild flowers, fruit and elements from the natural world.

See more here!

I was particularly inspired by a visit to a sunflower field last year and this got me wanting to paint them on everything.

I've always loved to paint murals, back in my twenties I was a mural artist in a school and it was actually how I started dating Tony when he commissioned me to paint a mural on his flat walls. A job that should have taken a week took 3 months as we would find all sorts of things to chat about!

I digress…back to the course

What you’ll do

In this course we’ll look at 3 types of acrylic paint- heavy body, soft body and acrylic gouache, noting their qualities and discuss what kind of project they would suit best.

I’ll then guide you through four projects to paint and give you detailed steps for sourcing materials, preparing surfaces and painting your objects.

Working in acrylic paint to transform a space is a great way to brighten your home on a smaller scale and through painting everyday objects there’s also a special sense of accomplishment that comes with customising your space.

On the course you’ll gain inspiration and practical know-how to bring your decorative ideas to life and work on similar pieces for your home.

If this sounds just up your street or you’re curious to find out more then please hop over to the purchase page here. Any questions just ping them over to me or go to the bottom of the sales page for FAQ.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to speaking again soon,

PS Seasalt & Serpentine Paid community-I’m offering a 25% discount for you- watch out for the next email with the coupon code.