Summer in North Yorkshire… Summer goes so fast. It’s already August, and this month I will be working on commissioned work. Commission work is always a bit daunting, but I like to work for a specific person or couple, for a specific location. I usually paint that which I want to paint, in whatever way I choose to paint it, then exhibit it in a gallery and hope. In June, Maddie Nolan came to the opening of my exhibition in Scarborough. She was my first “proper” art tutor, teaching me printmaking over 20 years ago. She who was always bright and cheerful looked tired and thin. She didn’t stay long, but gave me a packet of photographs of local views she’d taken over the years, and told me she hoped they’d be useful to me. Inspired, I painted “Runswick Bay” and “Whitby”, which I finished tonight. Maddie died on Tuesday. I’ll miss her, but my little word was made richer by her presence, and I am grateful to have known her.

“Whitby”
Oil on canvas, 30x80cm

Runswick Bay.
Acrylics, 30x80cm

This weekend (19 & 20 July) is Whitby Arts Trail. 25 artists are opening their studios or exhibiting in venues in and around Whitby. Brochures listing all the artists are available from Whitby and York Tourist offices, and will also be available from artists taking part. There are 4 artists North of Whitby, including me. Come and see if you’re in the area!

If you’re in North Yorkshire this summer, you can see my work in Blandscliff Gallery, Scarborough (til the end of August); and on-going exhibitions in Coast Gallery, Cloughton; Swell, Robin Hood’s Bay; Trattles&Geall’s Fine Art, Whitby; The Geallery, Grosmont; Look Gallery, Helmsley, and Wold Pottery Gallery, Loftus.

Clitherbeck (near Danby) Acrylics, 40x120cm.

An exhibition at Blandscliff Gallery, Scarborough, by a french painter on the Northern Edge of North Yorkshire. The exhibition runs from the 21st of June til 27 August, and features acrylics and oil landscapes of places I love between Staithes and Scarborough. I hope you’re free on Saturday, and able to come to the opening of my exhibition in Scarborough. (from the seafront it’s just behind Corrigan’s; from the old town it’s down towards the beach from the indoor market.)

I’m very busy at the moment, working towards an exhibition at Blandscliff Gallery, Scarborough. The opening is on Saturday 21 June 2014, from 3 to 6pm. Feel free to drop in if you’re in Scarborough that day (or on other days: the exhibition will run til 31 August). Here are some of my newest work, inspired by Scarborough.

Scarborough, acrylics on canvas, 20x20cm

Anxiety Rising.
Scarborough, acrylics on canvas, 20x20cm

This Spring is full of surprises, it brings me interesting visitors, including a tutor from my art student days over 20 years ago. The drawback of being a professional artist is that one often works in isolation, buried in work and only occasionally meeting other artists. (Or maybe that’s just me being a hermit). Gallery owners see my work and express a preference, my friends see my work and like it because they like me, people see my work in galleries and buy it if they like it and have room on their walls… So I paint. It’s very rare for me to get constructive criticism from someone with knowledgeable and detached judgement. It’s great. And on the same day, I was asked to be the featured artist in Blandscliff Gallery in Scarborough, from 21 June til mid August. (*quietly excited*)

Now exhibited in Trattles&Geall’s Fine Art, Whitby.

It’s a strange time of the year, I spend 12 to 14 hours a day painting, maybe because I know that the Spring will soon be here, and I’ll want to spend time in the garden… Here are another 2 of Robin Hood’s Bay.

Robin Hood’s Bay is full of memories. I was just fifteen went I first went there. I got off the bus and fell in love. I was used to falling in love every couple of weeks, but that love grew and stayed and is still there within me.  And the village looked good too. I lived in and around the Bay for many years, and still live not too far away. This may be the start of a new series, smaller ones just started…

The Bolts. Acrylics on canvas, 40x80cm

The Old Bakehouse. Acrylics on canvas, 50x100cm