Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage is next weekend. Over 100 artists and their work, lots of food stalls, light shows and more. I’ll be in Cottage 4a, near the footbridge, on the way to the lifeboat, with the wonderful Ailsa Nicholson and her fabulous glass work. Preview is Friday 8 September, 7pm to 8.30pm. The festival goes on all weekend Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 September. Artists venues are open from 10am til 5.30pm, or later.
This is one of the paintings I’ll be showing, if it dries by next weekend. It was finished weeks ago, but slow drying oil paint dries, as you might expect, rather slowly…

Poppy Field II. Oil on canvas, 100x120cm.

The second painting of Whitby seen from Sandsend is the view from Lythe bank, that steep and twisting road. I’m hoping a third painting of Whitby from Sandsend will be finished for Staithes Art Festival. I’m working on it…

There was a magnificent field of red poppies near Loftus this year. Someone who could see it from their farm told me about it, knowing I would be interested… I love it. I think this is the first time I’ve used red as a pure colour in an oil painting. It will be exhibited at Staithes Art Festival (8 to 10 September 2017).
PS. This painting was sold at Staithes Festival. (I am so lucky that some people collect my work even when their walls are full. Thank you, J&J!)

A small painting, looking towards Iburndale and Ugglebarnby from Sleights.

The second painting of reflections, this is Lythe Beck, near Grosmont.

Only one week before the annual Whitby Art Fair! At Whitby Spa Pavilion, Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 June, 10am til 4pm.
About 40 artists will take part, including me! And the Whitby Gazette did a nice feature.

PS. Thank you to all who came to the art fair!

Still working on reflections, but while waiting for oil paint to dry, I’ve reworked this one.

Hummersea is very close to my home on the North Yorkshire coast. At the foot of Boulby cliffs (amonst the highest cliffs in England), Hummersea is a pebble beach and its walls retain signs of its industrial past. Time and weather have carved its stones, and our propensity for anthropomorphism leads us to perceive faces, appropriately enough, in the rock face.

Faces on the cliffs
Memories of lovers lost
Looking out to sea.

My latest painting is my favourite bridge in Loftus Woods. Quiet waters, but moving still. Light and dark. Reflections… Moving away from large vistas, to darker places. Reflections and reminiscences, clouded by time and memory failure. We are our memories, or rather our memories make us. I’ve always been interested by the processes of memory. A few months ago, an Alzheimer sufferer moved into my house. She forgets many things, but at times remembers many other things which she thought were lost to her. And then she is full of joy, and wants to share her memories, in case she loses them again. As reflections can be partly obscured, sometimes memories are distorted by the flow, upside down, and out of context.
This is a painting of a small bridge. I like bridges. I think we should build more bridges, and fewer walls.
P.S. 6 July 2017. This painting was sold through Coast Gallery, Cloughton.

Here is my latest. It took rather longer than I’d planned, but then my paintings often do…
PS. Someone who knows RHBay, but now lives in Canada, loves this one. I’ll keep it for her til her visit in June, as I think it’s best to see a painting for real before you buy.
PS. June 2017. She came, saw it and liked it. Soon to be on her wall in Canada!

Clitherbeck is a painting which I have recently reworked. The top picture is the original acrylic painting, the lower one is after reworking in oil paints. I have lightened it all over. I do like dark shades, but (possibly because I’ve recently taken in an old lady with Alzheimer and mobility problem_ yes, I thought my life was simply too easy and wonderful), I find myself going lighter. Fighting the dark with Light.