On Friday night I attended the Scarborough Art Gallery preview of Annabel McCourt's new exhibition, and the announcement of the winning piece from the 2019 East Coast Open Exhibition.

I am over the moon to announce that 'Two Boats Passing' won. Thank you so much to everyone who voted for my painting, it was all down to the people's favourite and I could not have won without everyone's support. 

My painting is being bought by Scarborough Art Gallery and will be going into their permanent collection. It is such an honour, I am chuffed to bits.

I am really thrilled to have four of my paintings on show and for sale in the wonderful Zillah Bell Contemporary Gallery in Thirsk.

At the preview on Friday evening I loved meeting the son, daughter and great-granddaughter of the artist Deirdre Borlase. Deirdre's In Memoriam exhibition is on show in the gallery until the 27th of April. Such an inspirational artist, I can highly recommend a visit. You can learn more about Deirdre on the Zillah Bell website https://zillahbellgallery.co.uk/exhibition/deirdre-borlase-memoriam/

I have just returned from an inspirational visit to Scotland, learning with the incredibly talented artist, Hazel Campbell, in Dumfries and Galloway. Hazel’s fluid approach to painting mixed media art with gouache, inks and pastels is really exciting and liberating.

It was a wonderful creative retreat, where I focused on developing my practice in beautiful, atmospheric countryside.

Above is my favourite landscape painting from my time in Scotland, and below is an exploration with bold colour.

This summer I will be the artist in residence for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust​ at Spurn Point Nature Reserve​.

The residency will involve my drawing, painting and photography, and the main focus of all three art forms will be the local fishing community who work in the North Sea off Spurn Point.

I am absolutely thrilled to have been given this amazing opportunity. I will get to meet and capture some of the fishermen on our Yorkshire coast at work, their boats, equipment and catch. And then I will spend a number of weeks on Spurn Point over the summer, using my images as the basis for a series of paintings.

At the end of my residency there will be an exhibition of my paintings throughout September, together with an audio visual installation of images of the fishermen at work, and undersea footage of the seabed and marine life, which will be on display to visitors in Spurn’s amazing lighthouse.
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As a lover of the sea and Yorkshire this is a dream come true, I really can’t wait.

* click on the images below to enlarge. 

I am really thrilled to have two of my paintings chosen to go into the 2019 East Coast Open at Scarborough Art Gallery. 

And I was chuffed to bits to find out at the preview event on Friday evening that my painting 'Two Boats Passing' was chosen to go into the Judge's Selection of their six favourite paintings.

You can vote for your favourite painting throughout the exhibition, and the public's favourite piece will be purchased by the gallery to go into their permanent collection. 

I hope that you have the opportunity to visit this wonderful exhibition and gallery in the next couple of months. What a great excuse to enjoy some fabulous art and have a day on our stunning Yorkshire Coast!

​* click on the images below to enlarge

I spent most of this weekend building my new website. It was a steep but very rewarding learning curve! I hope that you like it and enjoy sharing my artistic journey with me.