I’ve not added any paintings to my website for a while. My mother passed away at the end of February so I’ve been in Sussex for the past three months.

Mum was 86 and had lived in Hampshire and Sussex since the late 1980s as she joined my sister Mandy in Portsmouth. Mandy passed away in 2009, so they join each other once again. I still have my two nephews and their families in Portsmouth, a blessing.

Though I’ve visited my family lots of times I’ve never really had time to explore the area, so my daily drives and walks became a salve during the final few weeks of mum’s life. Sussex is a most beautiful county. I have a set of photos and memories to treasure and in the evenings I painted for a couple of hours. Impressions from memory or experiments in watercolour try to capture the essence of the softly undulating South Downs and tree lined fields, and the coast broken by inlets and channels.

I worked across three sketchbooks 13x21cm (this is a regular habit whatever the size so I’m not waiting around for work to dry). I’ll be adding a new page in the gallery soon so look out for the next post.

I’ve just returned after clearing mum’s house so feeling pretty exhausted and emotional, and also interested to see how Sussex has influenced my larger work.