This collection started with walks over the festive period of 2020 out along the rugged Hartland Peninsular.  The wind howling, the waves smashing and rolling onto the rocks and shoreline.  I took so many photographs and mental images, along with quick sketches or colour studies back in my home studio.  Mentally capturing the exhilleration of being buffeted by the wind or feeling the spray on my skin.  As December turned into January, and the weather calmed, we experienced the most magnificent pink skies at dusk and dawn.  These became a focus as the National Lockdown was imposed and we were restricted to home.  What could I see from my studio window, or experience on my local beach at Instow?  
 
The North Devon Coast has been my refuge and solace  since moving here in 2017.  It is an intrinsic part of keeping me mentally healthy, by chanelling what I experience and feel being out in the elements along the South West Coast Path, into my art.    This series of paintings was a way for me to mentally escape the restrictions imposed on us in this third lockdown. I poured all my emotions into the paintings.  What started out as rapid and bold mark making on the canvas, stilled and calmed over time as the layers built up and the paintings emerged.  In a time of turbulence, I sought calm.  By using a muted and limited palette, I was able to create paintings that captured elemental energy, but which had an over riding sence of serenity.