There's no place like home

While heading off into London to exhibit my work to a wider audience makes sense from a financial perspective, putting your art out into the local community helps you feel part of something bigger: raising the creative and cultural profile of Maidenhead, the place I call home. So many of us living in Maidenhead, for obvious reasons, are so focused on London as the place where we work and play that we forget about what is on our own doorstep. The Norden Farm Centre for the Arts is a place where we artists, of all kinds, get to show our work while others get a chance to play and be amazed, amused and entertained. Take a look at the what's on section of their website and you will see the most extraordinary collection of live shows, films, classes, workshops and exhibitions. Who knows, you might even get to see my latest work in there soon. If you live in the Maidenhead area, check out the website http://nordenfarm.org

Boscastle: the forces of nature at work

I went to Boscastle in Cornwall and was astonished at the tidal range in the harbour. The quay wall must be 100 feet and parts of it are submerged at high tide and the seabed is completely uncovered at low tide. No wonder Turner loved to paint ships fighting to get into safe harbour. Even the mouth of the cove is a switchback cut between two towering walls of granite. I visited the harbour at different times of the day to catch the changing atmosphere. I was lucky enough to see an approaching storm sweeping in across the sea. I was thinking it will find it just as hard as the ships to fight its way into the harbour. Boscastle has always been more at risk from the rivers that flood in from behind than the sea. It is as if it is the front line in a struggle between the sea and the land with both wanting to claim the village as its own. It is a place of extraordinary energy. I'll be going back soon to tap into the atmosphere.

It still has the power to generate energy

You can't drive down the embankment in Chelsea without wondering what will become/what should be done with the ruins of Battersea Power Station. My family connection with this landmark building goes back decades. Its abandonment has blighted one of the most dynamic skylines in London. In my panting, I have tried to show how this building has always made people take notice of it, think about it and either love it or hate it. I wanted to capture it's sense of history, its' nowness and it's future all in one go. It has always generated energy in the form of: electricity, debate, ideas, plans, and now... hope. I hope that all of these energies are there in every brushstroke. I hope some of what's on show at http://www.battersea-powerstation.com will keep the energy flowing.

Immortality in Venice

Hot on the brushstrokes of George and countless other artists, I tried to convey the sense of constantly evolving history passing through, in and around L'Accademia in Venice. I can't imagine how many waves have washed against its imperious foundations, how often the sun has baked each ornately crafted inch of block and plasterwork, how many footsteps have echoed around the marbled floors, how many fortunate souls have rested against the smoothed handrail and sighed at the sight of the Grand Canal flowing by and hoped, just for second, that they could be a part of this building of form that goes way beyond function. While I was painting, I was haunted by the idea that whoever built this work of art knew that one day I would arrive and that through painting the building would understand how precious and intertwined life and art must be to make a lasting impression. In the time allowed, I need to put all I have ever been, am and will be into every brushstroke. There are tens of thousands in this painting.

Geroge Devlin in Venice

You have got to go there some time in your life. Venice is simply the most fantastic city on the planet. It is an idea that overloads your senses from the moment you exit the train station and enter a kind of Waterworld that even Disney couldn't have dreamed up. A place where all the normal hectic hustle and bustle of a busy city is carried out on roads made of water, which sweep and wash past the most seductive backdrop of buildings ever assembled by man. This painting by George Devlin captures that happy, seductive collage of architecture, water and atmosphere that makes me ache for another visit every time I think of it. In the meantime, I can look at George's painting and know that someone else was equally moved by the way Venice is a celebration of our ability as human beings to make the impossible possible and that if we pay very careful attention, if we look with the mindful intensity of an true artist, we can capture the essence on canvas, take it home and allow other people to share in the moment. You can see more of George's wonderful work on http://www.georgedevlin.com

Robert E Wells

This is the work of an Artist whose work reminds me of my younger days in London. You can feel the location and, in particular, the weather, in every brushstroke. You can see more of his work here: http://robertewells.com/index.html

Run for your Life

This meter square painting focuses on the fact that runners are moving through and exchanging energy with matter all around them. Every exposed surface of the body is in contact with the atomic mass of the air, the road and the clothes they wear. Particulates that come into the body via the lungs, end up all over the body. Parts of the body are shed from the skin and are left trailing in our wake. There is give and take in every stride. Even our thoughts that tell us to push harder, run even faster or simply to keep going are exchanged with the universe at the quantum level. This painting explores the sensation a runner feels as they break through the wall. An imaginary energy barrier that brings a breakthrough burst of energy that makes a runner feel as though they could keep on going forever.