Is this a paint brush I see before me?

It has been so long since I picked up a brush and put my heart and soul into a painting. That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about it. Far from it: I still wake up most mornings reaching for one of my many notebooks. I have a collection of stuffed folios and pads that goes back 20+ years. I am sure most of my good stuff is in there just waiting for my psychologist daughter to go rooting around when I have returned, in kind, to that great big metaphysical canvas know as the Universe. We are here for so little time that we find ourselves distracted from the thing we love by the need to earn a living. Star Trek has it right: you can't explore the infinite when you are stuck in the here and now of everyday existence. Time, then, to pick up my brush again and go boldly where I have been before and long to be again. A blank canvas; a brush (or 40); a shelf full of acrylic paint and only the vaguest of ideas where the first line will take me. To all those who dare to call themselves "Artist" I offer my thanks for making the Universe a better place.

It's been a while. I've been taking a long hard look at the various strands of my creative life and trying to put some order into the chaos. I've tried everything including having no system at all and just dealing with whatever comes most urgently to my attention. After all, John Lennon once mused that "Life is what happens while you're doing something else." I have come to the conclusion that the Buddhists have it right: "Life is what you choose to pay attention to." To that end, I have sorted out a system that allows to me to keep track of everything from my lecturing, art, framing and consulting businesses via a combination of daily mind maps working on conjunction with Omnifocus. I can capture all the information, process and act upon it without having to keep all of it in my head. I have cleared out the desk clutter, in-tray stockpiles and email backlogs. Sorted all the project files into folders and archived everything that isn't required for front of mind actions. In short, I have created peace of mind amid the whirlwind of immediate actions, mid-term projects and long term fantasies. My whole life is ordered into 3 main folders: Now. Next and Nuts. Each has subsections for the four working and one personal contexts. Fingers crossed. What Now?...Billing. What Next?...new business in Poland. What Nuts? I'm not ready to tell!

Maidenhead Art on the Street

Art on the Street was brilliant. A whole two days of mixing with over 1oo other artists from the surrounding area and as far afield as Amsterdam and Australia. Blazing sunshine on day one and constant rain on day two. All the while, the company of some amazingly talented artists and hundreds of people who took time out of shopping trips and Cup Final TV to talk art and business. Can't wait for the next one. My thanks to the amazing ladies from Boville Wright Art shop for organising such a great event.

Some places you never forget

This is my impression of Ballydwan Cove in Ireland. You reach the single beach via a rock-strewn gap in the cliff face and can find yourself trapped between the crumbling rockface and the pounding waves. The whole bay is a horseshoe amphitheatre for sound and movement. Some days the fog stays trapped on the shingle and you can't see anything but the innermost waves. On other days, the sun flays through the fog to reveal the hitherto latent white horses that ceaselessly race each other across the rough and tumble wave tops. Your eyes and ears have nowhere to rest. You cannot escape the feeling of energy all about you. It is palpable, visceral and always intimidating. Now you understand how the gap in the towering cliffs was made: the sun and the sea are simply irresistible. They work without pause for breath, wielding cosmic and global forces we can't even begin to comprehend. If I painted here all day and night for the rest of my life, it would never be the same from one moment to the next. Such is the power of Ballydwan Cove.

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.