I've finally completed my latest commission, View from Leweston Hill. It's always really intense at the end, all those hundreds of tiny decisions that have to be made. Of course, the underlying atmosphere of the painting is achieved with a very different approach, as I slowly build up the composition and colours over several months. I feel this is the only way to do justice to the sense of ancient time, or even timelessness, that the landscape evokes. The forms of the land have taken millennia to evolve, while the light and colour is constantly changing.


Portrait of the Artist - Book & Exhibition
I've also been busy on a project called "Portrait of the Artist", with the publication of a book and a group show at the Bridport Arts Centre, from April 17 to May 10 2010. This follows on from the 'studio portraits' that I commissioned photographer George Wright to start taking of local artists in Autumn 2008.

There are now dozens of artists working in the wider Bridport area of West Dorset, but for this 1st book we've had to focus on just 25 artists. Alongside Georges photos they'll be a page of text by local writer Lu Orza, who has had the ambitious task of interviewing all the artists, and writing up a subjective 'portrait'. I love her writing, she's invented an original and incisive way of writing about artists, and it's a very refreshing alternative to the usual press-release-style writing we see so often (that just tells you how wonderful they are, without revealing anything about them).


Sladers Yard
Earthscapes: 8 Wessex Artists 14 February - 21 March,
Wednesday - Saturday 10 - 3pm, Sundays 12 - 4pm.
Landscape and what lies beneath; what came before; where we go from here.
John Hubbard, Brian Graham, Malcolm Ashman, Paul Jones, Andrew George, Peter Ursem, Michael Williams, Gerry Dudgeon.
Brian Graham Talk: Thursday 4 March, 7pm. Tickets: £5 from Sladers Yard.
www.sladersyard.co.uk / 01308 459511.


Artwave West
Four Gallery Artists
6th February - 6th March 2010
Martin Goold, Kathy Ramsay Carr, Boo Mallinson and Sonia Stanyard
Wednesday to Saturday, 10.00am to 4.00pm.
www.artwavewest.com / 01297 489 746