As a contemporary fine artist, I am constantly looking for new ways to inspire my work. A favourite sources of inspiration is nature. The beauty and diversity of the natural world can be a powerful source of creativity. Spending time in nature helps open my mind to new ideas, unexpected colour palettes and has the added advantage of encouraging positive mental wellbeing.

A real delight about visiting family in Portugal is the ability to regularly spend time at a favourite beach bar, sipping coffee, people watching and drawing what I see. This time it was the human forms of the bathing beauties that caught my eye and to my surprise I gained a new found confidence in life drawing. In three short days I saw my sketches improve, here’s how I did it...

Taking a sketchbook for a walk outside is a marvellous way to record details of the world around you.  Feeling the forms of a view through your fingertips, as the pencil moves across a page, gives a richer understanding of what you see.  As a practicing fine artist this is why I’ve always got a couple of Moleskine’s on the go.