Despite plans and resolutions, this is the only painting I produced this summer, in memory of my dear sister-in-law, Donna. So sorry to lose you.

Buoyed up by success in Hartington I decided to enter the ‘Artist and Leisure Painter’ competition and was amazed when my painting was selected for exhibition at the Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire. Not half as amazed, however, as when we arrived at the festival to find that the painting had won a prize!

April 2023 brought my first chance of a public display space; thank you Sue in the Beresford Tea Rooms in Hartington!

There’s nothing much more daunting than picking up a hobby again after many years. Could I still paint? I alternated days and weeks of procrastination and self-doubt with sudden bouts of intense activity, but slowly the work built up in my studio, unseen by anyone but family and close friends.

Like many people, I used that first period of isolation to rediscover neglected pastimes, and I began to paint again, from the scenes around us.

I suppose this particular story began pre-covid, when my wonderful husband cleared the courtyard at the back of the house, which had become a bit of a builders’ yard (the courtyard, not the house…) and we were able to furnish a tiny outbuilding with a roof and windows and so produce a studio!