I was rowing, the sun must have been on the field beyond the riverside trees. It was the row of pale green squares that popped out at me and made me want to paint when I got home.

In a walk this spring near Dunston Hall in Norfolk, the path took us to the edge of a fairytale wood. The knarled witchy tree presided over a sea of delicate bluebells under the broken mirror sky.

One of the few rewards for rising early to get my five year old charge ready for the day was seeing the lake at first light. I’ve painted it hazy, as my memory is for that summer in ’96.

It’s all calm at the moment, but the boat isn’t moored and as soon as the wind picks up it will drift off to who knows where.

I’ve picked up my brushes again recently, since daylight saving has given me some time after work that I can still see what I’m doing (I can’t judge colours in artificial light). These two I don’t consider finished yet, I’m waiting for it to become clear how to proceed, in the mean time I start new ones to keep the practice flowing. The green one, with the trees in the background, I’m pleased with what I’ve done but have no idea what to put in the foreground yet! Any suggestions…?

And these birches at dusk or dawn… I want the shadows to be strong from the trees as if lit by headlights or something… To make you wonder who is looking at this scene and why. But I can’t figure out the way they should fall yet. I need to go out and find such a scene as I made this one up without any reference images.