It was terrific having  an exhibition of my father’s artwork in the studio- drawings and paintings that had either been stored away for many years or contributed by members of the family.  Thank you to  so many of you for coming and sharing your many stories about how he had influenced or even totally changed lives- both from a  personal and creative perspective. Members of the ‘Blockley Group’ came from as far  afield as Australia- especially to see the work  and get together. Many other well known artists  came to visit- I loved  in particular having coffee with Shirley Trevena in my kitchen and swapping tales. ( I should say that I’m sorry to name drop- but I’m not really!) My father had a great sense of humour and loved to draw cartoons- and so does Shirley.  She sent me a copy of her hilarious  booklet of cartoons when she got home, describing the terrors and joys we all share in our artist’s lives.

I was asked if I felt sad to see some of John’s artwork  from my private collection go- but it was actually the opposite. Between us, the family have a lot of  paintings and it felt very uplifting to let go of some of them and think that they were to be enjoyed by someone else. It has been a really cathartic  experience doing both the exhibition and book (which I am happy to say is currently being reprinted in  a second edition).  However,  it felt  fantastic getting my studio back to normal and re-installing my own work. It feels like  the start of a new era and my priority now is to start work on  paintings for the RI exhibition next year. No more procrastination… (but will just have a coffee first).