I had a lovely time last week meeting lots of visitors to my studio, chatting about art, life , gardening and inevitably the rainy weather! And of course selling paintings! Now I am sitting in my studio deciding what to do next.. It has been a very busy couple of years with my two new books: ‘Watercolour Workshop’ and ‘John Blockley: A Retrospective; exhibitions following these publications; my new dvd recently and the studio open week to celebrate that. Plus all the activities with the RI and Arborealist groups.

Being in the studio, looking at finished paintings on the wall for lengths of time makes me want to start all over again. I have made a start by going through my plan chest and throwing some unfinished work out that is not going to make the grade- even as collage pieces. Although I encourage students not to be too hasty in throwing their art away I think we sometimes have to be brutal and honest with ourselves and only keep the ‘best’ pieces. It is good for the soul- and it makes room for new work.

Later this month I shall be putting some paintings online so that those of you who couldn’t get to the exhibition will get a chance to look – or buy! I am going to have a short holiday and then I shall be getting my sketchbook out and doing some soul searching work , experiments, writing and playing. Plus I have an exciting project to start planning…