It has been busy spring with lots of varied projects occupying me. Visitors to my Facebook page may well have seen the following image of me next to my large-scale charcoal drawing (approximately five foot square):

This was a piece which I began in January as a personal project, a tentative exploration into a specific idea. It was a great project to work on, working at that scale and with a more fluid starting point meant the piece went through numerous stages, starting like this:

And finishing here:

Plans to exhibit the piece have been thwarted so far due to funding issues, but I hope to show it somewhere soon and I am beginning to put together an animation to accompany the drawing.

I have also spent the last couple of months working on a two-plate relief print. A new technique for me, I have really enjoyed cutting the plates and am excited by the results so will definitely be exploring the process more. City Goosander will be unveiled to the public at the Scottish Bird Fair which takes place at the end of May, here's a sneak preview:

A commission early in the year gave me the opportunity to focus on crows. I have been meaning to make some work around the corvid family for ages so it was nice to have an excuse to start looking at them more. I spent time drawing the crows in Holyrood Park, where it was fascinating to observe them communicating my presence to each other. Definitely more work to be done on these beautiful, intelligent birds...in the meantime here is the finished Crow screen print:

Look out for a lovely notecard wallet set produced by Canns Down Press using my Goldfinch and Jenny Wren prints. You can also find my designs on a set of cards published by Museums and Galleries Ltd as part of their the Art of Print series and Dry Red Press have used four of my designs in their most recent release of cards.

Although my main interest is in birds, when you spend time out in the landscape inevitably other things catch your eye and I have produced a number of images inspired by hares. Two of these are featured in a beautiful new publication – The Artful Hare – produced by Mascot Media it showcases the work of more than 70 British Printmakers and is well worth a look!

You can find my work in a few places over the next few months – I currently have some pieces on display at G1 Art in Windermere and throughout May you can see my work on the walls of the lovely Roseangle Arts Cafe in Dundee. I will be running a stall at the Scottish Bird Fair with fellow artist Leo du Feu. The fair takes place at Levenhall Links in Musselburgh during the weekend of 23^rd and 24^th May, with lots of talks, demonstrations and events planned.

The summer ahead promises to be a busy one – teaching commitments in July include a week on the Seabird Drawing course, a week at Bridge House Art and a week in France with Studio Berry.

I am delighted to say that I will be artist-in-residence at  Bridge House Art for two weeks in August. I have had a close association with this wonderful art school for a few years now and have got to know the local area well during my teaching trips. My plans for the residency are not fully formed yet but I hope to combine making work out in the field with some experimental printmaking as part of a new body of work. Many thanks to Eleanor White for giving me the opportunity and more information about the residency to follow soon.

As always do get in touch if you want to know more about any of the above and especially if you know a venue that might be happy to display a large seabird themed charcoal drawing...

Happy summer 2015!