Perversely, this is the night sky at Midsummer. The ground is sodden, the days are still short, I long for summer….This is a new piece, not yet framed. Dark and intensely cobalt sky; stars and planets, and a suggestion of moonlight with a trace of silver leaf.

There’s an awful lot to do before summer. Probably what I need is a darkened room. First, I and a few friends are putting on a show here called ‘Telling Tales’ for the Brighton Science Festival (already well under way). The theme is communication; each of us will display some work (including painting, collage, film, cartoons, maps, music, maybe graffiti) and try to explain what we mean by it and why and how we set about it.

Next, in early March, the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea courtesy of the Nicholas Bowlby Gallery, a real jewel. Ten pieces or so for that. A brief break and time I hope for painting as well as organising Artists’ Open House at the Wolf at the Door, which runs here throughout May with twelve artists. Also in May, possibly, the International Art Fair in London.

From 1st June, a solo show for the season in the new Garden Room at the wonderful Sussex Prairies, for which I’m preparing a series of plant-related pieces. (I’m thinking of calling this ‘Plants Fruits Shoots and Leaves’!) Also in June, the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead with Nicholas Bowlby.

That’s enough to be going on with….