We saw and loved this view every single day for over 3 months, even when the harbour froze around us.

When it warmed up slightly, I started this painting en plein air and finished it in the wheelhouse when it started raining (no surprise in a Dutch winter!).

We love this picture-perfect little town. Have you ever been there? It’s a lot like the Truman Show - everyone is friendly, the streets are clean, the people are good-looking, there is no graffiti. The Dutch don’t pull their curtains at night so you can see one perfect family in their perfect little house after another as you walk down the street.

During the day, the harbour is full of wildfowl - cormorants and shag feasting, ducks paddling around purposefully, coots calling. Geese fly high in skeins overhead morning and evening, going out to feed and coming back to rest.

This painting carries so many good memories of kindness and adopted community. If you've ever been a stranger in a foreign land, I hope you recognise this feeling.

Oil on cotton canvas, stretched over a softwood frame.