This is only the beginning.

This painting was inspired by my memories of sailing in the Solent, not long after my 40th birthday. I had always wanted to sail but my limited experience had been chaotic and, occasionally, downright dangerous. I had just assumed that it was a dream best left to moulder on the Bucket List.

But then along came a new partner and suddenly everything looked different - he had been sailing catamarans for decades and had so much to teach me. This painting was inspired by the week I got my RYA Day Skipper certificate - crazy, wonderful, the start of an addiction that would take me 5 times across the Atlantic to date (although I didn’t know that then…)

Sometimes, you have absolutely no idea how far new skills will take you. Follow your heart and your instinct - they are always your true north.

15cm x 20cm, oil on cradled board, unframed

By the way, this board sailed on Cesarina from Ramsgate in 2021, down the coast of France, Spain and Portugal, to the Canaries and then the Cape Verdes and across the Atlantic. It visited Grenada and almost every island on the way up to Antigua where it crossed the Atlantic again the other way and arrived safe and sound in Southampton. I have used it for this collection because I know that it is itself imbued with the spirit of freedom and infinite possibility.