If you’re like me, this is already a busy time of year - especially if you have children, but even if (like me) you don’t… Hallowe’en, the run up to Christmas, parents and children… and the weather has been so lovely I think we have all forgotten that winter is looming! Even my wardrobe is in chaos because I don’t feel ready to put my summer clothes away yet!
Anyway, I obviously like to make my life more complicated though, so I have taken on a massive project - raising funds for the RNLI for their 200 year anniversary of saving lives at sea
AND
I’d like to invite you to come and see some of my paintings in the real world. The lovely people at Lilfords Gallery on Castle Street in Canterbury (Kent, UK) have invited me to show some work in their rather prestigious Autumn Show. It starts on 21st October 2023 (for 2 weeks) and I will be there from 2pm on that Saturday, so if you fancy a glass, I’d love to see you :D
Between now and then though, I am travelling to the beautiful Channel Island of Guernsey. I have been invited to come and paint Vazon Beach (on a huge canvas!) for a client and I am taking the opportunity to start my RNLI project officially while I am there. I’ll be visiting the lifeboat station in St Peter Port and driving around to capture some of the beautiful views on paper and canvas.
My project for the RNLI is focusing on Britain’s relationship with the sea. I think we Brits have a different kind of relationship with the sea to most other nations. More than 95% of the goods consumed in the United Kingdom arrive by sea, via a global industry that most Brits don’t give a moment’s thought to. Obviously, it is also our moat - our defence against most threats - but historically it has also been our path to riches. I believe we consider it to be more friend than foe - many other island nations around the world have a more grudging relationship with the H20 eating into or submerging their shorelines.
And I’m pretty sure that we consider the sea to be our companion partly because we have one of the best coastguard and lifeboat services in the world. I can tell you from personal experience that the ocean doesn’t feel so much like a playground when you don’t have them on the end of Channel 16…
Do you have any thoughts on this?
Let me know,
Em x