In 2014 I moved from a houseboat on a creek in London to Westcliff on Sea on the bank of the Thames Estuary. The estuary is at the bottom of my road, it is an amazing thing to be met with each morning. This huge expanse of water (or mud depending on the tide) and sky, it is an ever-changing backdrop to my days and the starting point for so much of my work.

View from the bedroom balcony of my house

When I go to a new place, I nearly always start by drawing and painting it in a representational way. Even though my work is predominately abstract I need to go through this process in a new place. I think it helps me to get to know a place, to make me think about the shapes, spaces, colours, and textures in an ordered way and really familiarise myself with an area.

Below are some of my early paintings and monoprints with images of the area that took my fancy.

Paints, prints and pastel sketches, 2014…

Shells on the foreshore, monoprint sketches and paintings. 2014/15

I love a groyne and these shapes turn up in my work all the time.

*Groynes.* Acrylic on canvas sketch, 2015.

*Westcliff beach winter time*. 2016. Oil on canvas

I like to use monoprinting to get down ideas, quick paintings onto the plate and then that wonderful magic of putting it through the press and seeing what chance has brought to the work.

Two Tree bird sanctuary painting - Saline Lagoon, 2015

Two Tree bird sanctuary photo - Saline Lagoon, 2015

*Groynes Westcliff beach as the tide goes out*. 2017. Oil on canvas.

This was the first painting I did here that I felt was really successful. I felt I’d mastered the groyne!

*Towards the pier,* 2014. Acrylic on canvas.

If you look from the bottom of my road towards Southend you will see rows of groynes and the pier jutting out into the sea for a mile and a quarter. It’s the longest pleasure pier in the world!! (I think China may be building a longer one, but for now 2014 – 2023 its true).

The tide goes out a very long way here. As the tide recedes it uncovers the famous mud flats that teem with life for all the birds, fish and seals but that's a story for another piece.

Moving to the banks of the Thames Estuary

Brent geese