Surrounded by inspiration

Looks like 2009/2010 is going to mean another Lake Michigan series of paintings, like the 2004 series. In a serendipitous way the timing is good - I'll be returning to London without a new English coast journey under my belt (it had been sort of planned for May and just didn't quite happen due to other circumstances). While I do want to paint more of the Dorset series it'll be great to have a 2nd set to work on at the same time.

So a whole 4th of July series is in my head... water, lake, fireworks, sunshine.

The sketchbook has some scribbles and I've even done four small acrylic studies, but the camera has been capturing most of the ideas for now while I've been walking, running, kayaking, swimming, or motoring around (either in a big orange inflatable dinghy or my parent's large powerboat).

Images from Chicago and Racine.