This is Different Days, the painting I made following my artist retreat at Orchard Cottage at the end of September.

It was an amazing week against a challenging backdrop at home that lent the days a surreal, out of time feel. A feeling that was wholly emphasised by the location and order of my days which were centred around walking, stopping in churches and drawing views. Mostly this one which shows the creek winding its way up to Penpol.

Silent nights, not much louder days. Small meals, guitar, Bach, reading in the pub, singing loudly to myself in the evenings. The steady flow of the river. Some loneliness.

Three months later and this painting happened around the edges of large paintings I was (and am still) working through as part of my Pollock Krasner Foundation grant.

Remembering my time at Orchard Cottage is a form of time travel, within my own life and back through the centuries too. The quiet days spent in the presence of ghosts dropped me into a pool of deep time I am incredibly grateful for. Different Days will form part of Orchard Cottage’s permanent collection of work, alongside a series of of drawings and works on paper I made on the residency. A thousand thanks to Alexander and his family for the gift of time and space at OC.