As a person of advanced years the pandemic was particularly irritating. I don’t have all that much life left and wasting three years hiding under the rug with a mask on was not on my agenda. Still mustn’t grumble, here I am whining about it so it could be worse. So summer was here and I was time for Dorset Arts Weeks, the last one had been cancelled due to art being the risk of a super spreader event so this was a sort of a bonus one for still being alive. I was a little nervous of having probably virus ridden strangers in my home but with alcohol loaded hand washing goop and other germ warfare gear I should be survive. Would anyone come and buy stuff? We had all been avoiding each other for so long we had forgotten how to socialise let alone randomly visit artist’s studios of dubious hygienic quality.

We were going out painting again. I hadn’t seen the sea for well almost a year. Chesil bank where it hits Portland a tiny little painting and I remember no concentrating properly as i was just enjoying the feeling of being out and about. 10in by 5in Oils.

A few days later at Osmington Mills. I just had to paint the surreal sight of all the cruise liners parked in Weymouth Bay. Some bits had to be invented as the pub had put up a vast marquee that filled the foreground. 36in by 12in. Oils.

Wareham I was still nervous of members of the public with their masks jauntily positioned well beneath their noses. Others walked the streets with fear in their eyes heavily masked and taking their shopping home to disinfect it with a flame thrower. I had got a bit rusty at this sort of scene and had a brief moment of panic. Town scenes are so complex you have to leave out a lot of clutter, the trick is to do undefined stuff that might be clutter if the artist had been better at painting. 14in by 10in. Oils.

More sea. Demonstrations were coming back too, this was for a group who were particularly elderly more than half were fast asleep by the time I had got this done. I did my best with jokes and chat, but obviously the experience was akin to those dreaded slide based lectures about art history. I have only given demos since moving to Dorset, I quite enjoy the process, there is always the possibility that you will do an epic fail in front of an audience which add a frisson of fear. 19in by 12in Oils.

More Wareham, the best views of the main street are from your car. It had a great variety of buildings and the Vikings deliberately laid it out at an angle where the street should be well lit for painters in the morning. 16in by 10in Oils.

Old Harry from Studland. Last one before the open studios. To my surprise lots of people turned up to do art appreciation, the weather was lovely, people actually bought stuff and I didn’t get infected despite some dubiously sneezing children. 12in by 16in Oils.

No rest for the pensionable… I had just started to receive the state pension. A bit surreal, the government takes money away from people who probably need it to give to a fairly well off artist in Dorset who doesn’t. Autumn is here and so is the threat of the Art Trail, another bijou open studio event to happen next year just in the village. More framing I never seem to have enough frames, a good sign I suppose as it means people are actually buying paintings. Bulbarrow in the background. 14in by 10in Oils.

The Stour at Hammoon, the river is getting full so floods are in the offing. I am determined to paint them this year. 14in by 10in Oils.

Floods! I had to take off my boots and wade through knee deep water to get in position to paint this. The artist suffering always improves a picture I think. 12in by 8in Oils.

More floods, Hanford this time. Boots off again and standing up to my shins in very cold water. I kept an eye out for otters they can be dangerous this time of year. 10in by 8in.
That is 2021 almost dealt with. One more and we will be back to real time.