'Namibian Desert Road Stop', 2008
I prefer to take my pictures in natural light and the weather has not been too great lately, hence the dark, muted palette of the last few. The colour is quite rich in this piece especially, so I will put another picture of it up in the future. Stopping for a break I saw this old car and gas pump, overgrown with cactus.

'Namibian Desert from Mt Brandberg', 2008
Not a very good photo but this painting is of the view from Mt Brandberg, in a national park in the northwest of Namibia. The idea was to camp the night after enjoying the beautiful desert palette but a rumour of bandits made the stay brief. The desert it said to be one of the oldest in the world and was a visual highlight of the trip.

'The Devils Cataract, Victoria Falls', 2008
Quite dark but an image of the largest of the African series to date. I went to view them from the Zimbabwean side where a network of trails follow the lip of the falls, most of them under a blanket of spray. The Devils Cataract is on the western side and from this vantage point it was possible to peer through the trees and see the odd rainbow arching through the spray.

'South Luangwa River, Zambia', 2008
Arriving at a campsite late in the day (on my birthday), I went for a wander down to the river to watch the sunset. I thought the right antidote to a day in a bumpy truck would be soaking my feet in the river, but the mosquitos and the threat of hungry crocodiles made the visit a brief one.

'Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania', 2008
In Northern Tanzania is Olduvai Gorge, a place where many hominid fossils have been found. They have an information centre there and a small lookout from where this distinctive rock formation can be seen. Many small black mongoose were playing around in the grass in the foreground.

'Old Shed, Rift Valley, Kenya'.
This image is based on the view from a reststop between the Ugandan border and Nairobi. An old red shed sat near the edge of a cliff which gave way to the vast expanse of the Rift Valley. This picture is slightly larger than I usually work, but with the whole Africa/South American series I have been playing with the scale some more although I still prefer a smaller, more intimate size.

This is the second of the finished africa paintings, 'Lake Bunyoni, Uganda, 2008'. Travelling through Uganda towards Rwanda you pass through lush green hills with terraced fields and banana plantations. Amongst these is Lake Bunyoni with small villages and lots of inquisitive children, a nice place to relax after long bumpy and dusty roads.

Back from a nice two weeks in Thailand and dreading the first days back at school. I'm going to start posting pictures from a series of african paintings I did last year. I had intended to put on a show when I came back from travelling, with ten pictures from Africa and another ten from South America, but without a gallery they can be seen here. This is the first from Africa called 'Animals eating rubbish, Kabale, Uganda' from 2008. Travelling through Uganda towards Rwanda, I stopped in a small town which had a burning pile of rubbish in the centre attracting many animals scavenging for food.

Some more pictures of Thailand. The top one is from a visit to the long neck Karen tribe near the Burmese border, the middle one is a view of the Pai valley where I have been staying for the last week. The last one is the view from a temple/wat over looking Mae Hong Son.

Am currently on holiday in the north of Thailand so cannot post pictures of paintings but will put in a few of the trip to keep things ticking over. Pai is very rural and beautiful and best seen on a bike. It is also Songkran here at the moment so the street ares filled with water fights for the new year.

This book is due to be released shortly and contains work by both myself, and Matt Couper who is linked below. Another opportunity for some exposure, it contains three images of my work, two older pieces and one (slightly washed out) image that is more recent.
I am heading off to Thailand for the school holidays tonight but will post some pictures of my african paintings (the finished ones to date) and also a few travel snaps, whilst away.

'Lasithi Plateau, Crete, 2005'.
On a trip to Crete I travelled up into the hills to a place called the Lasithi Plateau, nestled up in the mountains, with beautiful views of a patchwork of fields and old windmills made of cloth. This image was taken from a drawing made over a lunch of skewered lamb at a local cafe.

'Naeroydalen, Norway', 2005. A spectacular view up the valley after a dodgy bus ride up a series of hair pin bends. David Hockney painted this view as well and the cafe or hotel at the top (from where I made the drawing) had a reproduction of his picture on the wall.

This image is of a limestone rock formation on the English coast called the 'Old Harry Rocks, Dorset', from 2006. When I lived in London I would often make day trips to the coast to get some fresh air and look for fossils, the fresh air and freedom of driving were some of the things I missed the most about New Zealand.

In 2005 I travelled to Svalbard, halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Very quiet and desolate, with only the remains of the old whaling industry scattered about the shoreline and a few small modern settlements. Went camping, kayaking and on a day trip to look for fossils with a Russian guy who carried around a huge .45 magnum (for the bears!) and his sled dogs. Very beautiful place but will probably change as it opens up to tourism. The piece at the top is called 'Ymerbukta, Svalbard' and the one below 'Glacier, Svalbard', both painted in 2005.

The first picture is from a trip to Norway in 2005. 'Geirangerfjord, Norway', is popular tourist destination which ships cruise through dwarfed by huge cliffs and waterfalls. The second image is from the view from my aunties place in Javea, Spain. This piece is called, 'Spanish Hills, Javea, 2005'. As usual all works are oil on board.

Two more for your viewing pleasure, the top one being 'Road to Zagora, Morocco #2', 2007. I went to Morocco at the end of 2005 and spend Xmas in the desert, waking not to cold and pressies under the tree, but sand and braying camels.

The second piece is from 2004 when I went to Capri on the Italian Amalfi coast for my birthday. The name of the piece is 'From Augustus Gardens, Capri#2' and the gardens sat atop the cliffs overlooking the fancy yachts and beautiful blue ocean below.

The image at the top is called 'The Caldera, Santorini', from 2005. It will be in a new book out soon called 'Seen this Century' by Random Century. The second image is of a dark cloud in a thunderstorm I sat through in Croatia. The piece is called 'Storm, Mljet, Croatia'. I'm heading off to Thailand for a few weeks in the school holidays so I will try and get some more pictures of work up before I go.