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One of my favourite things to do is buy art, even though I don't do it very often. For me, paintings (and prints) bring such a sense of personality, style and energy to my home, which I'll admit is unsurprisingly eclectic! I love a bit of everything, from vintage posters, to impasto style paintings, simple watercolours to framed textile pieces, photography to charcoal studies, lino prints to glasswork.

Nature has always been a profound source of inspiration for artists. The beauty of landscapes, the changing seasons, and the interplay of light and shadow evoke emotions that transcend the literal. Abstract landscapes take this inspiration a step further by transforming natural scenes into expressive forms and colours. This approach allows artists to capture the essence of nature without being confined to realistic representation. I've been exploring this idea with en plein a

L.S. Lowry is an iconic figure in the world of art, known for bringing the industrial landscapes and lives of the working-class people of Northern England in the mid-1900s, to life. His exceptional talent for observing the ordinary and transforming it into captivating artwork makes his pieces timeless. From bustling cityscapes to the intimate moments of working-class life, Lowry's art evokes strong emotions, human connections and nostalgia.

With spring not too far away (in the southern hemisphere) and the weather starting to warm up again it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't undertaken any kind of hibernation this winter, so I decided that I should have a kind of emergency one, so as not to miss out. I don't know why hedgehogs and bears should have all the fun....

What is it about this leaf? If you're one of my Instagram followers you'll have seen a gradual unfolding of some small paintings on paper using the Round Leafed Mallee as inspiration. I had never come across this eucalypt leaf until it arrived in a bunch of flowers, as background greenery to some beautiful blooms.

I found a new favourite leaf! Or rather it found me as it arrived in a bunch of flowers as background greenery, but I instantly looked past those and at the gorgeous sprigs of Round Leafed Mallee, which have the most lovely rounded shape and the twigs are almost zig-zag shaped in places, quite unusual. I also confess that I was secretly happy once the bunch generally started to show signs of expiry and I could dismantle the arrangement and pull out the little branches of leav