Letters to Philippa extracts for October 1968 to January 1969

Letters to Philippa • 30th Oct 1968:

I am still rejoicing in my freedom and painting progresses and then retards, like the tide. I went to Lepe this morning as it was such a lovely stormy kind of light. There is always something different, and from a slight scribble I started a small painting which I hoped to do in one go, but of course the light deteriorated as so often at this time of the year, leaving me nashing or gnashing my teeth with frustration.

That large beech (copper) by Exbury Church glows and glows, as does our chestnut tree in the back garden. When the sun is on it, the golden glow goes right through the leaves so that all the trunk of the tree and the shade under it is in a warm glow, quite supernatural.

Letters to Philippa • 29th Jan 1969:

We went to Lepe a few days ago . . . It certainly looked lovely, lots of birds, and lots of seaweed and other stuff thrown up in the gales. I shall go more often again when the mornings are lighter - at one time I began to wonder if it was true to think that the sea was a very limited subject for painting, with its horizon etc. . . . I am sure now that it isn’t, any more than a face is.