‘The true mystery of the world is the visible not the invisible’. Oscar Wilde

A E Wainwright once, I believe, described his books as a love letter to the Lake District. Whilst nature is not the sole inspiration for my work it does inspire much of it. And it was down to that first trip to the Lake District when I was 11. My upbringing was in the suburbs of London. Holidays until that trip were to the coast, mostly Bournemouth and one trip to the Adriatic coast (tantalising distant vistas of the Appenines, but nothing close enough for inspiration). By no means under privileged yet the countryside was a mysterious and alluring place. And that first trip changed it all. I find the light, shapes and textures of nature fascinating, both in the grand vistas yet increasingly in the small details too. So I will call her Gaia, and Gaia dances; sometimes prettily and seductively, yet sometimes furiously and destructively; she is not tamed whatever some may think; sometimes capricious, yet not vicious; and so beautiful. And the images are my love letter to Gaia.