The difference between looking and seeing.

The difference between looking and seeing.

In this weeks blog, I’m delighted to share a wonderfully thoughtful conversation I had with Orkney-based freelance wildlife cameraman and photographer Raymond Besant. I’ve admired Raymond’s work for a long time. Orkney being a small place, we’ve met a on a number of...
watery pursuits and surges of heart-voltage

watery pursuits and surges of heart-voltage

I’m delighted to have writer and podcaster Susan Mathews as guest for this week’s newsletter. Season 2 of Susan’s podcast The Subverse has been my ‘go-to’ listening recently, and her thoughtful conversations around water have helped to...
Drinkable Rivers

Drinkable Rivers

We return to contemplating water this week. Water is a subject I have been writing about and drawing for the last couple of years, as well as reading and researching about it. As a result of this research I recently reconnected with Li An Phoa, an environmental...
When the Grass Dances

When the Grass Dances

If you have ever been to Orkney you will know it is a landscape dominated by grassland. With few trees here, it’s the shimmering of grass that marks the movement of wind and sun, and its growth and decay colours the changing seasons. Modern farming methods mean that...
Cal Flyn’s Islands of Abandonment

Cal Flyn’s Islands of Abandonment

This week I’m delighted to speak with award-winning writer and journalist Cal Flyn about her recent book Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape.  The book is infused with a tentative kind of hopefulness, full of vivid examples of the resilience...
When the road ahead is blocked, take the scenic route

When the road ahead is blocked, take the scenic route

I am often asked about the fact that I am both a writer and a visual artist, and how these two creative practices fit together. I was asked this question again at the lovely book launch event at the new “Threshing Floor Theatre” that was held this weekend...