The colour of fear

Porthminster beach, St Ives

St Ives Harbour – pen and ink

Be warned that there is a dark underworld of gull-gangs hanging out in St Ives.

They swig bootleg cider and place bets on whether tourist scalp has more protein than Cornish pasty. Then feed endlessly off both between 12 and 2pm every day.

My advice is NEVER sketch near someone eating a Cornish pasty in St Ives. Not unless you have a bucket and several heavy duty wet-wipes to clear up the mess. I know from experience.

So ferocious they mess with your brain

The intense lightning storms over the UK this week started here in the South West.

I would have loved to sketch them, but it’s hard to mix up a good ivory black when you are cowering behind the sofa!

St Ives Harbour

After all that drama, you might think those vivid colours were a result of adrenaline rush, but the light here is truly something else. Even a grim misty morning blazes with an eerie quality.

“The Island” from Barnoon cemetery

It’s not surprising that this landscape inspired an art movement.

I took a trip to Barnoon cemetery to find fisherman and self taught painter Alfred Wallis.

His grave is beautifully tiled by Bernard Leach. I was moved by this tribute to a man whose honest paintings, with their wacky perspective, inspired the early St Ives artists.