Above: "Agapanthus Blue" 33 x 40 inches Acrylic on board

Tresco a Cornish Paradise.
During the year 2000 I began working with the Eden Project and Tresco Abbey Gardens to explore the possibility of studying these gardens to produce what I hoped would be a definitive and exciting collection of paintings and to start a long term relationship between my self as an artist and the horticulturists who where behind the success of these outstanding places.

My exploits with Eden have been well written about and I am enjoying continued support with the project. My relationship with Tresco has until this point not been widely known as I didn't want Eden to eclipse the excitement and importance of this relationship by combining the work at the early stages.

One of the most exciting aspects is again working alongside my wife Joanne and together we have put down some of our experiences on the island of Tresco. The Tresco Estate very kindly agreed to host us on the island during May 2001 and offered us unprecedented access to the Abbey Gardens to facilitate our paintings. Eden and Tresco are linked horticulturally but are very different - Eden offers naturalistic planting recreating areas of the world- but The Abbey Gardens are pure imagination and unabashed visual spectacle. They look like no other place.

We first set foot on Tresco during May 2001 landing on a rather damp and green island and not really knowing what to expect. Soon we felt at home and took over part of the Abbey as a makeshift studio and painting store. The following day was all sun and smiles. We painted like children in a sweet shop it was delightful. Painting outside, in Cornwall, together and in an unbelievably beautiful place is what it is all about for us. The simple pleasure of looking, and interpreting and then painting with enthusiasm and energy to put down our vision for us and other people to enjoy is why we both paint. Through the process of painting, the environment slowly unravels and you gain a greater understanding of place and time. We always meet interesting characters and see wonderful things while painting the world as it slowly drifts past the canvas. Tresco was no exception with human / plant and animal life presenting equally interesting subjects for us. Echiums towering above our heads, forests of palms, cacti, date palms grown to full size, succulents hanging from every conceivable place, colour, bright colour everywhere and birds, birds, birds. It really is a cornish paradise.

The days are long at the end of May and allow many hours of painting time, so we would start our work just after breakfast by walking out of the Abbey and straight into paradise - before the gates opened. So for the first couple of hours each day the gardens where ours. The same happened in the evening; after 4pm the gardens start to empty and between 5pm and 8pm we would paint in the glorious early summer evening sun watching the gardens in a totally undisturbed way. Invariably during these private viewings of the gardens we would encounter Topper and Batty with Frank in hot pursuit. Topper is a small white dog and Batty is a black Labrador who live in the Abbey while Frank is one of Tresco's finest characters. Frank now retired used to be a gardener at the Abbey for many years and has many a tale to tell while he is on his perpetual hunt for Topper the mischievous little dog.

Every day we would be engaged in animated tales about the island and the gardens and it was these conversations that have made us feel a real connection to the place. The plants that manage to grow in the gardens are remarkable, but it is even more remarkable when compared to the natural landscape and flora of the island.

Tresco has a very open feel to it, vast expanses of sea and sky, white sands only interrupted by the odd sea bird, and night skies that have fallen straight from the pages of a story book. So to contrast with our busy energy packed bursting with life garden paintings we have been working on a series of paintings that capture the essence of the coastline.

The beach at Pentle Bay literally sparkles with light. If you dip your hand into the sand it comes out as if covered in glitter. It is this luminosity and light that give Tresco its special appeal. Tresco has presented a challenging subject - one moment there is so much to paint that it becomes almost an impossibility and the next it presents huge open expanses of colour and the illusive sense of space and infinity.