Since three months ago, we have lived in Dunchideock in Lyalls Cottage. Dunchideock is a small, old village, with the house itself dating from around the 15th century. But, the house as a house is only a house; walls, a ceiling, thatched roof, and a floor. The most important part of the property is the garden: a beautifully fabulous, magical and bewitching place. The garden and the house are surrounded by all kinds of nature including horses, rabbits, deer, pheasants, foxes, and veritable smorgasbords of birds which all emerge silently from the forest, hills, meadows and fields. The scent of life: the scent of a real, simple, rural life.
All the nature, the garden, the air, the colours and the music of Dunchideock are inspirations for my new paintings. I spent almost my whole life in big, bigger, and even the biggest cities. If I had been told, say, four years ago, that I would have loved to live in a small village, I would have proclaimed that the person was totally irrational…

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