Places I have painted.

Spitsbergen is the main island in the Svalbard archipelago, lying between 79-82 degrees North, and just 600 km from the North Pole. Only 2800 people live there, although it is the same size as Scotland, so it is an untracked wilderness, home to polar bears, walrus, arctic fox and reindeer.

I sailed up its west coast in a tall ship and made several sketches from the deck. It was very cold, so I could not use paint and water, I had to rely on aquarelle pencil and oil pastel. Some of the sketches were done very quickly, before my fingers froze. I loved the amazing ice-cream colours: pink, cream and turquoise of ice in low sunlight.

These lie about 25 miles SW of Lands End. I’ve sailed around and through them several times and enjoy the brilliant seas, pale sands and water-worn rock formations.