I was on holiday in beautiful North Devon a couple of weeks ago and I accompanied my moments of solitude with painting the seascape in watercolour.

On a very pleasant afternoon in Croyde, I engrossed myself in painting in quite a lot of detail the headland at the other side of the bay.

When I had finished the painting, I was struck by a feeling of disappointment, because whereas I had indeed captured the detail, I had failed to give the picture a perspective in relation to where I was sitting.

In feeling the disappointment, I remind myself that I am painting for my own pleasure, and that apart from a cursory opinion, I have forbidden myself to be too judgmental on my art so that I do not run the risk of replacing a stress-free exercise with a judgement based aftermath.

I was about to consign my painting to the “well that was fun” category, when a kindly voice on the beach said to me – can I look at your masterpiece please?.

A man from a neighbouring pitch came over and said he had been fascinated by my intensity during the afternoon and he just had to see the results.

Gloom (inside)

Well you see, I have failed to give the painting “perspective” and I’ve never had any lessons and I just paint for fun ……an outpouring of judgement before, in general terms, he agrees with me that indeed the painting lacks perspective, smoothed over with some polite comments.

In the weeks since I have returned home, I have thought a lot about my painting without perspective, and it has reminded me very strongly of a method I have learned on my journey of self acceptance in being present.

At times in each day, or each week, there is a time to focus in on the detail of our troubles and examine them and listen to them before releasing these issues into a much wider context of the reality of our daily lives.

The close up view and the long view of my life’s troubled journey is like the headland in my painting – it is beautiful close up, but even more beautiful in the context of the sand, sea and sky and both perspectives have a purpose in my life.

My next blog will be:  Anguished Memory

William Defoe