Yesterday Mark left Gothenburg after a great weekend in which we connected with artist friends both from Gothenburg and London. On Saturday we had an evening in Nefertiti the local jazz club. As always when you spend some time in the city you become seduced by the many culturally related opportunities. Questions arise about options and the proximity that the city offers to more social and casual art related events. Art is unique in the way that it likes to link you with the place you live. Even today where so many of us are constantly on the move and connected virtually, the importance of place is still of significance for the art scene. We find real meaning in being where we are in the neutral and not insignificant space we have created in which to work and think. Sometimes traveling to and fro can be difficult and Mark must have felt so after his long, almost 24 hour journey back on Sunday (which turned into Monday) but then there are images like this that await you on your return. A clear message about having arrived - the body and mind under big skies...

This is where we live, where we have our studio in the middle of a farming community in Cumbria. It takes a lot to make the decision to live in the middle of nowhere - 'in space' so to speak - and conduct an active art practice. It involves constant traveling and there are responsibilities, sharing our home as we do with two dogs, (Cora & Curtis), 3 cats (Taz, Topaz, Perla) 6 hens, 1 cockerel and 3 geese - under these circumstances, good neighbours and willing 'friends in residence' are essential. We are also host to those visitors less dependent on us – in the winter and spring the roe deer, fox and the mink make appearances, along with moles, various rodents and (in the river adjacent to the meadow) there are otters. The heron likes to stride around our small pond which has plenty of toads and frogs. Buzzards, wagtails, a great spotted woodpecker, goldfinches, barn and tawny owls are also regular visitors. Not only do we make work inspired by human and animal relations but we also spend much of our time negotiating space with them, both ours, the neighbouring farmers' and those we encounter on our way to and from our home.