This week I show photos of books and journals which are near to me at the moment.

I started reading Antony Beevor's 'Berlin' in early January, around the time when I was thinking about applying for the RESIDE residency.
What a complex journey this book took me on. Incredible, what has happened since in Europe.  And what is happening in the Ukraine this weekend.

About two years ago I read the brilliant biography about Prunella Clough by Frances Spalding.  I was particularly intrigued by how much Spalding managed to disclose about Prunella's inner world. 
She also wrote a 'A Critical Biography' about Stevie Smith, the poet, and this is what I am reading right now, after 'Berlin'.
I am at page 127.  She was born in 1902.
It makes sense. It's good for my painting.

The following two books are about art in Suffolk. I am currently involved with a research project with Jacquie Utley and Hayley Field, and we are focusing on the process in painting. As part of this inquiry we are also looking at women painters who were based in Suffolk, i.e. Peggy Somerville, Kathleen Walne and Mary Newcomb.

A heavy public catalog which lists all the oil paintings held in public collections here in Suffolk.

I love world music and after having been to the Womad festival subscribed to Songlines. Went to see Angelique Kidjo an LoJo at the Barbican in December.

The other great luxury is reading Sight & Sound.
I don't watch TV but love films.

Intermittently I read Xavier de Maistre's A Journey around My Room.
What a lovely concept. It works for me.

 I attach 14 photos from my allotment, a plot we took over this February. I can see it from my studio. I already take compost there.
The ground needs digging and weeding. Soon we'll transfer raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, red and blackcurrants from our old allotment.
The greenhouse we bought for £20 on ebay. The next job is to insert the glass.
The previous tenant left flowering Brussels sprouts in the ground which are now on the compost heap. As last years' potatoes were too long in the ground they got too watery for eating but the chickens next door  liked them. Our neighbor has already got early broad beans and onions on the go. Beautiful.

This month I aim to show locations of my reside residency.

25 photos / my way to the studio.

Since September I am in the St Thomas church tower in Ipswich and feel, after a period of arrival and adjustment, ready to get on more truly with my work now.

Talking of churches it might be of relevance at this point to link to my  conversation with Matthew Krishanu at the Marylebone Church in London last summer.

It will take a while to find my way of using this reside platform. And I am still very wobbly  navigating on weebly.