This Cornish Life

Silver Shoal oil on canvas with silver leaf embellishment

I am super excited to announce the beginnings of my new collection “This Cornish Life” originally designed to coincide with World Ocean Day, thematic this year of life and livelihoods, sustainable choices for the next generations. This led to the crazy weekend of the G7 summit which was held in my neighbouring town of Carbis Bay, St Ives was inundated with protesters, police and high security of the like Cornwall has never seen and probably will never again. Exciting though it was, the peaceful protests from environmental groups such as the Extinction Rebellion were challenging to watch and extremely poignant in our small fishing town, where climate change, overfishing and then the Brexit deals have decimated the industry.

It can often be difficult as a local to watch the masses of tourists who flock here, enjoying the portrayal of a quintessential sleepy Cornish town, with no understanding of the extremes in financial divides. Poverty is rife, yet hidden on the outskirts of the town away from the holiday lets, beautiful second homes and cobbled streets lined with seasonal shops and restaurants paying minimum wage for long unsociable hours. But one must weigh up the pros and cons in order to have this beauty on our doorstep can we get past the dark underbelly of this Cornish life.

Protest on St Ives harbour by the Extinction Rebellion group