Surprise sketch

I was genuine in my wish to pass on freely my Clevedon sketches (to the surprised owner). There comes a time when you can have too much stuff.  But to my amazement, replacing my disposal of Dial House a few days later on the same trip, I received a couple of sketches from Christine, the widow of Stuart - a dear friend who died a couple of years ago.  Stuart was an artist with a studio and shop in Porlock near Minehead.  I had known him since the late 1970's and grown to love him as a deep Christian friend whose artistic eye and heart saw things differently.

Using pen, pencil, water colour, oil and acrylic he reveled in creating art with an extraordinarily wide range of subject and style.. I loved visiting his shop and our long walks together. He was much more than an artist with valuable gifts as a co-manager of the Baptist Holiday Fellowship hotel and apartments in Minehead where we first met him and tasted his cooking and benefitted from his decorating and practical skills.  Multi-talented he was devoted to his family and a loyal supporter of Christine as she rose through the political tanks to become Chair of the Somerset County Council.  Covid prevented me from attending his funeral but I was thrilled to be the speaker for their Golden Wedding.  He was a very special guy.

We saw Christine during our Minehead stay and as we were leaving she gave us (and our London family) a couple of his sketches to remember Stuart and Minehead harbour. Simple lines and colour wash. And worth keeping when other stuff has to go. Bless you Stuart.