I have enjoyed fly fishing for about 40 years and, living in Hampshire, I have been in a position to enjoy some of the best of it. The Hampshire rivers are a stunning eco system which I have learned to understand and appreciate as a consequence. Nowdays, I am more interested in watching, observing and enjoying than actually putting up a fishing rod. Of more recent years I started doing sketches by the river and later filling sketchbooks with small paintings, as this way of doing art has taken root in my life.
Latterly I have been reviewing some of my work and realised that it is a very effective visual diary and that a narrative comes to mind sparked by each one. This is pretty important to me as time fishing has often been the time when really big ideas and solutions to knotty problems emerge.
Quite a lot of time has been spent on the Estate at Leckford in Hampshire which is owned by the John lewis Partnership and where John lewis himself used to live.
Here are a few of the earlier sketches which have evoked the mood of this lace at times when I have been very glad to find a refuge.
David J Coleman 