Richard Godfrey

The inspiration for my work comes mostly from the coastline and countryside around my studio. Ideas for forms are often derived from things that I pick up on the beach. Shells, bits of wood, plastic bottles, in fact just about anything. I walk a great deal and usually find things in the hedgerows to inspire me. I love natural forms like insects, seeds and berries. My studio is right on the cliffs here in south Devon, in a very unspoilt area. The light is wonderful and I find a great deal of intense colour throughout the year. I enjoy the changing seasons as each brings it’s own beauty. The sunrises in February are often spectacular; the wild flowers in May and June create great sweeps of colour across the cliffs, the berries and bramble leaves of autumn provide intense focal points. I take a lot of photographs, both slides and prints and often use these as source material from which to draw. The drawing process for me is a way of distilling the essence of what I have seen, looking for whatever it was that touched my button, in order that I might use it to touch someone else.