This blog post for July comes as I am engaged in one of my favourite activities of the year: watching the tennis from Wimbledon! With my MFA show behind me, I have returned over recent weeks to the studio to catch up on some icon painting, while at the same time trying to be gentle with myself after all that the last couple of years have held. I was stopped in my tracks this morning by a post that came into my social media newsfeed... I needed to read that. Sometimes, we need

My apologies for the absence of a blog post on June 5, when it would normally have appeared. At that time, I was deep into preparations for the installation of my degree show, the culmination of two years' study at Oxford Brookes for a Masters in Fine Art and, more significantly, one year's art practice. That is, an art practice that spanned from the beginning of the academic year in September to the opening of the show on 12 June 2026 - which gave us the title for the show..

Personal reflection on being both artist and iconographer

Alleluia, Christ is risen; He is risen indeed, alleluia! So goes our Easter acclamation, from the dawn service on Easter Day through to the end of Eastertide, some fifty days later. I confess, however, my alleluias also have a different cause for celebration right now. Easter Day saw the installation of my sculpture, the idea for which I first conceived three years ago, and which became a live project some seven months ago. My Lenten discipline saw me commit additional days a

It would come as no great surprise to most people if, being a priest in the Church of England, I said that I was very busy in the weeks leading up to Easter. Except that, as you are beginning to realise, there is nothing very conventional about the particular shape that my priestly ministry is taking! My busy-ness, which actually began way back in October last year, is of an entirely unexpected kind. My current kind of busy-ness As part of my Masters-level studies in contempo

It seems to be the pattern of things that life through January rushes past so quickly that we find ourselves already into February before I know what has happened. The three-year mark since I left full-time parish ministry did not pass unnoticed by me as we celebrated Candlemas this past Sunday; it was a timely reminder…

Welcome to my favourite season of the year, and this month's blogpost. Last Sunday, I was able to robe and join clergy colleagues as we took part in the Advent Carol Service, a procession from darkness to light. This was my first ministerial duty for several months, as I have had to set aside this aspect of my public ministry since the summer, in order to focus on catching up with icon commissions, alongside a new academic year for my Masters in Fine Art. On the Monday (the f

These three words have held significance for me for many years. They were prompted by a study module when I was at theological college: in order to broaden our practical experience of church and ministry, we were asked to organise a placement in an "unfamiliar context". For many students, that meant spending time in a neighbouring parish where the tradition was somewhat different from what they were used to; for others, it was about exploring chaplaincy and spending time work

As I write this, there is a definite chill in the air, the rain is (at last!) watering the earth and our small patch of grass is littered...

It is no secret that I love good liturgy. There is something deeply creative about crafting a service from a sensitive combination of...

Ten trains and four ferries. Seven different places to sleep across sixteen days. My time since I last wrote my blog post from ONE of...

I’ve been reflecting recently on silence - what it is, what qualities it has and, as an artist, how that might be represented visually....

Are you a "glass half full" kind of a person, or a "glass half empty" one? So the question goes, if you are trying to identify tendencies...

One of the joys of good liturgy, for me, is the ability of the ever-changing words to draw us more deeply into a particular feast day or...

This blog post is going to be a first for me. Although there will be some news later on regarding what I'm up to at the moment, I want to...

My social media feeds have been filled with memes lamenting the interminable greyness of January, the month that regularly wins votes for...

A happy new year to you all! My festive break was somewhat extended into this past week so I am only now getting to write this blog post...

Thank you for your patience as you waited for this, my Advent blog for December. Of course, the world about us doesn't really view...

With the arrival of the first Friday of the month, it should be time for another blog, right? Except that this month, I am going to...

For Orthodox Christians, the centrality of icons to the worship of the Church is celebrated each year at the feast known as "The Triumph...