This photo above was taken in the middle of a forested area, we turned the corner and this mural was on a small wall. Such a lovely surprise.

Some of you may know that I travelled off to India for a touch of the exotic and I have to say we certainly had a great trip. An artist and photographer's dream to land in a place with so much colour, heat and fascinating people. We went to Kerala, in southern India and were amazed on so many levels by our experiences. My most memorable ones were of the people we met, with their inquisitive stare and huge smiles.

Did I do any painting? Well no! Except for one small watercolour, I did however, take a lot of photos which will be filtering into my artworks somehow. I did sit down to paint but with a regular 34C it was either too hot, too many distractions or not enough inspiration (sound familiar?)

This trip, however, had one huge benefit artistically. We were constantly presented with 'new things' to see and absorb. Getting away or to a different location is both inspiring and refreshing and can give you a real zest for drawing and painting again. (Of course you dont need to go to this distance to achieve it)

Taking photos has, however, saved the day and although I may not use the photos in their entirety I will have a record of the fabulous colours of the tropical landscape, womens saris, faded but colourful walls and the enchanting light (especially at the beginning of the day). So perhaps all is not lost :) It is good to be back and raring to go with the classes and my own personal work.

So a new start and my tip for a creative new year "try and view everything you wish to paint as something you have never seen before, be curious, explore what you see" you never know what might happen :)

• Skyblue Art Classes are taking part in this years Worthing Art Trail (at Heene Community Centre, Worthing) in June and July. There are about 10 taking part and if you are one of them, keep ahead by coming to the drop-in classes where we will be doing an extra effort to get some super paintings done for the show.

• We have had a lot of interest for this January with beginners starting up. Although we dont have a beginners course, I would recommend you pop by to the drop-in class and see what we do.

• We have the Tropical bird project to get on with too. I have some photos of tropical trees so we will start the group project in February.

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