Even if this post says nothing, I have to write something on this, the last day of March, otherwise almost a month has gone by since I last communicated with myself and my Reader. Blame the sheep – it’s lovely looking after such interesting and beguiling creatures but, as every shepherd has found since the beginnings of domesticated farming, they do take up a lot of time.

The two principal varieties we have in this year’s flock are neatly illustrated in this image where they are ruminating mid-morning in their ‘refuge’ or default field after a night out on the Warren: Hebrideans and White-faced Woodlands (lying down). We also have numerous cross-breeds of Rare-Breed sheep and, though they did not make it into this photograph, three Manx Loaghtans (one of them is actually unobtrusively there, lying down centre background in front of three Hebs). The splendiferous Three Horns in the left foreground had to be taken away soon after this photograph because, for no apparent reason, he became aggressive and bellicose, dangerously so with those horns not only to his shepherds but potentially to the public on the Open Access heathland where the flock grazes.

Anyway, we’ve now arrived at the end of March and I have not lifted a paintbrush this year – partly busyness, partly because the studio has been so cold, and partly painterly blockage (again!). Three ‘works’ have, however, emerged during this last week, through paintbrush-less creativity, and they might well be the subject of a spoof post tomorrow.