Last year with a chain-gang of strong friends we dug a trench from the house to our garden shed in order to lay on electricity and water and, with a bit of extra weather-proofing, I now have a superb garden studio. It’s so peaceful. Sometimes it just feels like me and the birds out there, which is great for focusing.

Over the winter months I have been able to indulge in letting my mind drift back to those gorgeous summer days unique to St Ives when the flowers are out in full bloom and the sea is impossibly tropical. Equally, in winter there is beauty in the calm, still days and empty beaches when the light can be particularly special. There is so much about St Ives that I enjoy observing, be it a glance at some fresh blossom above the harbour while walking along Park Avenue or taking in the whole vista of the bay from lighthouse to lighthouse. For me, there is a continual quest to convey what this environment means to me in my paintings.

Emma Jeffryes - 2011