A Year of Thoughts & Pictures by Mark David Hatwood – The Harbour Gallery, Portscatho, 2015

Many readers will already know Mark’s gallery, his music, the film Marcello Marcello, for which he wrote the original screenplay, his environmental work and so on. I’m a tremendous fan of all of those things so, when this book arrived for review, my expectations were high. Not always a good thing, but on this occasion, I wasn’t disappointed.

There’s a page for each week of the year, split into seasons. Each page contains Mark’s reflections on life (gratitude, positivity, sadness and so on) or a piece of artwork from one of the artists who exhibit at The Harbour Gallery.

My greatest difficulty is categorising or even describing the book. The closest I can come is to say it’s a mixture of coffee table art book and a Life Coach in paperback form. Simple but thought provoking.

As to the artwork, I was amazed to see page after page of different styles and it would be unfair to pick out any that particularly took my eye, but I especially liked page 18, page 26 and page 48, oh, yes and page….

So, how should you read it?

A page a week, setting aside time to reflect on that week’s artwork or thoughts? To quote Mark, taking time to “breathe in and look around”. Or at one sitting, as I did, knowing you can go back and immerse yourself in something that resonates with your own life.

Why buy it? It would certainly make a lovely gift for a friend or someone far away whose heart remains on the Roseland, a souvenir of a holiday or a thank you for those at home, looking after house or pet. Or you could buy it to encourage yourself to take time out, try something new, go for a walk, paint a picture, celebrate success – the possibilities are endless if you believe in the power of positive thought

Well-presented and full of energising, low key life lessons, which aim to inspire the reader rather than tell them what to do, to help them feel positive about themselves by identifying their skills, and enabling them to reach their potential by following their dreams.

Enjoy!

This book is available to view and buy here: http://www.theharbourgallery.co.uk/book-2015/