Artist, writer and thinker Gael Hillyard joins me to talk about her creative life, from painting, writing and photography, to the deep-winter months she spent as artist-in-residence on Fair Isle, to the ten silent days she lived inside a retreat with no conversation at all.

We explore how her work has been shaped by a childhood spent in a Victorian atelier, the two studios she now keeps in the Highlands, and the weather-beaten coastlines she keeps returning to as both muse and anchor.

And in the mailbag this week, Spike Boydell, our man from the canoe down under, has been thinking about slowing down, and I mean really slowing down. Comedy-writer-in-chief Hegaard the Dane sends word about solitude and the small matter of spending a night or three in jail! John Kenny writes about trees and the Sycamore Gap, which has an unexpected local relevance for me this weekend, and Bill Frische has been photographing a 'monster'.

I'll also share a little more about the craft of photogravure that we'll be exploring on the new Scottish retreat in June. There's a reminder of this month's assignment, the last one of the year, before we shift our focus to THE ONE in December.

Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily.

WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available here.