My Painting Holiday in Cornwall

My husband gave me a Cornish Landscape painting course as a special gift for my birthday. My dream has come true. 

I really love Cornwall. I have been there twice before, but this time it was different. I worked for 4 days, 6 hours a day, painting and drawing, mostly in extreme conditions, in the wind. It was brilliant! 

Our tutor was Maggie O'Brien, a teacher at the Newlyn School of Art and a great painter of wild landscapes. There were 9 of us on the course and the atmosphere was very supportive, with much freedom left to us. Maggie is a brilliant teacher and fun to be with. And, what is important, she was a good match for me and for what I wanted to achieve.

I just wanted to have fun while painting, to loosen up. Going on locations to paint can be tough. But I found out that this way of working suits me. There is no time to be precious, you have to work quickly, without judgement. You just get on with it. 

Here are some examples of my oil on board work. Some of them are finished and some need more detail.

On the last day we worked in the studio in the Newlyn School of Art.

These two little paintings made me very happy:

I have a feeling that my relationship with Cornwall is just beginning. I cannot wait to go back there and paint again.

My Painting Holiday in Cornwall

Building an art studio in the garden

My new art studio in the garden has finally arrived! 

Here are some photos documenting the building process. 

It took 3 weeks to produce the segments of the studio and 3 days to install it. The studio size is 6m x 3.5m (21m square) and 2.5m high. It feels amazing!

If you are interested in details of the company who built my studio, please contact me or comment on this post. I will be happy to recommend it to you. They are in England.

Yolanta

Building an art studio in the garden

The Colour Factory Studios in Winchester

Last week I went to Winchester for a few days with my husband, and I came back inspired. It is interesting how we are drawn to places that will give us the answers to our inner questions and point us in the direction we should take. I experienced this when I visited The Colour Factory in Winchester.

For a long time I have been dreaming about collectively setting up (or joining) a cooperative of artists and makers,
a place where we could work together, inspire each other and sell the products of our creativity. The Colour Factory Studios and Gallery is such a place.

The Colour Factory is an artist's studio group of six professional artists: Rachael Alexander (visual artist),
Linda Miller (machine embroidery), Jill Maguire (glass and ceramics), Jenny Muncaster (visual artist), Clara Sanjar (graphic, watercolour, book and textile artist) and Rama Gurung (jewellery artist and repairer). Under The Colour Factory they work together producing imaginative community and educational projects. You can find more information about them here.

Here are some images from their downstairs shop:

I found my visit to The Colour Factory very inspiring. It gave me the impetus to take my dream seriously. I will write about this in my next blog post.

The Colour Factory Studios in Winchester