The Duke of Wellington, James Bond and a very English crime
Do you remember the scene from the James Bond film Dr. No, where 007 goes to meet the villain in his Caribbean lair and does a double-take on a picture…
Category Archives: Painting Holidays
The iris is ris! Springtime at the Watermill
Some beautiful warm, sunny days around Easter and into April have enabled us to enjoy lunching and dining a fuori with friends on our Riverside Terrace, under the blue Italian…
Happy to compete and wanting to win. How ‘lefties’ survive in a right-handed world
It’s a curious thing, but even after eons of evolution we left-handers still make up about one-tenth of the world’s population. Is it because we are just ‘ornery’? You would…
We’ll cut ourselves in four and go the extra mile to bring you the best at the Watermill
You’ll find the hospitality the Watermill second to none and we’ll cut ourselves in four to make sure you are well looked after. Not literally, of course, but ci faremo…
Colourful language, or why the Italians go green when they are in the red
Most languages have colourful expressions, and many of them are much the same: we’re green with envy, while Italians talk of verde dall’invidia; if we want to be clear we…
Happy Lupercalia: was this the boisterous precursor to St. Valentine’s Day?
I don’t know about you, but I’m not planning to sacrifice a goat today nor, fun though it sounds, run semi-naked through the city flaying bystanders with strips from the…
Have a go at watercolours and oils with Penelope
Are you a watercolourist? Would you like to try your hand at oils, but worry about how to get your new creations home? Are you an oil painter? Would you…
I’m no spring chicken but I love this idiomatic poultry
If you love words as I do, and enjoy a little offbeat, quirky, start to your day, then you need to look no further than a recent post on…
A rainy day? It’s only artistic licence!
The painting above, by Sandra Strohchein, hangs in the in Tutor’s Gallery in the Watermill sitting room. It is a watercolour of a blustery rainy day at one of our…
Cool and Green, thanks to solar-powered electricity
Cool and Green: Solar power at the Watermill In the last six years our hidden array of photovoltaic panels has produced more than 90,000* KwH, (kilowatt hours) of electricity from…
If Vasari hadn’t written his well-known book, he might be even more renowned!
The life and inspiring works of the artist who gives your room his name: 13. Giorgio Vasari*** Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) is famous for writing the first important book on Art…
Uccello: A strange old bird obsessed with perspective
The life and inspiring works of the artist who gives your room his name: 12. Paolo Uccello*** Paolo Uccello (1397-1474) was a pioneer of the use of linear perspective, invented…