Dear Friend,

Do you remember that poem November by Thomas Hood (we had to learn it off by heart at school), with the line No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease...? Well, for Lois and me, November is quite the opposite. We’ve just finished a very successful 2018 season at the Watermill, enjoying the company of our enthusiastic guests on creative courses, and now we are taking a cheerful and healthful ease in Florence, where we live when we are not at the Watermill, and enjoying the warmth of Italian early November days.

Mind you it’s not all ease, at least for the builders, surveyors, engineers, electricians, joiners, plumbers, tilers, decorators and other skilled craftsmen, who will be working away at this year’s major improvements to the Watermill’s infrastructure. Nor for our friend Karsten Müller, who will be managing the project as it proceeds. Lois and I will be popping over to the mill every week or so, of course, to see how everybody is getting on (and for Bill to do his famous impression of Old Mr Grace in Are You Being Served: “You’re all doing very well...”)

As you probably know, especially if you are a subscriber to the Watermill newsletter, we are becoming increasingly environmentally sensitive. We ran a successful experiment this year to eliminate small plastic bottles of water we used to give to our gests. Instead, we loaned them rather elegant stainless steel vacuum flasks and invested in a new icemaker so they could cool their water. And we’ve already taken a lot of energy-saving steps in our renovations and restorations, from insulated roofs to double-glazed windows.

Now we are going to install photovoltaic cells in the south-facing roofs of the 19th century watermill and the studio and we reckon we should be more than self-sufficient in electricity next spring. We're also going to be putting in heat pumps, an energy-efficient way of generating coolth as well as heat, so we can have environmentally sensitive air-conditioning, too. As the work progresses, we will let you know how it’s all coming along.

What is coming along splendidly is your support for our endeavours: as we go to press, we have some 180 bookings for our creative courses next year – and there’s still the best part of six months to go before we start again at the end of April 2019. Not bad going, since our total capacity for guests on creative courses is round about 240.

So, in this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (fancy quoting two old dead poets in one introduction!) it’s well worthwhile you cheerfully and warmly contemplating booking your place on one of our painting, creative writing, knitting or Italian language courses. It’s an especially good time to book, since we have an enticing Early Bird offer: we’ll give you £75 off the cost of your 2019 creative course if you book before the end of this year.

You can find out more on the Watermill website, which gives full details of all our 2019 courses and of the exciting and inspiring tutors who will be taking them. Please just click here.

In this month’s newsletter there are also stories on:

• It was a dark and stormy night...
• How cardboard gazing could improve your art
• Evening shadows on the vine verandah
• Painting patterns and light with Paul Talbot-Greaves
• Made-to-measure knitting with Sarah Hazell
• Want to write? Ditch the geranium!
• How to tell a thief from streaky bacon

Happy reading...

The pictures above shows our painting course guests searching for the perfect viewpoint (left) in the mountains and (right) in the village of Verrucola, while the pictures below show (left) tutor and pupils enjoying their work and (right) a student jumping for joy during a painting course.

We would be amused by
a week at the Watermill

Bring a partner: there’s plenty for them to do

Why not bring your friend or partner? They don’t have to participate in the course, but they will be able to enjoy the wonderful hospitality of the mill and, whenever they want, to come out with you to our beautiful locations. We also offer a range of Alternative activities for partners on all our courses, as well as a generous £GBP 250 discount if they share a room with you.

A stormy night seen from a Watermill window

Patrizia Morgan, a guest on Lisa Richardson’s knitting course, took the atmospheric photograph, above left, of the view from her bedroom one evening. It turned into a dark and stormy night, but the Tuscan sun was out again next day.

Patrizia said: “I'm having a wonderful time in Tuscany on my knitting retreat. The Watermill in Posara is an amazing place! Just magical here…I can’t get enough of this place and the surroundings...”

Above right is another of Patrizia’s stunning photographs, this time of an old window in the 19th century watermill, which we will be restoring in the coming months.

Cardboard gazing could help your art

Were a passing Martian to have gazed down on the courtyard of the Watermill the other week, he might have been intrigued at the strange antics of Homo sapiens. For there they were, gazing through rectangular holes in little pieces of cardboard. What strange behaviour! What an earth could the human species be up to?

The answer is very simple, though somewhat unusual. They were students on Vicki Norman’s inspiring oil painting course here at the Watermill. And they were using the cardboard cut-outs to assess the tonal balances in the scene before them, before going on to produce sketches of the arrangement of light and dark in the pictures they were planning. It’s a Japanese technique called Notan.

Vicki says: “Notan are simple tonal thumbnail sketches used to plan artworks en plein air. They help you to assess the balance of light and shade in a design and they’re really useful when choosing your subject.”

Vicki's striking oil painting
of the Apuan Alps near the Watermill

We had a fun time with a great group on Vicki’s week and, of course, great tuition. And we’re already looking forward to Vicki’s return visit next year. She will be with us for another tremendous week of tuition in oil painting, from Saturday 22 June to Saturday 29 June 2019.

We’d love you to join us: you can find out more about Vicki and her course at the Watermill by clicking here. But you’ll have to hurry: we already have 10 painters (and two non-painting partners) booked in for Vicki’s 2019 course, so we have room for just two more painters. Now’s the time to book, especially with our enticing Early Bird offer: if you book on Vicki’s 2019 course before the end of this year, there is a £75 discount. Come and enjoy superb tuition in oil painting (and get to look through little rectangular squares cut out of cardboard!)

Vicki Norman
22 - 29 June 2019 - still two or three places
Oils en plein air
To learn more about Vicki and her course at the mill, please see our 2019 Courses Preview page.

Evening light on the vine verandah

As we began to pack everything away after our 2018 season we were reminded of sunny days, good company and much laughter. Thank you to all our guests for making it such happy season.

We particularly remember aperitivi under the vine verandah, sipping the ice-cool house cocktail as the evening shadows lengthen. Above left you can see a lovely picture by our tutor Keiko Tanabe capturing the atmosphere of that time of day. Above right are the shadows cast by the vines on the courtyard wall.

Don’t forget the Watermill photographic competition

All those pictures remind us that we have been taking last-minute entries for our Watermill photographic competition. And it’s human life that interests us most! Serious or not-so-serious.

First prize in the competition goes to the photograph we judge to be the one that most reflects the ambiance of the mill and we are particularly interested in shots that show our ‘students’ in action, both at ‘work’ and play. Or atmospheric shots of the Watermill and grounds. The picture above (left), for example, by Watermill guest Yildiz Diab, is of the evening shadows under the vine verandah, just before we sat down to enjoy our pre-prandial aperitivi.

And we’ve always liked this picture (above right) by Michelle Kent of her partner Terry Jarvis demonstrating to two enthusiastic students.

The winner of our photography competition will be offered a free week-long creative holiday at the Watermill in 2019, of his or her choice, subject to availability. There will be five runner-up prizes, of £GBP 200 off a creative holiday at The Watermill in 2019, subject to availability.

You can find out more by clicking here. Please join in the fun and submit your best photos taken during your visit this year (or in a previous year).

Tutor of the month: Paul Talbot-Greaves -- patterns and vibrant colours

We are pleased to say that the inspiring English watercolourist Paul Talbot-Greaves, is returning to the Watermill next year. We enjoyed a delightful course with Paul and his wife Dawn last May. They will be back with us for a special week-long painting course in watercolours from Saturday 27 April to Saturday 4 May 2019.

Here are some of the comments from our guests on that course. One said: “The combination of the place, the excellent art course with Paul Talbot-Greaves and the care from you and your staff made a really lovely experience.”

Another added: “I have never received such great treatment on a holiday. You all couldn’t have been kinder. Everything was 5-star, from the food to the bedrooms, to all of your staff. It couldn’t have been any better.”

Paul’s picture above is deceptively simple: a house in the village of Verrucola, where we go to paint on Mondays. Paul says: “This was a demonstration of light and shadow, starting with pale washes and building the shadows before adding the detail.”

Paul's painting of daffodils:
there should be plenty of them blooming
in the Watermill gardens next May

Paul Talbot-Greaves is a professional English painter who works primarily in watercolour. He says: “I seek out compositions employing patterns of light, shade and contrast and I aim to achieve vibrancy in the colours that I use.” This picture is called Through the Woods. Paul says: “I like to find interesting subjects in the least expected places. In this picture, I used simple dynamic shadows combined with contrast and appealing colours to create a quick impression of light streaming through the woodland.”

As well as receiving many accolades for his work, Paul is also an inspiring and sympathetic tutor. As another of his students said: “You are immaculately prepared, but more than this you understand intuitively how people learn. All this added to the fact that you are an amazing artist makes you an inspirational teacher.” Paul says: “I get an enormous amount of pleasure seeing people improve and enjoy their own work.”

Paul Talbot-Greaves
27 April to 4 May 2019 - still one or two places
Watercolours
To learn more about Paul and his course at the mill, please visit his 2019 Profile Page.