Dear Friend,

Before the work began.
It’s all going to look splendid!

Spring is burgeoning here in Tuscany in the last few weeks before the beginning of the Watermill creative courses season. As ever, we are quietly confident, but slightly concerned that everything will be completely ready for our first guests at the end of April. The builders continue apace, now pointing the enormous façade of the mill facing the river and covering the red brick of the studio wall with a coat of stucco which will soon be coloured in the traditional Watermill mustard. It’s all going to look very splendid. At the beginning of the month the contractors began to put in the solar panels on the part of the studio roof facing the river, but we are still waiting for the solar tiles to arrive, which will be integrated into the roof of the 19th century mill. Lack of certainty on their arrival date is causing a little nail-biting.

Booking-wise, it is also the time of year when we sometimes feel like those ardent pilgrims who used to take two steps forward on the journey and then one step back, but we are sure we will arrive, on time, at our destination. (Fingers crossed.) That destination is the target of 250 bookings for our creative courses this year. We are hovering around the 245 mark, well ahead of the all-time record we set a couple of years ago of 232. But it seemed that every time we had a new booking, we also have a cancellation mainly, sadly because of ill health. So, we haven’t quite yet reached the magic 250 mark. But we think we will! (Fingers crossed again.)

A stunning poncho design
by Carol Meldrum

Our lovely knitting tutor, Sarah Hazell, also had to pull out of her course, because of family ill-health, but her place has been taken by the delightful Carol Meldrum, an inspiring knitter/crocheter from Scotland, who will be leading the group and guiding them through the projects devised by Sarah. There are more details about Carol and the course below.

As we said, bookings have never been more buoyant and we are looking forward to one of the most brilliant seasons at the Watermill, with many new innovations for our guests to enjoy, such as the wonderful banqueting table in the communal dining room.

Hopefully it won’t be long before
we can all enjoy a few moments’
relaxation in the sunny courtyard

Our total capacity is around 260 guests, so you can see we only have room for a dozen or so more. As in previous newsletters the latest availability is detailed below and, as we have said before, don’t be too disappointed if you find that a course you really want to come on is fully booked: there are often cancellations and if it is a course you really want, let us know and we’ll put you on the waiting list.

By far the most popular Watermill blog and Facebook post last month was the one we made to welcome spring with some fresh paintings of daffodils by Watermill tutors, past, present and future. We make no excuse of reproducing them again, together with a timely shot of Tuscan spring flowers in our nearby Meadows.

In this month’s newsletter there are stories on:

• A Sandra Strohschein painting which sums up the ethos of a Watermill week
• A stunning Maggie Renner Hellmann painting which adds new light to Venice
• Investigate before you paint!
• A warm welcome to Carol Meldrum
• The adjective: when in doubt, leave it out
• Why che peccato is buone notizie for learning Italian
• Availability on all our 2019 Watermill creative courses

Happy reading...

The picture top left is a watercolour of spring daffodils by a new Watermill tutor, Carl March, who will be with us in 2020, while top right is another daffodil study by Paul Talbot-Greaves, who is joining us again this may. At bottom left is a glowing oil of daffodils and fruit, by Kevin Scully, who will join us again as a tutor in 2021 (you see what careful, long-term planning goes into our Watermill creative courses!). At bottom right is a photograph of spring flowers in a meadow near the mill.

‘Before I say good night George,
can you please book a double room
on a Watermill creative course?’
Gracie Allen and George Burns

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.

Sandra’s watercolour captures the calm of a Watermill painting holiday...

Here’s a watercolour by our friend and tutor Sandra Strohschein of John, one of our guests on her painting course here last year, enjoying the tranquillity of the countryside around the Watermill and concentrating contentedly on his painting. Sandra is with us for two weeks this year, but her courses are already fully booked. But as we say, there may well be cancellations. More details and links below.

....while Maggie sheds new light on the magic of Venice

We love this extraordinarily vibrant oil painting by our friend and watermill tutor Maggie Renner Hellmann. Isn’t it marvellous? We were discussing recently how difficult it must be in for artists to try to say something new about the all-too-familiar Venetian scene, which has been painted so many times by artists over the centuries. We think Maggie has achieved it.

She will be with us again later this year, but, like Sandra’s, her course is fully booked. Again, there may well be cancellations and there are more details and links below.

Incidentally, both Sandra and Maggie will be with us in 2020 and if you want to be among the first bookers for those courses, drop us an email and we will tell you more about dates etc. and even reserve your place!