Dear Friend,

One of the excitements of last month was looking at the Watermill from a new angle. We have been wanting for some time to take an overhead shot of the Watermill complex from a drone, but it wasn’t until Grazyna Ostrowska arrived that our aspiration became reality. Grazyna, on Paul Talbot Greaves’ painting course, brought her own drone and made this little video of the Watermill. Fascinating! I have scattered a few stills at the top and bottom of this introductory section and you can see the whole video (two minutes or so) by clicking on the arrow in the picture above.

These aerial shots enable us to see the array of photovoltaic panels hidden away on our south-facing roofs, which make us more than self-sufficient in electricity production and even power all our air-conditioning units in all the bedrooms and public rooms, to keep you Cool and Green at the Watermill.

From the ground you can’t see our array of photovoltaic panels on the left,
making electricity from the sun

We took a four-week break in late-July/early-August, relaxing with old friends and making new ones, especially when Lydia, our elder daughter, celebrated her birthday here with a delightful group of young people, who chilled out in the Watermill’s walled garden, as well as visiting the seaside and the mountains. (Incidentally Lois and Bill are celebrating their joint 140th birthday later this year. When Bill jokingly said he was 99, quite a lot of people believed him!)

Happy birthday Lydia, while Lois and Bill prepare to celebrate their joint 140th.
Pictures: Beth Clarence.

After our summer break it was on to the second part of our season, with a watercolour course tutored by Paul Talbot-Greaves, followed by Rebecca de Mendonça’s inspiring pastel course. After that, we still have a few places left on our remaining seven creative courses in September and October 2022.There are more details below. We’d love you to come and join us.

Have you heard about the Watermill’s
special Early Bird(s) offer?

Now, however, we are really beginning to concentrate on our 2023 season, and already the bookings are flowing in. We have many returning old friends among next year’s inspiring tutors and we are welcoming some new and exciting artists, too. Details and links below.

We already have more than 130 bookings for next year, so now is the time to reserve your place, not least because of our Early Bird offer: if you book before 31 December 2022, there is a £75 (British pounds) discount on every one of our courses.

In this month’s newsletter we also have stories on:

• Eine kleine nachtmusik at the Watermill
• Another Watermill innovation: painting course homework!
• Time to move Michelangelo’s David?
• Painting tutors of the month Harry Westera and Murray Ince
• All our inspiring 2023 painting courses
• Knitting bliss on our Watermill retreat
• Are you laughing too much at your own jokes? Cut down on exclamation marks!!
• A unique way to learn Italian

Happy reading!

“It’s no mystery:
Watermill creative holidays are the best.”

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

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.

Picture right: Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane and Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter Wimsey in A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery

Eine kleine nachtmusik at the Watermill

Well, to be strictly accurate, it is a little evening music, un po' di musica serale, as the Italians would have it.

An innovation on our creative courses is a small informal concert, provided by two young musicians, sister and brother ,Letitia and Harry, who come to play for us one evenings while we enjoy our aperitivi on the vine verandah. Both live locally and are studying music at a nearby Conservatorio. We are happy to support them in their endeavours, and enjoy listening to their gentle melodies, both classical and modern, on the clarinet and the guitar.

Painting holiday guest Abigail Hunt took the picture above left of Leticia and Harry, with Lois and guest Sandra Jones in the foreground. Another guest, Lynne Lundy, took the picture of our young musicians (top right).

Another Watermill innovation, painting course homework

Yes, as we reported in our blog last month, painting tutor Pamme Turner suggested that our guests on her course might like to do a little homework when they got back after their holiday.

The idea was to put into practice some of the techniques they had learned during their creative week with us and to make their own interpretations of the reference photograph of sunflowers and a straw hat, above. It wasn’t obligatory, and it was great fun.

Here below is a montage of some of the colourful paintings that emerged from the exercise.

Our thanks to, below left,Todd Glenn, below right Doris Boyce, bottom left Sly Sanchez, bottom right, Nina Mock.

What I find particularly enchanting is the way in which each artist has interpreted the commission in his or her own way.

Pamme will be back with us next year, so why not join her, not just for inspiring tuition, but also a spectacular setting, warm hospitality, stunning painting locations, delicious food and wine and the convivial company of like-minded people.

 And there is another bonus:
if you book a place on Pamme’s course before 31 December 2022 you will receive our £75 (British pounds) Early Bird Discount. But to be sure of your place, now is the time to book: six people have already made their reservations.

Pamme Turner
20 – 27 May 2023
Watercolour and gouache en plein air
To learn more about Pamme and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.

Is it time to move Michelangelo’s David? It's in the wrong place!

Despite the fact he said that he knew full well that the statue of David outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence was a facsimile and that his suggestion was firmly tongue-in-cheek, Bill’s stirred up something of a Facebook storm when he suggested recently that the statue should be moved, because it is in the wrong place.

When he carved it, Michelangelo thought it was going to be placed somewhere else. So neither the original, placed in the Accademia museum ages ago for its own safety, nor the reproduction outside Florence’s town hall, are where they were intended.

No one will deny that the David is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance, but look at it closely and you will soon realise that the anatomy of the David is all wrong, even allowing for the quirky exaggerations of the Mannerists. In particular, the head is far too large.

The reason: we are not meant to be looking at it from here. The David was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo, the committee in charge of work on Florence’s magnificent cathedral and was intended to be displayed high on its exterior, some 12 metres above ground.

Replica of the David
in its originally intended position
on the cathedral, Florence, Italy.
The History Blog

When the leaders of the new, and somewhat fragile Republic of Florence (the Medici had been expelled) saw the masterpiece that the young Michelangelo had created, they determined that the David should be displayed in a more prominent position outside the town hall, daily to remind the citizens of the triumph of the individual (democracy) over the Medici (autocracy).

It was placed at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the republican administration. Surprisingly, when the Medici were restored in 1512, they left the statue where it was, although from time to time their supporters did throw stones at it.

Of course, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell of the powers-that-be moving David and placing it high on the cathedral. But it’s an interesting thought. I wonder what he thinks...