Dear Friend,

March, they say (whoever they may be), roars in like a lion and leaves as quietly as a lamb, so despite some balmy February days (we were often able to eat lunch outside), we’re not convinced that Spring has sprung just yet. Mind you, the famous Magnolia tree in the Piazza Beccaria around the corner from us in Florence has set forth its beautiful blossoms, as can be seen in Lois’s photograph taken on 22 February.

Picture: Lois Breckon

We fear, however, that its effervescent efflorescence (!) may be a little premature and that the darling buds of February may be nipped by windy frosts in March. We hope not, and we will enjoy its optimistic beauty while it lasts.

Watermill tutor Randy Hale gives no hint of Spring in the next of his online, interactive paintalong sessions for the Watermill on 7 March, bringing some tips on how to capture the blowy, snowy winter wind in your watercolours.

On 21 March, however, Mike Willdridge, disregards the weather and buries his head in the summer sand, almost literally, as he invites you to join him painting A Ship on the Horizon from the shade of an Italian beach umbrella. Dates and details below.

Last month we celebrated the tremendous news that one of the ‘watery’ charities that the Watermill supports, Ocean Bottle, has just reached a major milestone in its fight against ocean plastic pollution: it’s now stopped the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles reaching our oceans. We are proud to play our own (very small) contribution, aided by the guests on our creative courses. There’s more below.

We were also inspired last month by two tales from Hollywood, a hotbed of egos, not normally known for its soft, sensitive indivuals. They involved the superstars Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. We will tell you the Frank Sinatra story later, but first Gene and Fred:

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire
dancing together in
That’s Entertainment 1976.

When Gene Kelly’s wife died, he withdrew from the world, shutting himself away in his house, refusing to see anyone. One night, there was persistent knocking on the door and after ignoring it for some time, Gene shouted out: “There’s no one home.”

“I know,” said the caller, “That’s why am here. To be with you.”

It was Fred Astaire, bearing sandwiches and soft drinks, and the two men sat together in a long night of silent companionship. When Fred Astaire’s wife died a few years later, Gene Kelly did the same for him.

We like the story so much that we made Fred and Gene this month’s ‘pretend partners’ in our Bring Your Partner... section below.

Bookings for our world-renowned week-long residential creative courses continue apace. As we go to press, we have more than 250 bookings for our painting, creative writing, knitting and Italian language courses. Our maximum capacity is some 260/270 places, so if you want to enjoy inspiring teaching, warm hospitality, delicious food and wine, stunning scenery and the convivial company of like-minded people NOW is the time to make YOUR reservation. There are lists of the courses, and current availability, in the appropriate sections below.

An idyllic setting. Painting in the Watermill walled garden during Grahame Booth’s last year

Also in this edition,

• we ponder the perils of pronunciation and translation
• we reveal that that ‘bigamist’ is not Italian for fog
• we knit up the ravelled (unravelled) sleeve of care
• we wonder why the BBC’s Engineering Information Officer doesn’t answer the telephone ‘E I E I O’

Location, location, location... That’s what they say is the most important thing in selling a house, and we suspect it is true for painting courses, too, so that’s why we take our guests to four stunning nearby locations during the painting weeks*. The four pictures at the top and bottom of this introductory section give you some idea of them.

Above left is Sue Ford’s sketch of the imposing castle at Verrucola, (Mondays) and above right, Pamme Turner’s quirky take on the market in the nearby walled medival town of Fivizzano, where we go to paint on Tuesdays.

Below left and right: photos of the Convento del Carmine, a nearby 17th century monastery (Thursdays) and of the view of the spectacular Apuan Alps of the view from the terrace of the gourmet restaurant Al Vecchio Tino in the hilltop village of Monte dei Bianchi, where we go to paint (and eat!) on Fridays.

Our creative writing, knitting and Italian language guests, also go out on location to enjoy knitting, writing and soaking up the Italian language in the fresh air and favour delicious food in local restaurants. *There is also an excursion to the quintessential Italian town of Lucca or to the picturesque fishing villages of the Cinque Terre.

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

Your partner doesn'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: “Let’s dance our way to a Watermill holiday.” Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly: Friends in life and on stage

A billion fewer plastic bottles now pollute the seas – and the Watermill and its guests have played their (small) part

One of the ‘watery’ charities the Watermill supports, Ocean Bottle, has just reached a major milestone in its fight against ocean plastic pollution: it’s now stopped the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles reaching our oceans. We are proud to have played our own (very small) contribution, aided by our guests on our creative courses.

Ocean Bottle announced: “Thanks to the collective efforts of our clients and customers, we've successfully funded the collection of over 11.4 million kg of plastic from harming our oceans. That's the equivalent in weight to 1 billion single-use plastic bottles! To provide some perspective, the collected bottles would circle the Earth five times over.”

Supporting Ocean Bottle’s* efforts is part of our endeavour to make the Watermill Cool and Green.

In a fantastic deal with them, we’ve financed a scheme to collect each year 450 kg of ocean-bound plastic from the world’s most polluted rivers and waterways and ensure that it is not dumped into the sea. This is equivalent to around 40,000 half-litre plastic bottles. It will make us ‘plastic neutral’ each year. It pales into insignificance compared with the billion bottles of Ocean Bottle (We try in vain to stop saying ‘a drop in the ocean’ but, to use another cliché, ‘every little helps.’) You can read more about our plastic-reducing endeavours on our Watermill blog by clicking here.

‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ on the line

Our other tale of genuine Hollywood warmth concerns Frank Sinatra, the most romantic singer of his era, but who was also associated with the rowdy shenanigans of the Rat Pack and alleged involvement with the American Mafia, He, too, it would seem, also had a softer, caring side. His wife, Barbara gave an example: "We were at a dinner party one night with Bennett Cerf and Betty Bacall when Frank wandered into a guest room to collect a pack of cigarettes from his overcoat. There he found the producer Arthur Hornblow finishing up a telephone call to a woman. ‘I hope she's pretty,' Frank said softly.

"Arthur replied that she was; it was his mother, Susie, who was in poor health in Florida but still excited about the latest Yankee scores. 'What I wouldn't give for one more telephone call with my mom,' Frank told him wistfully.

"At his suggestion, they called Arthur's mother back and put Frank on the line. 'Is this really Frank Sinatra?' she asked. 'You sound too much like him not to be. I love your voice.'

“‘Well, I love your voice too, Susie,' Frank said. 'Tell you what—I'm going to call you every Saturday night at six o'clock, and we'll chew over the Yankees' performance, okay?'

“He kept his promise and never missed a Saturday evening call to Susie Hornblow until the day she died. For good measure, he sent flowers to her on Mother's Day and to other widowed mothers in the same hospital.

“Frank added her name to his list of lonely women he'd call on a regular basis... Few believed them when they claimed that Ol' Blue Eyes was a frequent caller, but they knew the truth and that was all that mattered."

A great story! It made us think about old friends with whom we had not been in touch for ages and to resolve to contact them more regularly.

The perils of pronunciation

cricket is complicated enough
without having to learn how to pronounce the teams!
Photo: ESL, English study abroad

We were musing in a blog last month about how difficult it must be for our Italian (and other European) friends to pronounce English correctly, because, unlike in many other languages, there are no firm rules to guide them, and even if there were, every other word would be an exception to the rule.

It’s probably apocryphal that MI5 unmasked suspect German spies during the Second World War by asking them to read out the cricket scores from the newspaper: ‘Worcestershire 176 all out; Warwickshire 78 for 3.’ (Properly Woost-eh-shur 176 all out; Wor-ick-shur 78 for 3, NOT Wor-ses-ter-hire’ and War-wick-shire: (“For you, Mein Herr, the war is over.”)

In English pronunciation, not only are there few rules, but there are many words which look alike but sound different (enough, though, cough, hiccough). And then there seem to be lots of letters simply hanging around, doing no pronunciatorial* work, like the m in mnemonic or the p in psalm, say nothing of the silent c in chutzpah, the un-pronounced ch and gh in yacht, night and light; and the mute l in calm, palm and talk. You can find out more on our blog here.

And do you know how to pronounce 'ghoti'?

*I think Bill just made that word up, so you can pronounce it as you will. Incidentally, it is also apocryphal that the BBC Pronunciation Department, which one rings for advice before taking to the airwaves, answers the phone by saying: “ ‘ullo, Pronounce-iation ‘ere.” Nor is it true that from the Engineering Information section, the Engineering Information Officer says “E I E I O” when you call.

There is more fun – and frustration – with pronunciation in the Italian Language section below.

Paint this chilly scene along with Randy from the warmth of your own home

Yes, as Lois says in the video above, you will be glad of the warmth of your own home for Randy Hale‘s next interactive, online session with the Watermill, which features a roaring March wind and swirling snow that chills you to the bone. Painting along in comfort, you will be learning more about composition and colours. You’ll also join an international community of like-minded people, enjoying painting and each other’s company.

Here (right) is Randy's practice painting:

Randy ‘s session is on Thursday 7 March. To register and make your donation (we suggest around £25 GBP), please click here.

Start time: 6 pm Florence, Italy; 5 pm London, UK (Greenwich Mean Time); Noon from Maine to Florida, USA; 10 am in Denver (Mountain Time Zone) USA; 9 am from Los Angeles to Seattle, USA

Learn what to leave out when painting along online with Mike

Mike Willdridge returns to a Mediterranean beach for the next of his interactive online sessions with the Watermill, on 21 March.

His subject is two women lying under the shade of a beach umbrella and his theme is choosing what to leave out, to create a picture that is better composed and more interesting. That’s Mike’s practice painting above left. It’s called ‘A ship on the Horizon’. It’s an uncluttered picture, unlike the source photograph on the right.

When you register for Mike’s session you will be given access to a line drawing, which Mike would like you to tackle before the start of the session. Don’t bother with much else beyond the umbrella and the two women themselves: you can add other things, if you like, during the session.

Here are the details, and a link for registration.

Mike’s session is on Thursday 21 March.

To register, please click here.

Start time: 6 pm Florence, Italy; 5 pm London, UK (Greenwich Mean Time); Noon from Maine to Florida, USA; 10 am in Denver (Mountain Time Zone) USA; 9 am from Los Angeles to Seattle, USA.

What you get on your Watermill online interactive painting sessions

Unlike many online painting tutors, Randy and Mike will not expect you to ‘look over their shoulders’ for a long demonstration, and perhaps be allowed to ask the odd question or two. No, you will be painting along at more or less the same time, trying out, step-by-step what they have shown you. Our tutor will demonstrate a tip or technique for only a few minutes before you start painting the same subject at home. Then, after you have had your turn, they will move on to the next part of the process. Lois Breckon will be on hand to feed your questions. The session will last two or three hours.

When you have registered, you will be provided with two links. The first is the Zoom link for you to join the session. Please double check the start time in your own time zone.

The second link is where you can download a source photograph of the scene that your tutor has chosen for you, his practice painting to show you where you are heading, a simple line drawing, and a list of materials (including paper, paint and brushes) that he suggests you may need for the session.

After the event, you are invited to add your painting to an online gallery and to view paintings by fellow students. Randy/Mike will give a short critique of every painting that is posted within seven days of the end of the session. We will also send you a link to a lightly edited video within 48 hours of the end of the session that will enable to you revisit the tutor’s step-by-step teaching.

A montage of some of the participants pictures one of Mike’s previous online sessions