Yes, the roses in the Watermill's walled garden are looking particularly fine this year, which prompted our social media factotum Gina Shearston to celebrate with the new Facebook cover picture above. For all the Watermill views and news, please just click here. We still have a few places left on our 2023 creative courses and we would love you to join us. The latest 2023 is shown below. (Don't Continue Reading
A horse and carriage ride in Lucca, organised by two enterprising Watermill painting course guests
In the main squares of the beautiful city of Lucca, one of the destinations on our Wednesday excursions during our creative course weeks, no lonely cab horse steams and stamps, but occasionally you will see an open horse-drawn carriage clip-clopping through the historic streets. We never knew where they came from until last Wednesday when two enterprising guests on a Watermill painting Continue Reading
Another knitting week to remember
We have just had two sparkling TripAdvisor reviews for Georgia Farrell’s knitting holiday a week or so ago. Both of the participant have been several times before. One, from Chichester in England, writes: “This was a return visit and, as on previous visits, it didn’t disappoint (apart from the weather). The course itself, which was led by Georgia Farrell, had just the right balance of tuition, Continue Reading
The memories linger on, continued…
We have said it before, and we will say it again: the experiences of a Watermill creative week don’t just last the seven days that you are here, but the memories linger on and on. Take the case of Mary Jane Cooley, who came on a painting course in May a year ago. She emailed us this week: “I spent last week fondly reliving my visit to your beautiful home away from home and the connections I Continue Reading
A study in creative concentration
One picture, they say (whoever they may be), is worth a thousand words, and certainly this picture of Diane Ohnemus, a guest on Pamme Turner’s painting week, says more than many paragraphs could do about the joys of creative concentration while painting in the Watermill walled garden. Your cares slip away and all you have to do is focus on capturing on paper the beauty of your surroundings. Relax Continue Reading
Not PG Tips but PTG Tips. You will be a better painter
The moment I saw it I knew I couldn’t resist the allusion. Here they were. Not PG Tips, but PTG’s online tips for improving your watercolour painting. Do you remember PG tips, a famous tea brand in Britain, and still going strong, I believe? That fount of all knowledge Wikipedia tells me: "In the 1930s, Brooke Bond launched PG Tips in the tea market in the United Kingdom under the Continue Reading
Work quickly, catch the moment. Mike’s new painting tip features the borlotti bean
Our Watermill tutors are nothing if not generous in sharing their knowledge and skill with our painting guests – and none more so Mike Willdridge, who urges you to take a sketchbook with you everywhere, to record those fleeting moments which will bring back memories forever. Mike says: “Without a doubt, my greatest pleasure in being an artist is drawing. It was my first love as a child and Continue Reading
Enjoy your plein air painting, rain or shine
It was a wet and windy day yesterday in Posara and in Fivizzano, the nearby walled mediaeval town painters went to the (bedraggled) market. But they didn’t allow the rain to dampen their spirits nor their creativity. And Watermill tutor Randy Hale was always on hand with plenty of tips to help them produce great plein air paintings, even on rainy dayss: Embrace the Atmosphere: Rain adds an Continue Reading
High art and high fashion, a compelling combination
Have you wondered what the pictures would look like if the ‘bible’ of high fashion, Vogue magazine, asked famous painters to design its front cover? Wonder no more: over the years the editors of Vogue have done just that., and my favourite online art magazine, Dailyart, has just published an article showing the striking results. That’s an instantly recognisable Salvador Dali cover above from Continue Reading
It’s not just the painters who produce works of art…
This flower arrangement in the centre of our communal dining room was made by our social media factotum Gina Shearston, who also took the photograph. The Watermill team are nothing if not versatile! Continue Reading