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
Dodging the raindrops made the brightest of days
The weather wasn’t of its kindest yesterday, with bouts of rain and louring clouds. But the springtime of our discontent was made glorious summer by the exuberance and skill of our painting tutor Randy Hale and the enthusiasm of our dozen painting guests. Randy even managed an en plein air painting demonstration in the Watermill’s walled garden in the early afternoon (see video above), before 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
There is nothing to beat good dialogue writing
Have you watched The Gilmore girls on Netflix? Good storylines, in a gentle sort of way, but the dialogue is fascinating. Much of it is not really dialogue at all, but rather witty declamatory statements. None the worse for that. After all, George Bernard Shaw did it all the time. Nonetheless, good dialogue is essential, says an article in Writers Write, the online resource for creative Continue Reading
Vegetarian snakes or nature as art?
Fawzia Rahman, who took this picture, calls them ‘vegetarian snakes.’ I think they are more like the sinuous natural curves that inspired art nouveau. Fawzia, a guest on Randy Hale’s painting course, took this picture on her afternoon walk along the millstream and riverside yesterday. The sinuous ‘snakes’ are, in fact, decayed tentacles of ivy snaking over logs from a dead fig tree which our Continue Reading
The end of two lovely creative knitting weeks with Georgia Farrell. Now to get down to some plein air painting!
We have just finished two back-to-back knitting weeks with our lovely new tutor Georgia Farrell. It was a great atmosphere on both weeks and our guests particularly seemed to enjoy being pulled out of their comfort zone by Georgia’s ‘knitted collage’ project, in which they clipped out architectural designs and shapes from magazines to make paper collages, which they translated into patterns -- and Continue Reading
Two stunning new pictures from Watermill tutors Tim and Grahame
I have been putting together new Tutor Profiles ready for the Watermill website’s update later this year, and in the process, our tutors have been sending me some stunning new pictures. Among them, Tim Wilmot and Grahame Booth, whose courses this autumn are both fully booked. If you want to enjoy a week with these tremendous watercolour artists and tutors NEXT year, now is the time to book. Continue Reading