LANTALLACK ART NEWS
21st May, 2010
Gosh, I haven't written in here for a LONG time...dreadful, only I have been busy doing other things, like creating a wedding venue and creating places for people to enjoy Lantallack - like the love seat, Polly's Bower and a total refurbishment of Pippin's Cottage!!
In March, I went as usual to Tresco and did some super little images, some of which are below....it was great to be painting again after such a terrible year with my arm...and today I played a few shots across a tennis net with my pals from Saltash Tennis Club!!
Bryher Evening Swell
Quay New Grimsby
Hell Bay - Sunny
November, 2009
Ok, so the arm is amazing!! And 7 months down the line I am back at Landrake School as Artist in Residence. We are making huge pinch pots and coil pots...you might think this is a simple undertaking, but not so...the children are finding it quite hard to control the clay!! Making coils was never the simplest of tasks; it's the business of spreading your fingers across the clay and keeping an even pressure and working it sideways so that you don't end up with thin bit and a thick bit!!....Anyway, these are 9 and 10 year olds so they should be able to manage it...well, it took 2 hours to sort themselves out, but the results were pretty good...so well done Sir Robert Geffrey School!!
THE BROKEN ARM!!
Soon after I returned from Prussia Cove I experienced the worst accident of my life so far!!
On June 19th Landrake School came for an en plein air day. We had the most fantastic time wandering around the fields sketching, painting, discussing artists from Turner/Constable to the Group of Seven/Bonnard/Hockney etc. etc. They did some fantastic work (see above and below) After an exhausting but most enjoyable day it was time for the kids to go. They came out of my studio and as they did, I decided to take just one more photo....I couldn't quite get them in the frame so stepped back.....over a wall and down 4 feet!! I fell on my arm which concertinaed up itself, breaking my elbow in 3 and splitting my ulna (lower arm)!!!............. THE PAINTING ARM.....!!!
Since then I have endured 12 days on and off in hospital, needles, operations, infections and seven large screws and a plate in my arm.....
However, that was then....it is now 14th November and last week the plate and screws were removed and miraculously, my dear old arm seems to be recovering...in fact...I think that in a week or two I will be painting again.....HURRAH!!!!! So watch this space.....
BUT BEWARE...do NOT step back whilst taking a photograph...always look behind you first!!!
21st May, 2010
Gosh, I haven't written in here for a LONG time...dreadful, only I have been busy doing other things, like creating a wedding venue and creating places for people to enjoy Lantallack - like the love seat, Polly's Bower and a total refurbishment of Pippin's Cottage!!
In March, I went as usual to Tresco and did some super little images, some of which are below....it was great to be painting again after such a terrible year with my arm...and today I played a few shots across a tennis net with my pals from Saltash Tennis Club!!
Bryher Evening Swell
Quay New Grimsby
Hell Bay - Sunny
November, 2009
Ok, so the arm is amazing!! And 7 months down the line I am back at Landrake School as Artist in Residence. We are making huge pinch pots and coil pots...you might think this is a simple undertaking, but not so...the children are finding it quite hard to control the clay!! Making coils was never the simplest of tasks; it's the business of spreading your fingers across the clay and keeping an even pressure and working it sideways so that you don't end up with thin bit and a thick bit!!....Anyway, these are 9 and 10 year olds so they should be able to manage it...well, it took 2 hours to sort themselves out, but the results were pretty good...so well done Sir Robert Geffrey School!!
THE BROKEN ARM!!
Soon after I returned from Prussia Cove I experienced the worst accident of my life so far!!
On June 19th Landrake School came for an en plein air day. We had the most fantastic time wandering around the fields sketching, painting, discussing artists from Turner/Constable to the Group of Seven/Bonnard/Hockney etc. etc. They did some fantastic work (see above and below) After an exhausting but most enjoyable day it was time for the kids to go. They came out of my studio and as they did, I decided to take just one more photo....I couldn't quite get them in the frame so stepped back.....over a wall and down 4 feet!! I fell on my arm which concertinaed up itself, breaking my elbow in 3 and splitting my ulna (lower arm)!!!............. THE PAINTING ARM.....!!!
Since then I have endured 12 days on and off in hospital, needles, operations, infections and seven large screws and a plate in my arm.....
However, that was then....it is now 14th November and last week the plate and screws were removed and miraculously, my dear old arm seems to be recovering...in fact...I think that in a week or two I will be painting again.....HURRAH!!!!! So watch this space.....
BUT BEWARE...do NOT step back whilst taking a photograph...always look behind you first!!!
Painting at Prussia Cove
June 2009
What weather!!!! A week of pure bliss painting in Prussia Cove...the colours were unbelievable. Again en plein air at its best!! 18 of us took over the large house at Porth-en-als.
Managed to get out every day to paint on the cliffs and delve into rock pools.
Painting on Tresco, Isles of Scilly
April, 2009
Have just spent 2 glorious weeks painting on Tresco. The weather was fantastic and I managed to get out every morning painting the early light. This involves packing up my pochard, a handful of tubes of oil, a small amount of turps in an old jam jar and copious amounts of rags...and, of course, an apple to keep me going until my return to breakfast around 10am!!
Of course, battling with the elements is part of the fun of painting outdoors...most work here was covered with a fine sprinkling of silver sand - giving a momento and sense of place on returning home!
Our cottage was right on the beach at Old Grimsby overlooking Porth Beach and the Eastern Isles. Getting out of bed to watch the sun come up over the block house at 6.45am was magic...
Sad to leave...but there's always next year....
January, 2009
A group of us went out to paint Whitsand Bay on a cold day last week...the sea was turbulent, but the colours vibrant and wintery. There is much to be said for painting outside from the real thing...you just cannot get the same information from trying to invent it or copying from a photograph.
April 2008
En Plein Air at Porthcothan Beach
OK...So you try finding your subject in a sea mist. Having searched hard for 3hrs, we gave up and went in search of a pasty!! (Followed by a Picasso-style still-life back at the house)...oh the joys of painting outside!!!
Hare's Leg
This little painting is of the 'Hare's Leg', the last but most species-rich field on Lantallack's south-western boundary. We have a medieval field pattern here and the settlement dates back to 1327 when it is recorded that the farm was being handed back to the monastery at St. Germans by the Vicar of Morval.
Tailor-made courses
If you are interested in coming to Lantallack to stay for a weekend with a group of like-minded friends, we are happy to organise a tailor-made holiday. We can accommodate 3 couples comfortably in the house, 6 people sharing Pippin Cottage (1 double, 1 twin, 1 bunk) and 4 people in Polly's Bower. We can include supper on the first night too if required as part of the package and lunch each day. We have been featured in Alastair Sawday's book 'Go Slow England' - come and paint, swim and sip a G and T and watch the sun go down!
If you require any further information, please telephone or email Nicky at