There’s nothing more relaxing than practicing watercolours by the sea in Cornwall.
It sounds like a bit of a dream, doesn’t it? There’s something so therapeutic about it as an art practice, and it’s such a nice way to wind down and relax.
A couple of years ago, the lovely Sarah Bell invited me along to one of her VIP private watercolour days, and I had such a fun day. I’d never really tried watercolours before, and Sarah was the most patient teacher. Since then, Sarah has stayed in touch and attended one of my Pinterest Marketing workshops that I ran here in Cornwall earlier this year, and then in September contacted me about redesigning her brand and website (in case you didn’t know, I also have a design business as my other ‘job’!).
Her plan was to change her brand from ‘Sarah Bell Art’ to ‘Watercolour Workshops Cornwall’, and to create a modern new website that would reflect the quality and style of her wonderful workshops. It’s always so nice to work with a business with whom I’ve tried their product first-hand and loved it, so I was so excited to be working with her. The new brand and website are now all up and running, and I love how it all turned out!
As part of the rebrand, Sarah kindly invited a group of us Cornwall bloggers/Instagrammers along for a beginners watercolour workshop at her studio at Chapel House in Penzance. It’s such a beautifully bright and airy studio – perfect for mixing colours and creating colour wheels in natural light – which is what we started out doing.
Most of us were very much beginners – and even though I’d done some of it before, I definitely needed the refresher, and Sarah took us through the different brush techniques too once we’d got used to mixing colours.
She then showed us how to paint leaves and flowers, before moving on to show us how to create a beautiful night-sky effect using wax crayon as a water-resistant barrier to make the stars when painted over in watercolours. After this we moved on to painting still life, and ended up with some very autumnal leaf designs too.
Sarah’s one and two day workshops range from beginner techniques, to specific topics like ‘Sea Shore’ or ‘Landscapes’ etc. and more advanced ones too. She runs them at her studio in Penzance, or in Dartmoor (Devon), and they’re extremely popular! Definitely have a look at her new website to stay up to date with the latest workshops and book yours before they sell out.
You can also book Sarah for a VIP tuition day or two, to learn in a one-to-one setting, or even purchase a gift voucher for a special someone to enjoy one of her workshops – the perfect Christmas present!
Loved Sarah’s watercolor demonstration pictures on my cell phone. You are very talented. It would appear that classes are very expensive after reading the English cost version. Thank you for the nice pictures that Anna helped with. 6/4/2021.