Last year was busy with lots of classes in my garden studio and meeting new people keen to try different experiences. Finally, more and more people are recognising the benefits of art as a pleasant escape from the routines of everyday life.

Slowly but surely the therapy provided by creative pursuits is becoming fundamental to creating balance in our lives.

There was a time when creating art meant specific skills being taught in quite rigid ways, where ‘mistakes’ were not thought of as ‘happy accidents’. Those days are long gone and with them a freedom to express and respond to things that inspire us in a non judgemental way.

Whilst artists have always been known for breaking boundaries and challenging the status quo, now more than ever there is value in our self expression in art.

As an artist I have learnt many formal skills and I do believe there is great value in teaching things like perspective, composition, proportion etc. I do this and it helps as a platform for people to see the world around them and how they might interpret it.

Once we have the tools, we can use them creatively and with confidence in self expression. Art is about fun and discovery and building confidence. This is always my focus when I am teaching. It is about knowledge and understanding but alongside that the encouragement to explore and experiment.

With these things in mind I look forward to challenging my own techniques and experiments and sharing them with others in this new creative year.

Check out my Instagram (@ritathorn) to see what I’ve been up to recently.

In other news, I have two upcoming exhibitions, one at Lower Slaughter over the Easter period and one with Chipping Campden Art Society at the end of May.

Have a great creative year everyone!

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For me fresh artistic inspiration is always a good way to go!

I like to look at the work of other artists so that I remain open to new ideas and approaches.

This year I am really looking forward to using my new studio space and to the potential of offering more classes and workshops to share some of my ideas.

With this in mind I am planning some new classes commencing in February in addition to my continuing group class on Wednesdays. For details of new classes please look at the events page in the next week or so.

I thought I would share with you how these images you see on the page came about…

The colourful grids on this page were created in my class on Wednesday to encourage students to consider winter colours. They were encouraged to create their own grid pages using three to four colours and taking inspiration (for colour only) from landscape and plant images that might form part of a winter scene.

This proved a challenge since they wanted to be influenced by the images they saw in more ways than just colour. However they made a colour swatch and I then removed the images.

I enjoyed pushing the boundaries of their creativity and the session was a mindful exploration of colour supported by some music for relaxation.

The results were interesting and unique and everyone felt uplifted, helped by supplies of coffee and biscuits as well.

Looking forward to more adventures and opportunities for the year ahead.

Happy painting!

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The studio is a light and airy space that can hold four students and me.

I plan to hold some new workshops and a variety of taster classes introducing people to new materials and techniques as well as providing a space for regular classes.

Currently, classes take place on Wednesday mornings from 10:30am to 1:00pm.

I am now going to be able to offer other days and times, and also one-to-one sessions. Whilst my passion is for mixed media, I can introduce students to many art disciplines including a range of drawing skills and the use of other materials.

My mission as always is to offer a supportive and relaxing space where people can try out new skills, build confidence and make new friends. There is always plenty of advice and encouragement on hand, and a genuine desire to empower people to experiment and learn.

Please keep an eye on my events page for up and coming new sessions.

Another event due to take place over a weekend at the end of November is the Chipping Campden Art Society art show and sale. I am delighted to have become a member of this society and to be able to take part in this event with such a lot of talented artists.

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In May, a yoga retreat in Kefalonia opened my mind to many new creative ways of being, new friends, and an opportunity to explore art and its therapeutic benefits in the beautiful Greek countryside.

This has proved to be a most satisfying period where I have been able to bring the benefits of my creative practice to others and to facilitate their appreciation of artistic pursuits and wellbeing.

To further develop what I can offer, I am delighted to say that I will soon be working from a new garden studio offering more scope for what can be explored. I have lots of ideas for workshops and taster classes in lots of different mediums.

In the meantime, art sessions continue on a weekly basis around my kitchen table, and it’s quite amazing looking back over the past 18 months at what my students have achieved in terms of their learning prowess and growing confidence in their ability to try new things.

On my Instagram page (@ritathorn) I regularly post images from our weekly sessions, so do take a look.

More great news is that I have just joined Chipping Campden Art Society, who meet each week in a lovely space in the ancient Cotswold village of Chipping Campden—a beautiful setting in which to find inspiration.

What a delightful and talented group they are and what a lovely welcome I received! They are a very active group that regularly hold demonstration mornings in a range of art practices and create two opportunities each year to showcase their work. It is so inspiring to be working with others and to share ideas and practices.

So, lots of events coming up for the Autumn and Winter season. Watch this space! Happy painting everyone.

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Devon Retreat

This has been a varied and exciting year for my art pursuits. One of the highlights was a two day art retreat in Broughton, Devon where I met new friends who created some unique and interesting art and where the atmosphere and natural environment were very inspiring. Thank you Adrienne for creating this lovely opportunity for me, and thank you everyone who came for the excellent feedback.

Burford Exhibition

For the month of July I held an exhibition of work at Warwick Hall in Burford—a lovely space, very suited to the work I exhibited. This proved enjoyable and worthwhile.

Workshop at Fosseway Garden Centre

My latest venture took place in November at the Fosseway Garden Centre in Moreton-in-Marsh where they have a lovely, light and spacious room that we used for a day workshop on ‘Trees in the Winter Landscape’. Again it was wonderful to meet new people and to welcome back special friends who have supported me. The work produced was original and varied. Thank you so much everyone for the amazing feedback. I look forward to planning more workshops there for 2024.

All that remains is for me to wish you a peaceful Christmas and a joyful New Year.

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Throughout the month of July I held an exhibition at the lovely Warwick Hall in Burford. This was a great experience. Again, details and a video of the exhibition can be found on my Instagram.

Although not noted on my Events page, I have been running art sessions on Tuesdays every week throughout the year, and some extra outdoor sketching days as well. These are wonderful sessions providing lots of new art experiences—and great therapy!

On Friday 24th November I am really excited to be holding a day workshop at the lovely Fosseway Garden Centre in Moreton in Marsh. They have a great new events space there called “The Shed”, although the name does not in any way reflect the light and airy space provided. There is great parking, great shopping and a good cafe. Details for this workshop are now on my Events page, and the poster is on the front page of the website, so do take a look. If the workshop proves popular I’m hoping to set up regular events.

In the meantime, remember that art is for everyone and my aim is always to provide creative therapy that makes it accessible and that can impact positively on your life in many ways, from learning new skills to making new friends.

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Since moving seven months ago to the Cotswolds I have made new friends and found new opportunities for developing my art work and connections.

Lovely people have been coming to my classes and new ideas have been shared.

I am as always gratified and amazed by the enthusiasm and responses I get from inspired and talented students who, like me, find wonderful inspiration and therapy in coming together to make art.

Over the past months, on my courses, we have been looking at different aspects of drawing. The last session of my ‘Figures in the Landscape’ course took place today and in two weeks’ time we are commencing with a new course called ‘Let’s Draw faces’. Details can be found on the Events page of my website. I am thinking of running parallel courses on this subject since several places are already booked.

I have recently joined Warwickshire Open Studios and am hopeful that throughout the coming year I will find new connections and opportunities.

Lots of new work and shared class work can be seen on my Instagram.

Here are some pictures of work in progress and events that have taken place over the last few months.

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There will be many new opportunities here and I am planning events and looking at venues where I hope you will join me in the autumn to learn new skills and meet new people.

I am also preparing a small home studio space going forward.

Please check the Events page soon for a number of events commencing September/October.

Looking forward to a creative autumn season!

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Through the winter months I have been hosting very small groups in my studio to make sure there is at least some opportunity for creativity. This will soon be expanding a little and I have ideas for new classes due to commence in the Spring.

I am looking forward to presenting two demonstrations in March: one for the North Cotswold Arts Society and one for the Tewkesbury Art Society. The subject will be developing mixed media processes on the theme of unusual surface textures which will produce interesting results when used with acrylic ink and watercolour.

It will be great to meet new people and to share ideas.

Some great outdoor sketching opportunities presented themselves last summer and I am hoping to build on this aspect of teaching for the summer season, linking sketching with studio practice.

If, like me, you are looking towards creativity to focus your mind and bring a little relaxation and escapism going forward, then there is no better way than to lose yourself in your art. Everyone can do it, and everyone can find joy in self-expression, so give it a go would be my advice.

Happy painting, everyone!

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As we keep adjusting to the ever changing ‘normality’ that we are living with I am trying to focus on the ‘positive’. It’s summer time, we can be outside, we can enjoy what is around us. I am lucky enough to live in a lovely part of the world and am appreciative on a daily basis of that.

I notice the wildlife and the changing landscape even more than usual and take masses of photographs which I hope will inspire some paintings eventually.

With lots of time in the studio I have been experimenting with some new (to me) mixed media techniques which I have finally developed into my first online course. What a learning curve that has been!

Apart from the challenge of working the new techniques into a comprehensive set of learning activities I have been, along with my (also learning) cameraman, creating some video footage which hopefully will inspire an audience, who are also having to gain their inspiration in ways other than face to face classes.

Anyway, I am really excited about the new course and already thinking of how to improve upon it for the next one!

The course is about learning expressive techniques for mixed media painting and hopefully will give people more ideas to add to their practice.

Information about the course is on the website now and anyone who would like to join in please get in touch.

I must say a very big thank you to my family, as always, for their wonderful support with all things technical and in helping to put my work out to a wider audience.

I am just posting a little painting that I did a couple of months back when I was wondering how soon a visit to the coast might be possible.

That will be happening in the near future I hope!

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