Artist Residencies with a difference

A creative, personal approach

A recent Substack post on art patronage (by art adviser & curator Greg Rook, shared below) sent me on a grateful trip down memory lane.

Behind this story is a couple for whom I had done some portrait commissions. I trust they wouldn’t mind being described as Bohemian. Following on from their portraits, they surprised me with an offer to stay in their holiday cottage, in exchange for a couple of local paintings.

It was 2022, we were having a pretty miserable time as a family, coaxing my son Leon to revise for GCSEs, Izzi was in her first year of A levels, and we were reeling from homeschooling three children through the pandemic. The break was just what we needed, much fresh air and revision happened - here’s a video I made from that trip:

Roll forward two years, and the same couple offered again. This time, in exchange for a landscape painting to sit over the sofa in their holiday cottage.

It was the Easter holidays - Leon was doing a college project, and Izzi was revising for her first year uni exams. So we packed the laptops and easel, and headed back to the cottage. Set right on the South West Coastal Path, it felt like home from home. It was a wonderful time of glorious isolation - the change of scenery enabled more revision, and more painting.

The commission: sketched options, revision alongside blank canvas, progress, finished piece

After a few days, Marcus took the children back to Bristol, and Julie Dunster arrived for our ‘residency’. Julie is a dear friend, and a very experienced plein air artist, with a phenomenal work ethic and consequently well thought out kit. I have a more sporadic and, er, less focussed practice, but we match (and multiply) each other’s enthusiasm.

In our elements

Julie and I had early mornings, early nights, and a lot of flasks of tea! One day I put my easel up a few metres away from her above Prawle Point… when I’d finished painting, I went back to see how she was getting on, and to our surprise we realised a rabbit had been dropped (presumably by a bird of prey) on the path behind her, some time after her arrival. So I happily sketched the unfortunate but very fresh rabbit while Julie finished painting.

Action shots, and a fallen angel. The two framed pictures beside Julie are mine from the previous trip, featured in the video above.

Before packing up, we set all our paintings out for a very private Private View - with just one visitor (my collector, seen painting the edges of his new aquisition!).

A very private Private View

I will never forget the wonderful impetus of painting alongside a friend, away from regular responsibilities, throwing ourselves into the landscape from dawn till dusk. Having the trust and backing of our hosts was such a positive ingredient. As any artist knows, mindset is a major factor - their confidence and enthusiasm made a big difference to what I produced.

I hope this can serve as inspiration for anyone interested in arranging an informal artist residency as a mutually beneficial act of patronage, with me or someone else! It was a great framework.

Here is Greg Rook’s article on contemporary patronage ideas:

The New Patronage, or Fantasy Football For Collectors