It already seems too long ago since we got back from our holiday in Cornwall and Devon end of October. I brought along my sketch materials but hadn't been able to do much because there was so much to do and see, especially with the glorious weather we had! However, I was immensely inspired by the landscape and artwork from local artists and I now have lots of ideas to follow up in my art studio during the winter.
During the first week we rented an apartment in artistic and pretty coastal town St. Yves overlooking the bay. For Jaap's birthday (almost a year ago!) I gave him a visit to
Barbara Hepworth's Garden and Museum. He really admires her sculptures and actually made a wooden sculpture himself a few years ago inspired by one of hers.
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Jaap's wooden sculpture inspired by Barbara Hepworth
©Fenfolio2015 |
Below is a selection of her stunning sculptures we saw in the garden and museum.
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| Barabara Hepworth sculpture © Fenfolio2015 |
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| Barabara Hepworth sculpture © Fenfolio2015 |
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| Jaap framed by one of Hepworth's sculpures © Fenfolio2015 |
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| Massive sculpure in tropical garden ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Detail of Hepworth's work ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Hepworth's studio ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Sculpure tools Hepworth worked with ©Fenfolio2015 |
For more information about Barbara Hepworth, visit
Artsy's Barbara Hepworth page where you can find her bio, over 20 of her works, exclusive articles and up-to-date Hepworth exhibition listings.
From St. Yves we explored its surroundings and made some beautiful walks along the coastline.
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| Digital collage image I created with apps ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Digital collage image I created ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Pretty houses and streets in St. Yves ©Fenfolio 2015 |
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Digital collage image I created with map of Cornwall
©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Cornish sea and rocks ©Fenfolio 2015 |
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| Walking along coast path to between St. Yves and Zennor ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Funky sea cliffs ©Fenfolio2015 |
We had a wonderful day at
Trengwainton Garden near Penzance.
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| Palm trees thrive here in mild climate©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Silhouette of fern on tree trunk ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Digital collage I created of an autumnal still life ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Digital collage of Trengwainton House ©Fenfolio2015 |
Our most memorable walk was to Kynance Cove and Lizard Point! Especially the cafe which you can see on the far right on the image below was well worth a visit.
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| Kynance Cove ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Kynance Cove ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Stunning geology along the coast here ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Textures in the sand ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Textures in the sea ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| In our element! ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Lizard point is the most Southerly point of the UK ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Love is...©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Pampus grass decorating the cliffs ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Colourful Cornish house ©Fenfolio2015 |
Another lovely walk was from Mousehole to Lamorna Cove.
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| Beautiful harbour at Mousehole ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Pretty houses in Mousehole ©Fenfolio2015 |
Before we left Corwall we visited
The Eden Project; a huge garden with various themes and an educational centre. We were blown away with what we saw and I especially was amazed by the way they combined art with nature.
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| Recipe for Eden ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Bee sculpture ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Butterfly sculpture ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Cone sculpure ©Fenfolio2015 |
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Sculpure created with garbage showing how much
rubbish one person throws away in his lifetime
©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Chandelier ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Palm in tropical biome ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| View from top of tropical biome ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Lovely sketches were displayed in the tropical biome ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| This appeals to any artist! ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| And this should ring a bell to any scientist! ©Fenfolio2015 |
Torquay was our next base. Apart from soaking up the strange mix of posh, artistic and rough culture in this English Rivièra city, we also explored Dartmoor and walked up granite hill Haytor.
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| Torquay Pavilion ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Sand artist at work on the beach ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Two artists at work en plein air ©Fenfolio2015 |
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Beautiful fishing pots in Torquay Harbour
©Fenfolio2015 |
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| On top of Haytor Rocks in Dartmoor ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Dartmoor's juxtaposition ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Dartmoor ponies ©Fenfolio2015 |
We were blown away by our visit to pictoresque art and craft village
Cockington Court, just a couple of miles away from Torquay. It was their annual Apple Festival so we enjoyed tasting various ciders in the village garden, listening to live music and seeing the various artists at work in their studio. One artist in particular we were inspired by was
Deborah Treliving. We spoke about how she creates her work and she showed us her printing press. One of her collagraph prints got Jaap's attention from the moment we stepped inside and I encouraged him to buy it. For the first time we will have artwork from a different artist on our wall!
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Deborah Treliving's art studio in Cocking Court
©Fenfoliuo2015 |
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Jaap bought this lovely collagraph print
©Fenfolio2015 |
Deborah recommended us to visit the gallery of
Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey where she's a member of. There we saw an exhibition of prints and paintings by Michael Honnor which I thoroughly enjoyed. Jaap was not so impressed as he didn't like the mainly monochrome palet of his work.
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Blurb about Michael Honnor's exhibition
©Fenfolio2015 |
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| One of Michael Honnor's lithograph prints ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| One of Michael Honnor's paintings ©Fenfolio2015 |
The cake in the café was delicious but the icing on the cake actually was the exhibition of sketchbooks from the artists of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen itself! It was such a privilege to see what these artists did with their sketchbook and why they keep one. It was an eye opener and great material I could use for my own workshop Creative Sketchbook which I was going to organise for the Stonehaven Art Group a week after my holiday.
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Exhibition Sketchbooks: Life Illustrated
©Fenfolio2015 |
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Deborah Treliving's blurb about her sketchbooks
©Fenfolio2015 |
After a few days spent in South Devon we continued our journey to the north and visited Lynton and Lynmouth. Halfway we stopped at Simonsbath, stretched our legs and made a walk through the rolling hills of Exmoor.
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| Exmoor landscape ©Fenfolio2015 |
In Lynton we unfortunately had our first day of bad weather, but that didn't deter us from walking along the coastline near Lynton.
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| "Beware of man goats" ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| The scenery is almost like a fairytale ©Fenfolio2015 |
The weather was much better the next day and we walked from Lynmouth (also called "Little Switzerland") to Watersmeet and back via the coastal path.
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| Lynmouth was severely flooded in 1952 ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Beautiful trees along the way ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Fluffy cuties in farmfield ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Coastal path to Lynmouth ©Fenfolio2015 |
The last few days of our two-week holiday were spent in Liverpool which was the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The museums and architecture in general was fascinating! While visiting Liverpool Cathedral we were treated with an amazing rehearsal of the girls school choir, singing a song from a famous and recent film, twice!! I had goosebumps, it was so beautiful.
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| Inside Liverpool Cathedral ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Glass artwork in Liverpool Museum ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Stone suitcases as sculptural artwork ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Iconic skyline of Liverpool ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Albert Dock ©Fenfolio2015 |
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| Liverpool's symbol the Liver bird ©Fenfolio2015 |
