The Year in Review...

A glance back to the events of this year...

This year has been exceptionally busy with courses and opportunities to show my artwork at home and internationally. It started off at home in London, with a fantastic show alongside 100 artists in Soho, celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Then it was off to the Moroccan desert. This was going to be my last painting course in Morocco as I needed more time for my own artwork, music projects and new courses. It’s been a fantastic 15 years working with Ali Mouni at the Nomad Palace. It was hard to say goodbye to everybody, especially to Ali's family and friends. However, I'm sure I will be meeting Ali and his lovely wife for a get together before long, perhaps in Marrakesh...

From one hot country to another, Sicily was my next painting destination. As usual, we had a wonderful time painting at the Valley of the Temples, the seaside at Agrigento and the gardens at the Fattoria Mose. After the course, there was just enough time to prepare for the next show in Germany, "Rationale 4 Bauhaus", at the FRAUENMUSEUM, Bonn in May.

In June, I returned to Portugal where our group of eager painters enjoyed not only the sunshine but all the fantastic painting locations, including a trip by boat to the nearby island of Armona.

A total change of scenery, and I was suddenly on a plane to Scotland for my next painting course in the Highlands at Brynaport. The mountain landscape looked fantastic in the sunshine and we spent most of our time on location painting the dramatic coastline, white washed cottages at the waters edge of Loch Kishorn and the views towards the Isle of Skye from the nearby estuary.

It was back to London for a summer show in August at the A&D Gallery, where I exhibited four of my watercolours. The exhibition was closely followed by a show in Switzerland I took part in called ”ARTBOX.PROJECT ZÜRICH 1.0 at Swiss Art Expo".

This summer I had to take a break from teaching in Devon, but I can't wait to paint there again next August and to catch up with everybody at Coombe Farm Studios. Later in August, I flew to Germany to visit my parents. We enjoyed a trip to the Baltic Sea and I had the pleasure of watching my 94-year-old mother dip her toes in the lapping waves. The change in my usual schedule was partly due to needing extra time for my visit to Spain. My new colleagues, Anne and Nancy at Casa Ana, welcomed me for the first time and together we planned the final details for my new painting course in Andalusia, June 2020.

The Autumn brought more artistic opportunities: the showing of one of my watercolours at “ARTBOX.PROJECT MIAMI 2.0 at Miami Artweek”, USA this December, and an exciting new collaboration with a German sound engineer and composer, Dorothee Schabert. Whilst in Morocco I filmed a video to accompany her sound recordings/composition for a show at GEDOCK in Karlsruhe, Germany in February 2020.  I'm also currently working on smaller watercolours for a limited edition of boxes containing Dorthee's upcoming CD release.

December will of course be the time to meet up with friends and my British family in Hampshire, which is always a great highlight at the end of the year.

I wish you all a creative new painting year,
Bettina