How Cornwall all Started

Photo courtesy UK Times I’ve been I have been wanting to write this blog for a long time . It took me awhile to gather my materials and reread Summer in February again by Jonathan Smith. This blog is going to be like a six degrees of sepaparation crazy connection leading to how I got to my love of Cornwall. The only way to start this , and I should have included a Downton Abbey photo . But I had so many photos already and I wanted to write ! Well of course all Downton fans loved Daniel Stevens who played Matthew . When I saw he was in this film Summer in February I had to have it ! of course at the time it was only available on Amazon UK and not in US . I purchased a Sony DVD player that would play region 1 and 2 DVD’s . So now I could get foreign films ! In glee I ordered the film and the book . I have to say the film was one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen . SPOILERS AHEAD !It is a tragic love story ,but a beautiful one . You already know I’m an artist and what intrigued me especially after I read the book is about the artist colony there . Which led to Sir Alfred Manning’s ,Dame Laura Knight ,Harold Knight and even Florence Carter Wood Munnings. . The whole Newlyn art colony amazed me . Every character was portrayed so amazingly well both in the novel and the book . It’s rare when that happens . The score to the movie is hauntingly beautiful. Another of my guilty pleasures ;movie soundtracks ,and especially scores. I had already been a Munnnings fan but didn’t know a lot about him. I had a breach in my equine art after I lost my last horse at the age of 31. I couldn’t bear to look at a horse much less paint one for many years . But the whole painting colony intrigued me . It reminded me of the years I spent at Pemaquid Pt with my Pastel Painters of Maine members . We would all go off and paint and then get together for critique and happy hour and all stay at the beautiful Hotel Pemaquid. We weren’t quite as raucous as the Newlyn group and a I was seeing someone at the time that would turn into my own disastrous love story but that is another tale to tell . I can definatly relate to all the characters but I feel the most for Florence and Gilbert . I just can’t imagine what was going through Florence’s head. I wished she spent more time with Laura and Harold . AJ was like a lightning rod to her . He was just so full of life and full of himself . So was Laura . Laura Knight actually became more of an interest for me and I bought a few books on her artwork and was surprised how she progressed in her work . I actually was lucky enough to acquire Oil Paint and Grease Paint as a library edition ,it’s fragile and very old but I got it for a song where other copies are going for very high prices . So the Cornwall connection keeps going I bought the Cornish House on a whim and now own all Liz Fenwicks books . Search for pictures on Pinterest and to go and paint there is on my bucket list .