23rd October 2024
Hello and thank you for visiting my page.
I'm thrilled to be back in the WOS fold and will be updating here from time time, with new artwork and my backstory.
Meanwhile, here's something seasonal to be going on with!
Happy browsing!
Warmest wishes, Charlotte
PS Do please contact me if you'd like to reserve a sketch or painting or further information, as need be. (01684 592179)
As the year slips by, we will soon be turning our attention to Christmas preparations. One tradition that remains popular is that of sending and receiving Christmas cards.
Welland artist Charlotte Carver has produced and printed a card with a local flavour and was interviewed during WOS23 by Bernadette Kearney (formerly of BBC Midlands Today). Charlotte began by explaining how she first got involved with Worcestershire Open Studios in 2023:
CC: I was being encouraged by one or two people and thought 'Well, I'll apply.' They soon wrote back 'Dear Artists, we'd love you to join us'. I thought 'Dear Artist, this is exciting' as it's not my day job: I just do the art thing because it's a beautiful hobby. So next they wanted to have images and a backstory for the Worcestershire Open Studios website. Incidentally, quite a coincidence, I live now at Bidders Croft, but was I born at Little Croft in Warwickshire. And I've a photo of me in front of an easel at age three!
BK: So, the art thing, as you call it, has always been something that's been part of your interest and hobbies?
CC: I think so. I was meant to be doing A-Level Art, History of Art, French and History, but then bunked off school at Christmas 1963, having re-sat Latin O’level ('You can't fail exams,' my parents said). Anyway, I then escaped to Italy for four months, where I pretended to study History of Art in Florence, but I did learn Italian! Over the years, I worked for Italians in England and in Italy, and always loved art. Obviously, I learnt a lot. It did help that I lived in a family, where I thought of the mum as my godmother, really, and her two daughters, one was a top guide in Florence.
BK: The collection that we see here around us, as part of the Open Studios, is quite varied, and very prolific. Was there a point during your art thing in which all of this took off, and it became much more than a hobby?
CC: One day in April 2019, a card landed on the mat from a local class which was starting up at Stanbrook Abbey. It was called ColourWheel 'For people who think they can't draw and paint, come and find out. You don't need to bring anything, just yourself'. And I thought 'I'm going to do this' and booked it that same morning.
I had a ball the first and second term, but then we got locked down and they sent us art work to do for fun, and then said 'We're going to do a Zoom course.' In fact, we did several and eventually, when lockdown was lifted, I went to their other class at The Abbey Hotel in Malvern, and still go there on a Tuesday. Honestly, if I didn't do that, I wouldn't get around to it. I mean, who sits down for three hours on a Tuesday to do art? No way. I run a business here, and there are always interruptions, and the fly on the wall can distract me. So to go to the class, it's sociable and great fun. And for the end-of-term projects, they’d say 'Right, you've got two weeks to do your own work. What's your favourite medium?' And I used to say 'I don't know. I love it all.' 'Well, what do you want to paint?' 'Oh OK, I want to do the majestic lion from our honeymoon in Samburu. Or maybe I’ll try to sketch the church I attend, St Wulstan’s in Little Malvern. Then perhaps I could make some Christmas cards.'
BK: Do you have a particular favourite work of your own?
CC: I have a couple of favourites. I would say there's a nice soft pastel that I've done recently, with a boat. I could focus more on soft pastels. But I also enjoyed working on the quite complicated architectural ink and pastel sketch of St Wulstan’s, quite a challenge. In fact, I went back to it recently and lit it up - I put light in the windows and coming out of the doors. Oh, and I changed the moon! Continued…
BK: For anybody thinking about discovering their creative side, or having a go at doing a bit of art, maybe it's been something they always wanted to do, and have never really had the opportunity or the chance, what would you say to them?
CC: I'd say go for it because if I can do it, anybody can. It's just a question of getting around to it. Procrastination is so easy, and we need to take just one small step. Come and talk to me if you like and I'll show you what I've managed to achieve in under five years. And I could introduce them to my class tutor and admin, who's a really great organiser. It's fun.
Actually, when my mother died, I'm afraid I had a chapter of accidents and family emergencies and ended up flat on the deck with a breakdown. Now that was 20 years ago (I'm in my 70s now) and of an age when some women can hit a bad patch. I was even in hospital for six weeks where they were trying to get me to do some art therapy. I said 'But I can't do any art.' I had nothing in me, you know, because you're drugged and everything. But I had a try at doing something, it was purple I remember, and I said it was complete rubbish. They were so sweet, saying 'No, it's not rubbish, it's great'. I then thought 'Come on, Charlotte, art may be a good idea.' So yes, for anybody who has moments, and we all have them sometimes in our lives, I think that art is great for mind, body, and spirit. I recommend it.
You can buy any of Charlotte's Christmas card designs from the Events page of her website (The Little Leather Box Company) with proceeds going to the restoration fund at St Wulstan's in Little Malvern where Sir Edward Elgar is buried.
© Charlotte Carver 2024