Linda Bell, Author at

Museum Moment : Zurbarán at The National Gallery

A single thornless rose with pink-white petals balances on the edge of a silver platter. Beside it sits a white cup of water, the curves of its two handles echoing the petals’ forms. Painted by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 – 1664) around 1630, the scene is almost perfectly still – save for beads of moisture gathering around the base of the cup.

As though arranged upon an altar, or plain wooden table, light glances off the silver platter and the cup’s smooth surface, drawing our attention to their contrasting textures and quiet presence.

The rose seems fragrant and freshly plucked, its voluptuous petals intensified by the sombre shadows in the depths of the room. Rather than an encroaching darkness we observe a velvety dusk akin to the night sky, possibly the suggestion of a shuttered bedchamber ready for afternoon siesta. It’s like we can breathe in the rose’s soft perfume, permeating though the canvas and varnish, past the deep, aged wood of the painting’s frame.

The thornless rose was a well-known symbol of the Virgin Mary in seventeenth century Spain. Yet this deceptively simple painting may contain other layers of meaning.

The pairing of rose and water may allude to rose water, for centuries prized throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East for medicinal, culinary and ceremonial uses. Introduced to Spain through Islamic culture and first cultivated in the lush gardens of the Alhambra, the rose became woven into Spanish life, poetry and devotion. Indeed, ‘El Dia de la Rosa’ is still celebrated in Catalonia each year.

Viewed this way, the painting begins to hint at wider connections. Thousands of petals are required to produce just a cup’s worth of rose water. As such, Zurbarán could be alluding to Seville’s wealth as one of Europe’s great trading centres in the seventeenth century.

The silver platter may evoke the vast quantities of silver extracted by the Spanish from the New World, from Potosí in present-day Bolivia. Shipped on heavily laden Manila Galleons bound for Europe, silver was traded in cities such as Seville for silk and Chinese porcelain transported from Asia. Together, these humble objects speak of the flow of global exchange: of materials, craftsmanship, beliefs and ideas travelling across continents.

What first appears to be a meditation on stillness may therefore be something much larger. A rose, a cup of water and a silver plate become traces of a connected world. The elliptical forms in the work may invite further speculation. Painted just a few decades after Galileo published evidence regarding the solar system’s heliocentric nature, the arrangement almost resembles a celestial model.

Pre-Columbian civilisations in South America saw time as cyclical, rather than linear and Zurbarán’s plate may bear some resemblance to a Mayan or Aztec circular stone calendar. Silver, believed to be the Moon’s ‘tears’, held significant symbolic value for the Mesoamericans. Perhaps, then, ‘Still Life of a Cup of Water and A Rose’ also reflects the movement of Christianity and scientific thought in the seventeenth century, expressing the entanglements between the decline of one civilisation and the rise of another.

Zurbarán’s work slowly starts to feel less like a still life and more like a portrait of a world in motion. Sustained looking enables a rose and a white cup of water to become vessels of wonder. Zurbarán invites us to look beyond these humble objects and instead see an entire world.

The exhibition ‘Zurbarán’ continues at the National Gallery, London, until 23rd August 2026.

PENDOUR PAIRING

For this Pairing we bring together Zurbarán‘s ‘Still Life With A cup Of Water and A Rose’ and Alteya Organic’s Bulgarian Rose Water.

Though separated by centuries, both celebrate the enduring beauty of the rose; Alteya through scent and daily ritual, Zurbarán through paint and contemplation. Together they invite us to pause and appreciate the quiet beauty often found in the simplest things.

A single rose next to a cup of water. Thousands of rose petals plucked, distilled and bottled. A moment preserved, a scent captured. United by the timeless symbolism of the rose, this Pendour Pairing invites us to find significance, transformation and contemplation in simplicity.

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17 - 06 - 2617 - 06 - 26

Pendour Pose Review : All Earth Mineral Cosmetics

Join Linda Bell in this Pendour Pose Review as she explores All Earth’s mineral powders – getting made-up with a hint of eco-sparkle on the way!

Disclaimer : This Pendour Review may contain affiliate links. This means Pendour may earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using our links, with no extra cost to you. We love the companies featured on Pendour Living and are sure you will too!

A soft shade Foundation –

A sweep of Bronzer –

Some Burgandy along the lips,

Composes a sensual look –

A little Pink – smudged above –

A soothing base of rose –

A Pot for Life –

A silky Brush –

This just makes out an All Earth face.

A make-up brand like no other, All Earth Mineral Cosmetics present a rare opportunity to care for your skin and the planet whilst you get glammed up!

For several years now, All Earth has been my go-to foundation brand and I recently tip-toed into their offering of other skin-loving products – I only wish I had done so sooner!

With plastic free refills, ethically sourced ingredients and a strong environmental ethos, All Earth is a force for change compared to the usual make-up manufacturers we’re accustomed to.

Based in Cornwall, All Earth was funded by professional make-up artist Julie Wieczorek. She teamed up with Guy Hanson, a skin care specialist, and together they developed a range of cosmetics to support eco-friendly practices and as a tribute to Julie’s baby son, who sadly passed away at birth.

Currently, it is only possible to purchase All Earth’s beautiful make-up products online. Of course, it would be wonderful to see their gorgeously packaged make-up displayed in a real bricks-and-mortar setting, with opportunities to colour match and real life tutorials, but in the meantime, their website is highly informative with ‘How To Videos’ for each product. These not only provide excellent tips, tricks and hints but offer a good idea of what to expect when selecting your choice of mineral powder.

CUSTOMER CARE

As a small, independent, family run business, All Earth do not manufacture their products in large batches. However, this allows their impressive customer service to shine!

I received a number of personal emails direct from Julie regarding my order as there was a slight delay of 1-2 days due to an unforeseen event. As such, I had to change my delivery address which was easy to arrange. I ordered the make-up specifically to wear to a wedding (with extra time to ‘practice’) and although it still arrived in good time, Julie was so apologetic about the slight delay she even added a few extra goodies to my order! So kind!

This just goes to show the care and professionalism that a small business can offer compared to larger make-up companies.

PRESENTATION, PRESENTATION, PRESENTATION

Upon receiving my order I was blown away by the quality presentation of the gorgeously arranged make-up. Displayed as though an Easter basket or luxury hamper, the cardboard tubes of make-up were carefully arranged on a bed of plastic-free packing straw. The whole effect felt rustic and natural and showed particular attention and thought had been given to the customers’ very first impressions. Little information booklets printed onto stiff card completed the natural appeal.

Laid out like eggs in a bird’s nest, it was an absolute pleasure to unbox these fancies. You can watch our Pendour Purchase Unboxing video here :

When First Impressions are so delightful,

You know you’re in for a treat!

SPECIAL SERUM SAMPLE

As a gesture of goodwill for the slight delay, Julie kindly added a sample of All Earth’s Multi Use Facial Serum. This little jar of luminescence softens and smooths so you don’t have a care in the world!

Although it looks a little like Limoncello – channelling Mediterranean vibes! – this serum contains a nourishing base of seed oils with added Vitamin E, frankincense and lavender. The scent is quite earthy and it has a thin, inviscid quality which is perfect for applying to skin as it leaves no sticky residue or greasy feel. The handmade oil slips on and quickly soaks in to promote revitalisation.

Highly hydrating, this sumptuous serum boasts high quality, natural ingredients free from artificial fragrances, parabens and petroleum.

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

Before applying this serum, spritz a generous amount of Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water over your face. This heavenly toner neutralises the skin’s pH and prepares it to fully absorb the radiant goodness in the Multi Use serum.

This multi use, skin loving oil can not only be used as a facial serum, but it is also an effective make-up primer as well as a mineral foundation mixer and a make-up remover – hence the Multi Use namesake!

~ The oil creates a smooth base for applying mineral powder foundation and make-up.

~ When mixed together with All Earth’s mineral foundation to create an oil-based liquid foundation, this serum promotes a deliciously dewy look.

~ And, at Cinderella hour, this lovely serum dissolves make-up to leave your skin feeling fresh, balanced and cleansed.

All Earth have joined forces with Helen Round Design – a Cornish based crafter selling a range of cosmetic accessories fashioned from natural materials. From bamboo face cloths to eco sponges, Helen Round’s aesthetic and values compliment All Earth’s environmental ethos and present the perfect way to enhance any All Earth eco make-up experience! Helen Round’s products can be used in conjunction with this Multi Use serum as blissful cleansing cloths for effective make up removal.

A HINT OF ROSE

Get ready for a trip to Bulgaria’s Summer Rose Festival!

On this occasion I placed an order for All Earth’s deliciously rose scented 3-in-1 Facial Moisturiser.

I hadn’t previously tried this cream as I was a little nervous about the inclusion of Ethylhexylglycerin (a preservative). Usually, I aim to use 100% natural products with no preservatives but considering my positive experiences with All Earth’s mineral foundation I liked the sound of this moisturiser so much that I decided to give it a whirl! And so glad that I did!

This moisturiser contains Faex Extract – a natural form of pseudo-collagen obtained from yeast with highly beneficial skin-loving properties. Known to help support the skin’s natural microbiome, this ingredient also presents an alternative to retinol. Previously, I have found products containing retinol to be quite drying so was intrigued as to how this moisturiser would feel on my skin.

Filled to the brim, this luscious moisturising cream is placed in an aluminium tin and the scent is absolutely divine! Deliciously delicate and in no way overpowering, it has a gentle fragrance a little like Turkish Delight! The white colour is attractive and it has a slight mousse-y, whipped up texture.

When applied this cream does not feel heavy or slippery – it’s a lot more buttery than I expected and has a rather silky feel.

With a powerhouse of nourishing ingredients including avocado oil, mango butter, rosehip and hyaluric acid, this 3-in-1 cream is deeply moisturising and restores the skin’s natural elasticity. Again, like the Multi Use Facial Serum, it soaks in rapidly and leaves no shininess.

Also available in a mandarin scented version to strengthen and refresh the skin, a full list of ingredients can easily be found on the All Earth website.

Like the All Earth Multi Use Facial Serum, this moisturiser is very versatile :

~ Tint with a little of All Earth’s mineral foundation powder if you’re after a look with buildable coverage and a rich, velvety Foundation! Sprinkle a little mineral colour into the cream and perhaps mix in with a pinch of All Earth Bronzer to match any complexion. An easy way to make a dreamy liquid foundation – the ideal base for any make-up adventure!

I’ve added this cream quite regularly to my morning and evening routine and have found the look and overall feel of my skin to improve dramatically. This comforting cream is really quite balancing and makes for a wonderful skin loving restorer when applied in the evening as an overnight treat.

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

Pair All Earth’s 3-in-1 moisturiser with The Silk Collection’s Sleep Eye Mask or a Mulberry Silk Pillowcase for the ultimate self-care slumber!

Vegan and free from SLS, palm oil and any artificial fragrances, this 3-in-1 cream is also a self-care wonder for sensitive skin. I always look forward to my skin care routine because this moisturiser is so calming, rich and smoothing.

During a few weeks of use I discovered that this moisturiser seems to ‘airbrush’ away fine lines and wrinkles and makes blemishes far less conspicuous. With so much healing goodness and even a chance to add a hint of colour, I think this moisturiser is probably more like a 5-in-1 cream!

This 50ml tin has lasted about 10 weeks but I do wish it were available in larger quantities, and that All Earth would produce a body cream version!

The smaller sample size of 15 ml is perfect for trying out before committing, experimenting with a different scent or if you just need a small pot to gift to a friend, or a travel size to join you on the road!

FAB FOUNDATION

Soft, fine and luscious, All Earth natural Mineral Foundations are unique blends of oxides, kaolin, allantoin, mica and silicas. All responsibly sourced and ethically packaged, these foundations continue All Earth’s ethos to care for your skin whilst providing flawless coverage.

Available in 6 shades (more coming soon!) these Mineral Foundations are very versatile and comfortable for even the most sensitive of skin.

~ Kaolin not only ensures good coverage but enables a little to go a long way.

~ The addition of Allantoin alleviates dryness and helps to regenerate skin. It offers soothing, moisturising and healing qualities.

~ The addition of zinc oxide helps to protect skin from sun damage.

~ Mica is gentle and skin safe, a naturally occurring mineral that reflects light to provide the luminous, shimmering finish All Earth is celebrated for!

All Earth’s foundations are free from bismuth and oxy-chloride minerals which about 65% of the population are allergic to.

Finely milled and sifted like icing sugar, All Earth’s mineral foundation sits on top of the skin, creating a soft, dewy veil which can be light or dense depending how much product is used.

Available in 8 g refills and 4 g shots the tone can be lightened or darkened with a little sprinkle of another shade from a 2 g sample. This makes it so easy to adjust shades for seasonal palette changes and the summer glow!

All Earth’s Foundation Powders are buildable and unlike other foundations, they does not cause irritation or ichy-ness. A little really does go a long way in terms of coverage and buidling layers despening on the desired look.

After using everyday for a week I found my skin sensitivity calmed down and and I think the beneficial ingredients in this product enhanced my ‘natural radiance.’

BE BOLD BRONZER

All Earth’s mineral bronzer comes in one universal shade. This natural-looking tan in a tube (or a Pot For Life – more on this later!) is made from the same high quality ingredients as in the All Earth Foundation.

Likewise, this product is breathable and buildable and a little really lasts a long time!

This beautiful bronzer adds a desirable glow anytime of the day – or year – and a healthy looking shot of lovely warm colour, whatever the weather . . . .

When added and blended over the cheek bones, this bronzer creates dynamic depth and dramatic dimension. The mica in the mixture catches the light to add a hint of mystery and a subtle sparkle for an eco-friendly look.

Step Out and Be Bold

With This Beautiful Bronzer!

THE FINISHING TOUCH

With added rice powder, this translucent Finishing Powder helps to control oil and sweat on the skin and provides the finishing touch to the All Earth Look! The rice powder absorbs any extra moisture caused by humidity and sweat and works to maintain the fresh appearance of make-up.

The added Sericite mica in this mineral powder helps to improve smoothness and adhesion to the skin to prevent flaking and cracking. What’s not to love?!

This finishing powder can be sprinkled in with the mineral foundation powder, or applied separately on top. It really is completely invisible and helps to stop make-up becoming too shiny.

I’ve even applied it around my eyes to help stop mascara smudging, as it prevents moisture from dissolving make up and making it run.

This finishing touch really helps to prolong the longevity of the All Earth Face!

Again like the Foundations and Bronzer, this product is plastic free and contains no hidden nasties or chemicals – just pure minerals and ingredients to support your skin.

ILLUMINATOR

This powdered Mineral Illuminator is one of my favourite products from All Earth! Sometimes I just apply a little of this without wearing foundation to add a hint of sparkle and colour when I don’t have time to put on a full face!

A gorgeous shimmery, twinkly pink colour, this delicate illuminator is like no other!

Sporting just two ingredients – mica and iron oxide, it really is a great way to enhance a natural look without questionable chemicals and additives.

The mica in this powder not only helps to reduce fine lines but supports an impeccable look.

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

Apply to the inside corner of each eye for a girly look – a natural way to draw attention to your eyes!

This illuminator powder really adds pazazz to any make-up bag – a quick and easy way to refresh and brighten your look. A ray of radiance!

PRINCESS PINK

Another new product I was intrigued to try out – All Earth’s Lip, Cheek and Eye Tint.

With meadowfoam seed oil, jojoba oil and vitamin E, these little pots of shimmering colour add subtle colour to lips, cheeks and eyelids – all without any sign of plastic! Hard set into a solid glass pot, these Mineral Creams are available in a range of shades from burgundy to salmon pink and secured with an aluminium lid.

Enticed by the moisturising ingredients and the idea of using this shimmering tint in more places than one, I opted for the Candy Pink tone – and what a princess shade! This dazzling pink is so lip–licious!

I first applied to my lips using my index finger. The solid, hard set mineral cream can require a bit of working to warm up but soon glides on. It felt very natural to apply with my finger, but the cream tints can also be applied with a small brush.

And whoa! – this felt lovely and moisturising, especially compared to other lipsticks! It really gave an elegant pop of colour to my lips and I can’t tell you how many wonderful compliments I received when wearing this tint at a wedding! It really compliments the All Earth face, it looks so natural and works so well with all the other products to create a wonderful palette.

As a lip tint, this mineral cream has a fairly good staying power and may need topping up when eating and drinking, but this is so easy and even during a busy day really feels like a moment of self care.

The tint also makes for an impressive eyeshadow – super impactful and not a tone I would usually put near my eyes, but with a little experimentation I found this shade to be so complimentary. All Earth’s mineral cream tints can be applied on the eyelids – again with a finger or a brush – and the consistency allows for easy blending with other colours or products, depending on the effect you may be after.

Although this product is designed for adding colour to the cheeks, I just dabbed a little bit of what was left on my finger onto my cheek bones. Gently rubbed in, it blends beautifully with the Bronzer for an added flash of colour!

On and I almost forgot – this product arrived in a darling little hessian bag, which would make this an ideal gift for any make-up lover!

I can’t wait to experiment with some of the other shades!

REFILL READY

One of the main reasons I was first drawn to All Earth Natural Cosmetics was the brand’s strong environmental ethos. With a desire to protect the Cornish coastline and countryside – and beyond! – All Earth have developed a rather unique refill system.

Unless specifically requested, All Earth’s Foundation, Bronzer, Finishing Powders and Blushers arrive in cardboard tubes. These are naturally biodegradable in any garden or flower pot and 100% recyclable. No single use plastic in sight!

The use of cardboard not only protects the environment from the scourge of plastic invading our lives and polluting our oceans, soil and air, but helps to save money. All Earth have really leaned into this use of cardboard as a plastic alternative, using the rustic appeal to enhance their brand aesthetic and it works a treat!

The cardboard feels great to hold and although may seem a bit strange at first, provides great protection for the powders within. Each tube has a twist top lid, so they are easy to open and empty out into the All Earth Pots for Life.

A POT FOR LIFE

All Earth’s Pots for Life offer an excellent way to store and transport mineral powders. Not only that, but they are completely eco-friendly!

All Earth Mineral Cosmetics teamed up with another company to salvage ghost nets from the seas around Cornwall. Ghost nets pose particular problems to sea life as fish, birds and mammals such as seals and porpoises can get caught in them and starve or die from injuries sustained whilst trying to escape. Micro plastics can also detach form the nets, adding to plastic pollution in the water. Ghost nets are also a challenge for coastal communities. Harvesting these nets helps to clear the oceans of dangerous pollution and places value on the salvaged plastic – all interrupting a cycle of wasteful practices!

All Earth’s Pots for Life are made from these salvaged ghost nets – the plastic is reconstituted to produce a durable and eco-friendly material. This is far more carbon efficient than using new plastic and helps to restore the health of marine ecosystems!

With a smooth black finish All Earth’s Pots for Life are completely unique in the make-up market and look and feel a little bit like carbon fibre – adding a cool, sophisticated edge to any make-up bag!

The design on the lid has a wave-like pattern and also displays the All Earth logo with the angel wings – as though a guardian angel to help protect the sea!

There is space inside the pot to keep and store mineral powders and there is a sifter lid stating that this product has been salvaged from the seas near Cornwall – a great reminder that your purchase makes a real difference to the environment every time you apply your mineral make-up! The sifter lid allows for the make-up powders to be carefully transferred into the main lid for mixing without spilling. Once a small amount is sifted into the lid, the Foundation and Bronzer powders can be mixed to create the desired shade. The shape of the lid perfectly matches All Earths Kabuki brushes for flawless application and a seamless session as you get glammed up!

I’ve had two Pots for Life – one for foundation, and another for Bronzer for about 4 years now and they have travelled everywhere with me. All over the world! They have both stood the test of time and are a comforting reminder of Cornwall even when abroad.

As always, All Earth’s thoughtful and carefully made products do more than your usual high street make-up brands and show how beauty can go hand in hand with sustainability.

A BEAUTIFUL BRUSH UP

All Earth also offers several make-up brushes which are perfect for applying mineral foundation.

The Foundation Kabuki Brush has a bowl, or dome shape specifically designed to apply and blend mineral Foundation, promoting equal coverage and allowing for buildable layers. It is vegan and beautifully made as the bristles do not fall out. My Foundation Kabuki brush is now a few years old and, like the Pots for Life, has proudly stood the test of time!

Perfectly sized to fit in the mixing lids of All Earth’s Pots for Life, the Kabuki brush allows for an impeccable and flawless finish, without spillage or wastage – a small detail but this is where All Earth really excels – they have thought of everything!

The Kabuki brush is easy to clean with warm water and a facial soap. If used regularly, the brush should be cleaned every 10 days or so to prevent the build up of bacteria.

And for more control when applying Mineral Bronzer, All Earth also have a special Bronzer Kabuki Brush. This has a flat edge to target specific areas, such as the cheek bones. The thin edge of the brush can be used to add more layers of buildable colour before blending in with the rounded Kabuki brush.

an ALL EARTH FACE

From beautiful shades to carefully sourced ingredients, All Earth Mineral Cosmetics have mastered eco-friendly and sustainable make-up. There’s no one else like them!

Their make-up is safe for sensitive skin and contains ingredients which actually work to enhance the natural radiance of the skin.

Complimenting most skin shades, All Earth’s carefully developed shades are adjustable – create a bespoke, personal shade by adding a sprinkle of colour, or mixing in with the Multi Use Facial Serum or 3-in-1 Moisturiser for a more velvety texture.

Overall, All Earth Mineral Cosmetics offer a gorgeous natural look, a pleasant and girly radiance which enhances the natural beauty of any face!

All Earth’s unique refill system allows for a make-up advenutre without costing the Earth, proving that sustainable beauty is absolutely possible. Well done All Earth!

Overall, All Earth Mineral Cosmetics

offer a light and gorgeous look,

a pleasant and girly radiance

which enhances

the natural beauty of any face!

EDEN & ECOLOGI

All Earth strives for the highest quality ingredients in their products, sourced from suppliers who also work to the same standards. All products are vegan, cruelty free and sustainably sourced with a guarantee that the mining and manufacturing chain are free from child labour.

What’s more, All Earth have also partnered with Ecologi and the non profit organisation Eden Project. These charities employ members of impoverished communities – paying individuals a fair wage – to plant trees, resulting in mass scale reforestation to spark a range of positive socio-economic benefits in many regions across the globe. As a partner, All Earth help to sponsor such projects, meaning each sale of their beautiful skin care and make-up products further contribute to helping people and the planet!

STAY CONNECTED & INSPIRED

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Pendour – YouTube

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16 - 06 - 2611 - 07 - 26

Fabric and Faith : A Review of ‘Zurbarán’

Wandering though the seven rooms of this exhibition it is as though we have come face to face with Shakespeare’s ‘Seven Stages of Man’. Life, death, realism and miraculous imaginings collide on canvas, shaped by swathes of pigment and thin coats of varnish.

Upon entry we first encounter Francisco de Zurbarán’s ‘The Crucifixion’. This painting was commissioned by the Dominican monastery of San Pablo el Real in Seville in 1626. Zurbarán’s work gleamed so brightly in the dimly lit monastery that when viewed through a grill, early audiences perceived the painting to be a work of sculpture; the figure of Christ illuminated, emerging like a spectre from the shadows.

Now hung on the pitch painted walls of the National Gallery – tinted especially for this occasion – a similar effect is achieved. (Despite the unfortunate mismatched lighting – too bright, too high up throughout.)

The National Gallery presents Zurbarán’s first comprehensive exhibition in the British Isles as a varied and tantalising viewing journey simply entitled ‘Zurbarán’. Hailing from Seville, this Spanish master may not be as celebrated outside of Spain as per the likes of Goya and Valazquez, yet this exhibition illustrates how his work can stir a deep response – even in our contemporary age.

Several themes run through the fabric of this exhibition. Seville of yesteryear is successfully portrayed as a major trading hub. We see how it was fortified by cultural cross-overs and Islamic entanglements and what bearing this sometimes had on Zurbarán’s choice of costume for his sitters.

Zurbarán’s father was a cloth merchant and we also learn that our son of Seville even had a hand at trading silk himself in Madrid. These factors certainly resonate with Zurbarán’s ability to capture the texture of fabric so meticulously, so illustriously – from glossy and smooth to rough and crumpled.

The stark walls of charcoal add a contemporary edge to Zurbarán’s magnificence. His subjects, often depicted in dark, mysterious settings, appear quite unsettling in their brilliantly coloured costumes – or all flesh and muscle as in the case of ‘Hercules’.

Reunited for the first time in over 100 years, an altar piece soaring 15 meters high depicts scenes from the life of Christ in exquisite detail across three panels. From the robes worn by the Magi to the Christ child’s features and the cloud of cherubs upon which Mary hovers, an extraordinary subject and story is brought to life.

As with the theatrical Crucifixion painting, in sixteenth century Seville such dazzling palettes loftily installed in places of worship would have offered a vibrancy verging on the miraculous.

In the next room we reach out in vain – we believe we could literally touch the fabric of St Francis’ cowl, its form stiffened around the saint, so long has he knelt deep in contemplative prayer. With his hands clasped together over a skull, St Francis’ face is partially obscured by shadow, adding a dimension of mystery and even foreboding. In fact, the series of paintings presented along this wall form a procession so dramatic and eerie that they could easily be film stills.

We may detect a faint itching sensation when looking at the rough, scratchy texture of St Francis’ robes. Complete with a tear upon the sleeve – single threads matted – this tiny, easy to miss detail springs the entire austere composition to life.

Meanwhile, a rich brocade of scarlet follows the valleys and curving peaks of Saint Casilda’s billowing court dress. It seems completely plausible in our mind’s eye to reach out and feel the velveteen swish of her skirt with our fingertips, so nearly it escapes the canvases’ flat plane.

We already know the hefty weight of this fabric, its dense weft and weave, all creases and folds tenderly, sumptuously rendered by Zurbarán’s brush. The Muslim princess looks our way, as though acknowledging our twenty first century gaze and confronting us in our amazement. But our amazement is not just at the beauty of her outfit!

Zurbarán captures a moment so bewitching it seems to verge towards something more from a Grimm’s fairytale than a passage in Father Butler’s ‘Lives of the Saints’. In this painting a religious transformation occurs in front of our very eyes. Upon accusation of betrayal, the bread rolls concealed within in St Casilda’s lavish skirts intended to feed Christian prisoners tumble out, turning into a cascade of red roses. A miracle indeed.

A little further along in the exhibit we may find glee at imagining our fingers plunging in and picking up the lanolin from the warm, candy-floss fleece of the lamb in ‘Agnus Dei’. Hoofs bound, balanced on a cold stone ledge, this lamb is all innocence in its snowy whiteness. Realism verging on the sublime.

Although the lamb is a well known visual metaphor for Christ, we are also presented with a scene of Zurbarán’s own invention: Jesus depicted as a child playing in a domestic interior. He has pricked his finger on a needle; Mary sits nearby and sheds tears so realistic as to take our breath away.

But it is not all works of Catholic storytelling in ‘Zurbaran’. We lick our lips at the look of the luscious oranges in ‘Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and A Rose’. Carefully arranged to create a sense of flow and a triangular composition, three distinct and separate motifs emerge from the rich sheen of the backdrop as though offerings placed upon an altar. To the left, lemons are orchestrated on a pewter platter so that they point to different directions. They lead us into the work and towards the delicate neroli blooms atop a basket of voluptuous oranges, before pointing us further towards a second reflective platter bearing a single pink rose and a white cup of water.

Generous proportions, rough, knobbly looking skins and the thought of a juicy promise tempt us to pluck and peel one of these citrus fruits, to taste the sweet and bitter piths within. An allusion to Easter and the new life of Christ’s resurrection, this seductive piece is haunted by the seriousness of a religious ceremony – yet it almost feels like a tease! A ‘zest’ of faith. Zurbarán having us on.

In the neighbouring work a segment of this piece is revisited as though a preparatory study, or a cropped detail a little like an edited photograph. The thornless rose lies quietly on a silver platter alongside the cup of water in the encroaching darkness. This stark simplicity symbolises the Virgin’s purity and would have been well understood by devout Spanish viewers in the seventeenth century. Today, this smaller painting offers an attractive minimal aesthetic as though a foretelling of contemporary works of architecture and pared down interior design.

All this is before we even turn to the veined, impossibly translucent grapes painted by Zurbarán’s son, Juan. An unexpected treat!

‘A Plate of Grapes’ was painted when Juan was merely nineteen years of age. The inclusion of this piece along with several others by Juan is a touch of curatorial flair which turns this exhibition into something more along the lines of a celebration, a homage to Zurbarán’s greatness – wholehearted and impressive – rather than a straight-up retrospective.

Further still lives of urns, only recently discovered, impart a foretelling of not only Chardin, but of Morandi, their simplicity and honesty reflected in the smooth slip of the bone china and terracotta. Equivalents to the solo saints, these still lives take on personality and storytelling even in their inanimate existence.

But it’s the final painting perhaps, following on from the ‘Colossal Head’ (evoking parallels with Chuck Close, Jenny Saville and even our selfie-centred universe) and the ghostly imprint on Veronica’s towel that Zurbarán finally reveals himself to us. An artist, with brushes at the ready, paints a canvas placed upon an easel beneath Christ’s crucifixion, a humbling yet unforgettably inventive scene.

Possibly a depiction of St Luke, could this work tell of the painter’s worth as Zurbarán saw it? Is this painting a signifier of the devotional nature of his faithful endeavours, or a cosmic imagining beyond the metaphysical? (Alternatively, could it be that Zurbarán thinks of himself as some sort of time travelling prophet?)

It is then that we are struck with the thought that what we are really seeing is the work of the first surrealist. Human scale is sized up, a colossal head mesmerises our imagination, the crucifix floats out of the darkness while the serene, silent still lives seem weirdly, oddly out of place. Even the rose on a platter seems like a foreshadowing for Dali’s meditative rose floating between heaven and earth. We experience Man not only in all his guises as once outlined in Shakespeare’s sonnet, nor solely the religious qualities and luxurious exuberances of sixteenth century Seville. Here in ‘Zurbarán’ are the threads which eventually weave their way into the visual culture of the future.

‘Zurbarán’ continues at the National Gallery until 23rd August, 2026

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15 - 06 - 2630 - 09 - 26

Pendour Pamper Review : Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water

Famed for radiant rose and lavender infused creams along with skincare treatments, Alteya Organics is the first manufacturer of certified organic beauty products in Bulgaria.

Along with their luxurious range of skincare saviours, Alteya also offers a selection of refreshing rose waters which can work wonders both for skin and around the home.

In this review Linda Bell shares another Pendour Pick, rating Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water as a must have for rejuvenation, beauty bliss and a touch of rose-scented pleasure!

Disclaimer : This Pendour article may contain affiliate links. This means Pendour could earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using our links, with no extra cost to you. We love the companies featured on Pendour Living and are sure you will too!

FLOWER POWER

Drink in the fresh, crisp essence of Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water. ‘Rosifiy’ not just your skincare routine, but your daily life with this gorgeously light and divinely perfumed product.

I have been using this as a quotidian toner for my face after cleansing as well as around the home! A must have addition to any make-up bag, kitchen cupboard and bedside table, this lovely tonic with a captivating aroma really shows what ‘flower power’ means!

ONE IMPORTANT INGREDIENT

The main ingredient in this refreshing spray is distilled rose water – and that’s all! No further ingredients hide in this delicate potion to sabotage sensitive skin. This makes a nice change to many facial toners, where allergens are often slipped into the mix to produce a certain fragrance.

Alteya prides itself on pure mixes with 100% natural and non-toxic ingredients to achieve the highest of standards. This luxurious Organic Rose Water is as clean as a newly washed face!

It may be important to note that essential oils – Citronellol, Farnesol and Geraniol – naturally occur in rose water as part of the distillation process.

With no sulphates, parabens or nasties in sight,

you can indulge your beautiful face in the

organic radiance of this rose-hearted toner.

HEAVENLY HYDRATION

Toning is an important step for any skincare routine. Following a deep cleanse with an oil or foaming wash to remove oil and dirt, a toner restores the pH of the skin and prepares it for the absorption of serums and creams. Although it may seem fine to just sprinkle water, the addition of Alteya’s rose water hydrates and clarifies the delicate skin on one’s visage.

Incorporating rose water into a skincare routine presents a multitude of skin loving benefits :

~ A quick misting instantly hydrates, leaving skin feeling plumped and refreshed without the greasy residue of usual toners. It promotes a dewy complexion and a youthful appearance.

~ Rose water has been celebrated through the centuries for its ability to soothe and help control the production of natural sebum.

~ Restoring the skin’s slightly acidic pH helps to protect against bacteria build up and environmental damage, especially after stripping away natural sebum during the cleansing stage.

~ Alteya’s Organic Rose water helps to restore the skin’s natural beauty and glow with its invigorating offering of micro-nutrients.

~ Rose water has natural anti-inflammatory properties which can work wonders for conditions such as rosacea and even acne.

~ With regular use, rose water can tighten pores, reducing their appearance and hence aiding the absorption of serums and moisturisers.

Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water is heaven in a bottle for many skin complaints, gently calming and promoting healing whilst often targeting the underlying cause.

A generous misting promotes harmony and love and provides a therapeutic mental health boost!

All from a little glass bottle

to make you feel as luminous as

a beautiful Bulgarian rose!

SUNBURN SAVIOUR

Due to it’s wonderful hydrating properties, Alteya’s purified rose water can be an effective ally for sunburn! It can provide a temporary cooling sensation, reduce redness and help retain moisture.

Spritzing on a little to healing sunburn counteracts dryness and irritation – immediate relief which can make all the difference.

However, rose water is not a substitute for proper sunburn treatment and for severe sunburns medical treatment may be required.

As always, prevention is best – take a look at our review of Alteya’s own Suncreen here!

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

Decant a little of Alteya’s Rose Water from a larger bottle and into a small vapouriser or aluminium spray bottle (A 100ml bottle is also availalbe) to take a little dewy breath of Alteya on holiday!

Even on a day out, this delicate water provides instant cooling and moisture to any redness and irritation caused by too much sun.

MOSQUITO MUST HAVE

Due to the naturally occurring geraniol, Alteya’s rose water can be an effective mosquito deterrent for about 2 hours. Keep pesky bugs away with a few squirts of this delightfully scented concoction on any uncovered areas of skin.

A DAILY SPRITZ

There are several ways to renew and luxuriate with Alteya’s Organic Rose Water :

~ Apply a little rose water to a cotton ball and sweep across the face and neck to help remove impurities after cleansing.

~ Close eyes and point the spray nozzle towards the face for an uplifting mist – a dousing of rose to freshen and soothe.

~ Spritz over the entire body during the day (or night!) and give skin a little TLC!

~ Mist after putting on make-up to ‘set’ your look and help prevent smudging.

A TOUCH OF ROSE

Available in 5 different sizes, there is a price and bottled companion for any plan!

Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water is beautifully presented in either a curving amber glass bottle or a more rectilinear violet tint.

The largest bottle is most effective for cost and the environment at 240 ml in the amber glass spray bottle for £11.90.

The largest violet glass bottle comes in at £13.40 for 200 ml. I have seen this size stocked in a number of healthcare shops.

Next is 120 ml in an amber glass bottle, £8.50.

And for travelling, an ideal 100 ml is £11.40 in the violet bottle.

Finally, for just a taster or to trial out this product, there is the option of 60ml in a smaller amber bottle for less than a fiver at £4.95.

Note that the rose water also seems to be available to purchase in a plastic spray bottle, again in a range of sizes. However, this of course comes with the added risk of microplastics and chemicals seeping in from the plastic and polluting the elixir within.

Perhaps to reduce the weight of the glass bottles Alteya Organics could consider an aluminium bottle return scheme, or a carton refill system?

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

A small amount can be decanted into a little aluminium spray bottle to keep in the fridge for a glorious cooling sensation on a hot day. A misting with organic rose water is the perfect way to refresh skin and clothing in the summer months!

PACKAGING

As noted above, Alteya’s rose water offering presents the opportunity to pass on plastic. Unlike many other rose waters available to buy in local supermarkets or pharmacies, Alteya’s use of strong, heavy duty glass helps to preserve the precious liquid whilst protecting the environment from the scourge of plastic waste we regularly experience.

Alteya’s use of glass not only adds a certain chic to the whole experience but prevents contamination from harmful chemicals and microplastics.

Although a liquid, this product was carefully packaged in a large and strong cardboard sleeve. I was a little concerned about whether the product could have been damaged in transit, but everything was fine. The cardboard sleeve is recyclable and helps to reduce the negative impacts associated with plastic packaging.

Inside, Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian Rose Water is sealed by a white card box. This offers a slightly clinical design – not quite the touch of pink sparkle added to the Bio Damascena Organic Rose Otto Face Sunscreen Cream, but attractive with its gold embossing and rose-inspired graphic.

The grey decorative element looks like a rose opening up, almost in full bloom!

Of course like the outer packaging, this box can be recycled in most household recycling channels. However, it would be good to know if eco-friendly inks have been used during the printing process.

The darker shades of the glass help to protect the product from strong sunlight whilst the violet shade oozes class and sophistication!

Although the glass can be recycled, the rose water is dispensed by a plastic vapouriser pump and nozzle.

The bottle is easy to hold and the dispenser nozzles last well, each pump offering a generous misting of the roses’ aromatic brilliance.

DELIVERY

There is a minimum spend of £49.99 for free delivery when buying online directly from Alteya. Orders under £49.99 cost £3.95 for delivery.

For free delivery, it is necessary to spend over £49.99.

Orders are dispatched by Amazon logistics, which might be a bit quicker than other carriers, but not so environmentally friendly! I think we’d all love it if Alteya could find a way to make deliveries carbon neutral.

Alteya also offer a Rewards System. This is quite new so I’ve yet to enrol.

COMING UP ROSES

And now a little more about the roses themselves!

Alteya’s organic farms are located in Bulgaria, where the most prized roses and rose oil can be found.

Nestled between the verdant slopes of Sredna Gora and the Balkan Mountain lies Bulgaria’s Valley Of The Roses. The first rose plantations in this region were established in the 16th century around the city of Kazanlak. Since then the area has developed and now offers the world’s most sought-after blooms.

Land of the Tharacian Kings, the fragrant Valley of The Roses erupts into euphoric colour every year between May and June during the rose harvest. This wonderland of blooms is famed for its treasures and many festivities are held during the harvest, inspired by the beautiful abundance of the roses.

This idyllic setting provides favourable growing conditions for the most celebrated of roses. Over half the world’s rose oil is produced here. More expensive than gold, over 3,000 pounds of rose petals are required to produce just one pound of rose oil! A 200 ml bottle of Rose Water requires 6,000 petals!

Alteya Organic‘s rose gardens can be found in the very heart of this sheltered 87 mile long valley. Fluffy clouds deliver just the right amount of rain (and shade) whilst the air humidity and protection from the mountains ensures a mild winter climate. Rich sandy soil also contributes to the rose bounty, unrivalled in its radiance.

Alteya does not use any harmful pesticides or herbicides on its organic farms, carefully controlling the production of their flowers to benefit both Nature and your skin!

The delicate roses are harvested in the early morning whilst it is still cool before the heat of the afternoon sun evaporates the precious rose oil and wilts the delicate petals. Picking roses is a labour intensive and skilled task performed completely by hand and timing is crucial.

Freshly harvested petals are immediately taken to the Alteya distillery. Distillation is a complex procedure but ensures the high quality of Alteya’s unparalleled rose oil and water.

The freshly plucked rose blossoms are placed in a still where low pressure steam is used to release the essential oil. This aromatic vapour is then cooled to enable condensation. As the vapour condenses the oil and water separate because of their different densities. Alteya’s special distillation process ensures a high quality rose oil and a sublime rose water, reflecting the luscious nature of their organically grown plants. The distillation process is strictly controlled to maintain USDA Organic standards.

ALTEYA ORGANICS

Alteya is committed to organic farming and building a sustainable agricultural model to protect the very special Valley Of The Roses. By incorporating traditional, organic farming and distillation methods, the air, soil and water are protected whilst products are free from any residues of harmful chemicals!

With over 300 employees during the harvest, Alteya has worked hard to support the local population, ensuring economic survival for many families in the region whilst striving to maintain the area’s traditional agricultural identity.

Another reason why Alteya’s Organic Bulgarian rose water is a Pendour Pick for radiant skin and respect for our planet!

A WHISPER OF WANDERLUST

Fancy checking out the rose harvest yourself? GoWithGuide’s colleagues in Bulgaria can tailor a specific tour to match even the wildest rose inspired dream!

If you want to experience the best that the Valley of The Roses has to offer, you can easily contact a local GoWithGuide online. Your guide can help you plan your visit before even purchasing your plane ticket so you can follow the path of petals seamlessly from airport to fragranced fields, taking in the sights, scents and joining in with the traditional rose harvest celebrations. Your GoWithGuide can arrange a personalised schedule, including airport transportation, so your travels are first class!

ROSY RADIANCE

So what changes has Alteya’s Rose Water brought to my day to day life?

Each time I give my face a light misting of this delightfully nourishing product, I feel transported to picturesque fields of roses! I feel energised and ready for the day when used in the morning and relaxed when used to tone my skin in the evening.

Within about a week of using this product twice a day (sometimes more for a little refresh) my complexion transformed. Allowing the rose water to settle seems key to lock in moisture. The water’s cooling effect produces a soft, dewy finish with the refreshing scent and feel of crisp, fragrant rose petals.

Smoother, with fewer blemishes and outbreaks, my skin started to look much clearer and I’m sure this is down to the goodness of the micro-nutrients locked into the delicate elixir.

When spritzing on my clothes, especially in hot weather, I found the rose water to offer a cooling sensation, counteracting sweat and odours.

Soemtimes I have taken the cap off just to breathe in that heedy scent – a hit of rose – so calming and rejuvenating. This rose water has been a tonic for the senses too!

A SENSE OF SCENT

From the first spritz, Alteya Organic’s Bulgarian Rose Water blooms with a rich and vibrant perfume. This crisp and uplifting note gently dissipates to make way for more earthy tones. The delicate aroma hovers like the sun glinting on early morning dew. A misting of precious fragrances unfurl, transporting the wearer to a summer sunrise deep in the verdant slopes of flourishing bouquets in Bulgaria’s Valley of the Roses.

HOME, ROSY HOME

This product has not only transformed my skin, but it has enhanced my home and overall wellbeing!

Here are some other ideas how Alteya Organic’s Bulgarian Rose Water can spritz love, harmony and calm into your world :

~ Apply to hair and leave in overnight for a wonderous rosy hair mask, locking in hydration – drift off with the sweet scent of roses.

~ Store in the kitchen for a flavour twist and add to deserts, salads, teas and bakes. Add a few pumps of the rose water to salad dressings, pairing with pomegranate and parsley for a hint of summer lightness.

~ Drizzle into homemade jam or simmering rhubarb for added sweetness and impress guests by adding a few drops to cold sparkling water to create rose bubbles!

~ Alteya’s rose water could even give cocktails, ice cream and custards a floral dimension! And for summer fun, add a few drops to homemade biscuits, deserts and cakes. A taste of Bulgaria and a touch of rose magic to tantalise the tastebuds.

~ Keep a bottle on the bedstand to squirt a little over pillows. Pair with the Silk Collection’s eye mask in Blush Pink or Dusty Rose for a blooming good night!

~ Add a little to laundry as it dries or spray onto cushions, curtains and soft furnishing for an aromatic journey through the flower fields.

~ Rose water is also a natural way to freshen up pets’ bedding and toys. Sigh in satisfaction as those leads and furry things receive a refresh without presenting any risk to four-legged family members.

~ Spray onto stationary, letters and envelopes for a true touch of romance….

~ And who wouldn’t want to receive a fabulous bottle of rose water as a gift? Afterall, 6,000 hand plucked rose petals are used to make 200ml of rose water. A thoughtful present for anyone who may need an uplift or a moment of calm in their life.

I’m sure there’s many more!

The versatility of Alteya’s Rose Water makes it a product with immense value, not just for beauty routines but for general wellbeing.

A PENDOUR PAMPER P.S.

Be sure to check out some of Alteya’s other blissful products using organically grown rose and lavender oils for beautiful, delicate scents and luxurious treats for skin, hair and personal wellness.

PENDOUR PAIRING

In this Pairing we bring together Alteya Organic’s Bulgarian Rose Water and Zurbarán’s still life A Cup of Water and a Rose.

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11 - 05 - 2612 - 05 - 26

A Conversation Piece With Helen Leaver

Click here to hear the audio version of this article!

Helen Leaver’s latest group of paintings draw on the artist’s experiences of landscape, meditation and material experimentation. Inspired by the Tea Roses growing next to the painting studio in her garden, Helen’s ‘Romantic Reverie’ series have just returned from exhibition at The Poly in Falmouth.

Pendour’s Linda Bell caught up with the artist to discuss the development of this body of work, the influence of place and the experiences that have shaped Helen’s artistic journey.

This Conversation Piece is perfectly timed to coincide with Helen’s current solo show at The Square Club in Bristol, which also marks a return to the city the artist once called home.

Helen’s solo exhibition opened on 7^th May and continues through the Summer at The Square Club, Berkley Square, Clifton.

LB : Great to see you and thanks for doing this today. I think it will be really nice to spend some time thinking about your work, talking about it and for me to learn some more about your paintings. So you just had your show last week?

HL : I did! And it went really well. The Poly is a multi-purpose venue, really. So they have a cinema, they have a theatre, upstairs is the massive workspace and then downstairs you’ve got the shop and then a dedicated gallery space. So as an artist you can hire it for a week or five days. I did that with my friend. And it’s great. You get to plan and curate it yourself and it’s fabulous, it’s a really cool place to exhibit.

LB: I didn’t realize it was such a big set up there. That’s wonderful. I wish I could have been there to check it out, but what about your exhibition at the Square Club? That’s starting very soon?

HL: On Thursday.

LB: Wow!

HL : So yes, so I’ve got about twenty-two paintings.

LB: Ok.

HL : I’m taking a few more just in case and then I’ve got an open evening. The Square is part of the Berkeley Square Hotel, so it’s a members’ club, but it’s also a place where you can get married. So you can hire it to get married –

LB: Wonderful!

HL : It’s beautiful and just really…. It’s got history. It’s a really old Georgian house and they’ve converted it and it’s got beautiful mirrors and windows. And my art will be interspersed with all these really nice architectural features in the building and I’m really privileged because of course they’re going to be there when people get married.

LB : Ohh, wow, amazing.

HL : So they’re going to literally say their vows where my paintings are going to be.

LB: Amazing. What a nice thing to do.

HL : So it’s the whole of May, the whole of June and the whole of July. It will open me up to a new audience outside of Cornwall.

LB : Of course, absolutely.

HL : I used to live in Bristol. I used to work on Berkeley Square before I had the children, so I used to walk past this venue, The Square, I don’t know, four or five, six times a day. And now I’m exhibiting there for three months. How cool is that? Feels like a real ‘full circle’ moment.

LB : Amazing.

HL : So I think my paintings will work really well if they have a wedding there. My work at the moment has been quite floral inspired, specifically my (own) wedding bouquet. So it’s all sort of come together. I didn’t deliberately paint my wedding bouquet with a view that they’re going to be in a wedding venue, it was just luck and …

LB : Happenstance and chance?

HL : Yeah, serendipity. Is that a cool word to use? Something like that? Yeah. So I’m really excited.

LB : Things happen like that! Fantastic. So not just wedding guests and people getting married, but what kind of experience do you hope visitors will have when they encounter your paintings at The Square Club?

HL : Well, having done the exhibitions in Falmouth before, I did one last year as well, you have to invigilate. So you have to sit there, stand there and talk to people. But the great thing is, you get to see how people respond to them (the paintings) in real time and it’s such an eye opener. It’s a privilege as well.

This dog came in, it was a whippet or something and with its owner obviously and just slumped in a big circle right in front of one of my paintings. So people have said that – they have a little calming atmosphere so that they feel relaxed and soothed and they’re quiet. But when you get close up to them, there’s a lot more going on than you realize. So I like to think that the more you look at them, the more that you get out of them.

LB : For sure.

HL : I’ll say: ‘Pick a line’ and then just use your eye or your finger and just follow it and you’ll find it might go beyond the canvas where it exists in your imagination.

I just love that idea that the painting isn’t just that square or that rectangle. It goes beyond that. And the viewer, they imagine this line going beyond the canvas. How cool is that? That it’s something that exists not just in that physical, material world, but in something beyond, in our memories, in our imagination . . .

I feel really excited when I paint and really enjoy it and I find it quite relaxing sometimes, but you know it’s not all like peace and love.

Sometimes I’m like: ‘I can’t do it!’ You know at that middle point in the painting where you think: ‘Oh, God, this is all going wrong’ then it all comes together and you’ve just got to trust it does. You start off with good intentions and then half-way through you’re like: ‘Oh I ruined it!’ Right? And then – but it all comes together.

So I do find when I come out of the studio and I come in – because my studio’s in the garden – so I come home and my husband can tell if I’ve had a good session or not. I’m either: ‘Oh that was brilliant’ or I’m like: ‘Grr! I don’t want to have to do it tomorrow!’ But yeah, there’s not really anything like it really.

LB : No, of course, but I find this idea of what you’re saying about the audience can sort of imagine how the painting continues outside the realm of the actual canvas really interesting because in this digital age, we’re just looking at images and pictures one after the other, all fragmented so quickly, we don’t give them time. And I think looking is, you know, really looking at a painting, can be quite hard work sometimes, but it can also be tremendously rewarding. So I think that’s wonderful that you’re offering this opportunity for your visitors, your potential collectors, as well. So you’re offering something a bit different, especially from our on-screen lifestyle these days.

HL : Oh definitely. Those little photographs that are that this big (phone-size) cannot capture the layers, the lines, the details. Nothing beats going to see an art exhibition. We’re really lucky in Cornwall that there’s so many opportunities to see art, there’s so many galleries and exhibitions that people put on and really lucky that we live here because seeing them in the flesh is a totally different experience, you know?

And we’ve got Tate St. Ives here and Rothko, they showed some Rothko. Part of his Seagram collection and I got there really early and I made a bee line straight for them and I was the only one in there for about 45 minutes.

LB : Wow!

HL : It was such a privilege. His work is so inspirational. Where he talks about how art is the experience and that really sort of resonated with me and I was… it really got my brain ticking. Thinking: ‘Yeah, to see the art in real life is the experience’. You don’t have to buy anything, but just go and especially if the artist is there just chat to them and it’s a great sort of life I’ve created for myself in doing this. And it’s a way to talk to people, connect with people. I can see my work connecting with an audience in real time, you know, and so yeah, that’s good.

LB : Ohh, absolutely. Helen, I believe you previously worked in the social care sector. Could you tell us a little bit more about your transition to become a painter? Was it a gradual shift or was it like a real leap into the unknown?

HL : It’s a long story. OK, so before I had children, my work background, if you like… I used to dabble in art a bit here and there, you know, and I was always quite drawn to the abstract anyway.

So, before I had children, I was working at Berkeley Square and I was in administration and training people for jobs and offering training courses for companies, pension companies or you know, motor insurance, things like that and teaching communication and customer service skills. I worked for British Airways as a customer service trainer for a few years. But then I met my husband in Clifton, which is where Berkeley Square is – in Clifton. Our first house is in Clifton.

LB : So it’s a real connection.

HL : A real connection with Clifton. And my wedding bouquet, I chose things like peonies because we got married in June. Peonies and roses.

LB : Beautiful!

HL : And I asked my wedding florist to put in Myrtle, Myrtle leaves, for fertility. And I used to joke with people that she put too much in because I had twins!

LB : (Laughing) Ohhh wow!

HL : And yeah, I don’t know where I’m going with that..

LB : But thanks for sharing this!

KL : When I had twins, I didn’t want to go back to work. And I haven’t worked since. We home educate them as well so I haven’t really had a lot of ‘me’ time, with twins and home educating and as you know, you almost take a back seat because you literally have no time for yourself.

I wasn’t very well a few years ago. So this is before COVID, just before COVID, I had cancer.

LB : Oh my gosh.

HL : And when you have that, it’s a pretty big wake up call.

LB : Yeah. . . .

HL : What am I going to do? I’ve got a second chance here.

I’m ok, by the way. I’m fine. I just see people’s faces and I’m like no, no, no, I’m sorry, I’m ok now.

But yes, I spent a lot of my recovery time not moving and not talking because I was just so unwell. So a lot of time I spent thinking and dreaming and visualising and listening to sort of wordless music that had a high frequency to it, really nice uplifting music and just visualizing and imagining, you know, and what if I went on an art workshop, just for me, for a day. Well, what if? And I just thought it was a real sort of turning point for me and big sort of major life event. I spend a lot of time, it’s very common with people, I spend a lot of time worrying about worst case scenario.

LB : Yes, yeah.

HL : And catastrophizing. You know, I spent a lot of energy thinking: ‘Ohh, what if?’ Well, what if it goes really well, you know, and I had to balance that. I had to go: ‘Right, Ok, I can spend a little bit of time thinking about worst case scenario because it’s obviously useful to know what could go wrong’ or, you know, be prepared. But also you need to spend an equal amount of time, if not more, thinking: ‘What if it goes really well?’ Giving yourself permission to dream, dream big: ‘What if I’m really good, what if I really love doing this?’

So I went through a lot of positive change even from a totally horrendous, catastrophic event that impacted me and the people that I love. From that, a lot has come out of it that’s been really beneficial.

And I’m creating work that people are finding and enjoying too. I feel it’s really like a two-way thing. I’m really enjoying making my art and then other people, they’re enjoying seeing the art, experiencing the art, so I really feel like I’m sort of – contributing’s not the right word – but sort of putting good out there. I’m bringing something creative out of nothing. I’m creating something and I find that sort of experience really wonderful.

LB : Ohh, thank you for sharing that very personal story behind your artwork with us. So you mentioned about taking a day to study – to paint for a day – but I think you actually studied at the St Ives School? So I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about that experience and how it continues to inform your work.

HL : Ohh yeah well that was it. I was like OK, I’m going to do a one-day course. So I did a one-day course and then I did a two-day course and then I thought you know what, I’m going to sign up for a year-long course at The St Ives School of Painting. Again, we went to St Ives on honeymoon –

LB : Another connection, Ok.

HL : Yes, it’s all connected, isn’t it?! Walked past Porthmeor Studios and I even said to my husband: ‘You know, I’m gonna be back here one day.’ So it wasn’t until twenty years later, that I did go.

LB : Like a premonition almost?

HL : I did go back and it was a year-long course. And it was basically three days per month where you go in. There were ten of us all together and we have a different tutor every time, but you have one tutor that takes you through the whole process. So you have one-to-ones with them about anything you want to talk about – talk about your process or where you’re going and it was really useful. The ten of us are still in touch. We all have a WhatsApp group. We meet up –

LB : How wonderful.

HL : And some of us are sort of in the Midlands, but some of us are in Cornwall. So we can – it depends on who’s down – and we actually met up last weekend at the School of Painting.

LB : Ohh cool, excellent.

HL : We hired one of their meeting rooms downstairs and it was great. We went around the table talking about how we’ve been getting on and so yeah, we’ve got a real sort of bond and we’re very supportive of each other and try and go to each other’s exhibitions, things like that.

LB : Oh, amazing. Because this leads me to another question. It sounds like your background was very much a sort of people-orientated style of work. And of course being a painter is a very solitary activity most of the time. So that’s a really nice thing to hear that you still have these connections with other artists and time to discuss your work together.

HL : Yeah, I think it does help, because you’re right, it’s a very solitary pursuit, isn’t it? And doing exhibitions and creating events. I’ve got an opening event next week, I’m going to have so many people there and we all get to chat and connect with each other. I love all that and I love creating artists’ dates. So usually meeting people through Instagram and then trying to arrange to meet up and go and visit an art gallery or see some art or just talk about art, things like that.

LB : Yeah, wouldn’t that be cool if there was like a real club where, you know, that was really a thing to do, you meet, connect and you go and do an activity like looking at paintings or seeing an exhibition, that would be really interesting.

HL : Yeah, I do enjoy doing that. I could do it as a regular thing or whatever, but I just like to be spontaneous. I went to Bristol, to meet up with Sophie at The Square and measure up and get my head around where things are going. I went on the train on my own from Truro and I arrived at Bristol Temple Meads and I got a bit emotional.

I find bus stations, train stations, they’re liminal spaces, aren’t they? That you can go any direction by them. I love that idea. I find it all quite emotional and I felt like I was coming home. I felt like Bristol’s ‘home’. I’m a bit like this with painting. I have a stream of consciousness and I sort of act on intuition and that’s how I work.

LB : Ohh great. So thinking more about your upcoming exhibition at The Square. Could you tell us a little bit more about some of the ideas and stories behind some of the works? I can see some beautiful pieces behind you. Are these works all connected by a common thread or does each piece emerge from its own starting point?

HL : Yes, and that’s one of my favourite questions because there’s definitely a common thread. So I tend to work in a collection or a series of things. So when I get into a big topic, I’m there and I’m immersed and I produce lots of work from this sort of series. It’s sort of like what happened last year, last Summer.

We’ve got some roses in our front garden and we picked the ones that smelled really nice. So we’ve got quite a few really nice rose bushes in our garden. And I saw this beautiful, pinky-yellow rose. It smelled so citrusy, you know – you just want to eat it! And I was like, I wonder if I could paint that sensory experience, of capturing that sort of sweet smell of the petals.

And with the way I work, I tend to sort of find shapes and forms and lines in nature. So this was a rose and I’m following it with my finger and noticed it was almost like an Infinity symbol. It was sort of like this.

(Demonstrates the curving form on screen, tracing with her finger.)

LB : Mmmm.

HL : When I’m sketching them, I come up with these sorts of shapes and lines and they almost become what I call an embodied memory.

Like my body knows that shape, it knows how to follow that line itself. I don’t really have to think about it, so when I’ve got a paint brush in my hand, they’d sort of do these lines, shapes and then if there’s a lot of repetition in that, usually with lighter colour or something, a bit more transparent.

I like to think that’s sort of how my memory works. You know how you can have an event and then the memory of it might be softer, or a bit faded. And I love playing with that idea of having something happen, like an event. So my wedding day, for instance, and my memories of that. How do I show that in paint form?

These sorts of shapes are then repeated in loops. Because I experience time in these sorts of layers and I love that idea of having this sort of – you’ve got this cherished moment with family or your husband and then you can somehow go back there.

You can be transported back to that through something jogging your memory. Whether it’s a piece of music or his smell or something that you can transport the concept.

So this is what all (of) this work is based on. It’s that idea of replaying or re-experiencing those feelings of happiness and joy and the symbolism of the roses and peonies and just my love of pink.

I just want to get the pink out and basically just play with pink because it makes me happy. I noticed one of your questions is about how this collection of work is different to what I call that blue, the blue that was sort of liminal.

LB : Yeah.

HL : That series was called the ‘Liminal Series’ and it was – whether it’s sort of being in St Ives and being at the Porthmeor programme and you’re right there on the beach, or whether I wanted to capture that feeling of watching the waves – wave watching, I’m really interested in in liminal spaces anyway.

I really tap into, you know, when you’ve slept and you haven’t even opened your eyes yet, but you sort of think you’re awake, but you’re not dreaming. There’s that little window and I get lots of information in that. I get painting titles, I get compositions, I get colours. I really like to tap into that and when I’m in my studio and I’m in the zone, I’m in the flow and that’s where I paint from.

I’m not a planner. I don’t plan things. I’d get bored if I planned it all out. I don’t have a sketchbook, either. I have pieces of paper taped to my wall to sort of help me bring things together. But I did use to use sketchbooks and they were very encouraged in the Porthmeor programme at St Ives School of Painting. But I find that once they’re in a book, I don’t really look at them again.

LB : Sure.

HL : It’s just my way of working, I guess. I tear the pages out and then I’ll rather stick them on the wall and have them as sort of visual aids – and words – colour palette, that I’d like to focus on.

L B : That makes sense. Do you often make works on paper as well as on canvas?

HL : I don’t usually use paper. I’m loving linen at the moment. I like to work on board and wood because they’re very flat and rigid and you can get stuck in with the paint and I sort of shied away from canvases for a while, but I like the idea of having the linen, the unprimed, natural linen showing through.

It has its own space really and leaving the canvas untouched was something that I really fought against because I wanted to cover the whole thing and work layers and I was just like: ‘Well, what if? What if I kept some of these spaces untouched? Am I allowed to do that?’ So these spaces that I find in the canvas that have got nothing, no paint on, give a bit of breathing space and the viewer can, has room to, come up with their own – I don’t know if ‘interpretation’ is the word as they’re not really something to figure out or interpret – but just to have space. I really like that idea.

In Japanese culture, there’s a thing called ‘Ma’. In (the way) Japanese gardens are set, you know, there’s space and then there’s one tree or some bushes or something.

LB : Mm.

HL : And then more space, and there’s not really a direct translation between that into English without using like 50 words, but it’s about how space – or nothing, nothing happens – is actually the thing that’s holding everything together. It’s very important and very integral. Have you heard of the Studio Ghibli? You know, films like ‘Spirited Away’ and –

LB : Ohh, yes. Yeah. So –

HL : Animated films. There are moments in those films where you just have a shot of the leaves rustling and there’s no dialogue, there’s no action. It’s all animated and really sort of speaks to me on a soul level. This idea of being present and appreciating what would be sort of small and inactive things, but actually they’re important and really help to appreciate (the) present moment. And that happens when I’m drawing and painting and especially observing flower petals and it really helps to make me happy.

LB : Ohh. Super. I think often those spaces that you’ve mentioned, particularly as you can see that raw linen behind it, does remind me of something like a gap in a flower bed – coming back to the tea roses – or even a forest glade, you know, where the light penetrates, in contrast to the dark dense woodland, for example, or as you mentioned earlier, being in St Ives watching the sea and the spaces and the gaps between each wave, again going back to those liminal spaces. So that’s intriguing. And yes, your mention of Ma because I think previously you’ve said that meditation is very important to you and so I wondered what bearing this has on your paintings?

HL : Well, I’ve been meditating for many, many years as a way to handle periods of anxiety and depression and I find meditation helpful and I’m actually trained in helping people to meditate. I wouldn’t call it a teacher, I’m a facilitator really.

I find when I’m painting or drawing, it’s like meditation. You bring yourself what they call to the present moment and then you come to a point of noticing. So you almost become detached from a feeling or an emotion or a thought. You become the observer of your thoughts or your emotions. Like, you’re the sky and then your emotions and your thoughts are just clouds. So, you aren’t the cloud, you’re just the sky. When you’re in a moment of meditation, you can stop that, you can notice that, and it was a huge sort of eureka moment for me: ‘Oh, so I’m not my thoughts! Oh, I’m the one that notices my thoughts.’ When you’re in a point of noticing, then you can choose your thoughts, or put a break on them, and choose to think a different thought, a nicer thought, or a better thought.

So, yeah, it was very helpful for me to learn meditation, to discover meditation and how it’s almost the same thing as painting. Painting for me is my meditation, and you can tell when I’ve not done painting for a few days because I haven’t had that space and haven’t had that moment to myself of being in that flow state. I treat it all as the same thing, meditation, art, it’s all one thing.

LB : Yes, visually when you say about the sky and the clouds passing, I see almost your linen canvas is your sky, and these mark makings of the pinks and greens, they are the effectively the clouds passing through the canvas, or along the canvas. Passing by. Although obviously they’re making their presence known. So, visually, it’s a really interesting way to connect it to the physical structure of your paintings.

HL : Yeah, yeah. Oh, great.  

LB : Sometimes the titles of your work don’t make themselves known straight away, or for a while. And I think I saw on Instagram you posted a painting and that was inspired by WB Yeats’s poem the ‘Wanderings of Osin’. And the quote ‘and softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone’ sort of lent itself to the title of that particular painting. Could you tell us a little bit more about this piece and how it connects to your choice of title?

HL : Oh, I think I said earlier that sometimes these titles don’t come straight away but sometimes when I’m in that liminal space of awake and dreaming, I have these sorts of ideas and jot things down, but sometimes when I read poetry, lines just jump out, and I think: ‘Oh, yeah, that describes how I feel about this particular painting’.

That’s just what happened with the Yeats’ poem. I did Yeats at A-Level. His love of nature, being in nature, well, it fills him to the bone, it means it’s part of him. I love the words ‘softness of starlight’ as well.

LB : I find that fascinating. It’s almost like another breadcrumb that you studied all those years ago for the A-Levels and only now is it sort of coming to fruition.

HL : It’s like layers of time, isn’t it? I don’t really understand time. It blows my mind. I can’t comprehend it. Rather than it being a linear thing for me, I see that it has layers, and everything (is) sort of connected, and I can access my past, at any point, either from a point of meditation, or as I’m painting. I think you can, everything’s connected.

LB : Absolutely, I think that’s almost again in the structure of your work. You have those very early washes at the back. They’re still visible. Even though they happened before the mark making that’s more in the foreground, or in the latest layers. Would you say that there’s a strong link between your work and poetry?

HL : Oh, definitely. Aren’t they visual poems? Are they poems in physical form, maybe? The way that I read poetry, you look at repetition, you look at alliteration, you look at structure or punctuation, things like this, and it feels like that when I’m looking at my paintings. I’m looking at what’s repeating, what are the layers, what’s the themes? And the more that you study a poem, the more you get out of it, don’t you? You sort of pick a line, and then you think about the themes that the poet’s trying to convey, and that I feel like that with my paintings, you know? But yeah, maybe they are a visual poem.

LB : Yeah. I like that. So stemming from Yeats’ epic poem, do you find wider influences from mythology and folklore have any bearing for your practice?

HL : Maybe, maybe, yes. I love the symbolism of flowers. And to go back to titles of paintings, sometimes if you look up the symbolism of a particular flower, it can come up with things, like peonies. I was reading the other day (that) in Victorian times, they thought wood nymphs would hide amongst the petals.

LB : Oh, I’ve only ever seen ants – ants hiding between the petals!

HL : Well, maybe there might be a nymph in there, I don’t know! So yeah, it just enriches my art practice, I think. Reading about art, reading about flowers, reading about symbolism, reading poetry, looking at other artists, talking to people who view your art, this is all feeding into the art practice. There’s so much more than just going into an art studio and just painting, isn’t there?

LB : Completely. Absolutely.

HL : It distinguishes, enriches my life. I look forward to going in there (the studio) and then, a couple of times a year, there are these points where I’m exhibiting them. And showing them, that’s really vulnerability, to open yourself up to showing people.

And there’ll be lots of people next week, on May the 7th. I’ve got an opening event. I’ve got my family there, my friends. So you do feel a bit vulnerable, sharing, showing people, this is in my heart, this is what’s in my soul, you know? This is what’s inside trying to make physical, you know?

When I was lying on my bed, not very well, a small part of how I could get better and how to make myself well – a small part of it – was the thought that, okay, I can paint. I want to get what’s in here out there. So that thing that was inside is now outside.

LB : It physically exists in the world.

HL : Yeah. I didn’t want it to stay inside. I wanted it to be out, out here, being seen. A very small step, very gradual. This is a long process of small baby steps, of getting to this exhibition in Bristol, where I’ve got twenty odd paintings on show and everyone’s going to be there. You know, if you said that to me, three years ago, I’d be like: ‘No, no, I’m not gonna do that!’

So, it’s all these little… You know, being at the Poly exhibition in Falmouth, all these little things, all these little stepping stones, that just help with my confidence. Again, it’s sort of growing, it’s snowballing, it’s exciting. That’s how I try and choose where to put my energy next – do I feel excited?

And I don’t know if you do that Linda, where you just, you know, you can be discerning and choose what you want to put your energy into. What makes you go: ‘Yeah!’ You know, that feeling of – ‘oooo’ – you know? I try and follow that feeling. I don’t know how you’re gonna to be able to spell that when it comes to type this out – that feeling of ‘oooo’. Yes. That excitement is where I follow my path.

LB : Yes, it’s very intuitive and almost going with the flow in a way and following the thread to see where it leads.

LB : A few last questions. How long have you been working on this series, this group of twenty-two paintings for and how do you know when a painting is finished?

HL : This particular collection – I didn’t put brush to linen until pretty much, I think it was about August last year.

LB : Wow, that was very quick for twenty-two paintings in… like, eight, nine months? That’s impressive!

Before that I had all these sorts of ideas marinading in my subconscious. And then it became conscious. But I didn’t physically start painting until late summer.

And then, how do I know it’s finished? Oh, that’s such a good question. Usually when I feel like I don’t have to do anything else to it. You just know. It’s really hard to explain to somebody. I mean, you know, you’re an artist Linda. You know when it’s finished, but having to try to explain that to people is really hard. You can go all sort of: ‘Well, it stops asking questions’. I’ve heard someone say that’s really important and it resonates actually. That it just stops wanting something, it stops questioning. Sometimes it’s almost like a ceremonially type thing: ‘This is the last dot. Right, it’s done.’ So sometimes that happens. Or, usually, it’s just: ‘Oh, one more layer. It needs one more layer.’

But interestingly, it’s not about adding – what can I take away? That’s really interesting: ‘So this doesn’t need anything extra, but what can I remove?’ I’m there with the solvent and trying to get something back and then I’m like: ‘Ah, that’s it, that just needed that.’ There isn’t really a hard definitive answer I can give you.

LB : No, it’s interesting, because I also heard there comes a point where sometimes the paintings – and sometimes I find this too – the paintings kind of paint themselves. They sort of tell you what they need. They say: ‘I need some yellow here’ or ‘This has to be bolder’ or ‘This has to be pushed away or pushed back’. I think, yeah, there comes a point where, finally, it works and it sort of says: ‘I’m saying what I need to say now’. Also, when looking at some of these paintings, these gorgeous pieces behind you, I’m reminded of the immersive quality of Monet’s waterlilies, and I know that may or may not have been consciously intentional. We mentioned Rothko a bit earlier, I was wondering if there’s any other artists that have influenced these paintings?

HL : Not artist, but going back to the Miyazaki Studio Ghibli films, I’m very much influenced by those feelings of Ma and space, and then poetry, obviously, with T.S. Elliott, maybe, or Yates. But painting wise, I don’t know if I have any influences, other than, sort of, Rothko, in that his massive (paintings) felt immersive, and that was quite an influence on me when I saw them a couple of years ago – just to have that art as an experience. Oh, I was going to say, going back to sort of the literary thing, because I studied English at Uni, I didn’t do Art at Uni. One of the novels that I remember vividly was James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, which was just mind blowing –

LB : (Laughing)

HL : So I really liked that idea of that sort of stream of consciousness. Yeah, he did that in written form, and I’m doing that in a painting way.

LB : That’s a really nice connection there. The idea of the stream of thoughts, like you’re observing the flowers and it’s your thoughts about the flowers, what the flowers smell (like) and how they look, and all that comes onto the canvas.

LB : Finally, Helen, what’s next? Your exhibition at The Square Club continues through the Summer season, hopefully with lots of weddings taking place in front of your work. So how do you think all this experience might shape the direction of your practice for the future?

HL : Oh, that’s such a good question.

LB : Yeah, well, it’s a tricky one – get your crystal ball out!

HL : I really would like to carry on with this body of work that I’m doing. So this isn’t the end of this collection, which I’ve called them ‘Romantic Reveries’ as a title. They do have a little bit of a Romantic feel and ‘Reverie’ means daydream, or like a dream. So I’m carrying on. I’m going to order massive rolls of linen and I want to work big.

LB : Wonderful.

HL : With a view just to paint for me. I want to paint big, bigger than my arms, so I have to sort of get on a stool, get up here.

LB : Super exciting!

HL : And we’ve got a bit of space outside my studio that’s a sort of gravelly area, and I can put a canvas out there and get on the floor and just be free and see what happens from painting something really big.

That would be just for me. As in all my art, I do it for me first, of course. I don’t paint to order. I don’t really do commissions. I just want to be free to just paint what I’m going through, what I’m interpreting and things like that and then offering them to people, and if they love them and buy them – brilliant. I love that they resonated with something that I made sort of spontaneously, and not specific to order.

I’ve got a gallery in Marazion, The Summerhouse Gallery. I’m very privileged that I’m one of their artists. So, continuing to add work to their – to that gallery, and then possibly looking at working with another gallery next year.

LB : Oh, wow. Ok, brilliant.

HL : And then, who knows? You know, the sky’s the limit.

LB : Yeah, this is so exciting to hear that your intention is to scale up your paintings. That’s wonderful. So as it’s on loose canvas, unstretched canvas, you won’t be limited to the size of the stretcher in any way. I really find it intriguing this idea that you could paint outside as well. So that adds another layer, another dimension to the work too – actually physically making them outside. So exciting times, exciting times ahead.

So you’re all set for Thursday? Are these the paintings behind you that are going in (the exhibition)?

HL : These are big ones, these are a metre wide!

LB : Wow! Lovely, yes.

HL : They’re going to be going either side of the mirror where you get married, so bride and groom and then my paintings.

LB : It’s going to be a terrific exhibition. Yeah, it sounds amazing.

HL : Thank you very much, and they do things like wedding fayres.

LB : Oh sure, yeah.

HL : They’re holding a wedding fayre one of the weekends so I should get a lot of new people looking at my work.

LB : That’s fantastic for you, a lot of extra promotion, so that’s really exciting.

HL : So, they’ll be in in situ and nicely done next week, I think.

LB : But really inspiring to talk to you about your work and just to learn more.

HL : Well thank you very much for giving me an opportunity to talk to people on the Internet, and your time.

LB : Oh not at all! So wishing you all the best for Thursday.

HL : Right, I’ll let you go!

LB : Thanks very much, take care! Bye Helen!

HELEN LEAVER

Originally from Bristol, Helen now lives in Cornwall and paints from her light and tranquil garden studio surrounded by farmland. She embarked on the intensive year-long St. Ives School of Painting ‘Porthmeor Programme 2023’ and has exhibited and sold work in solo and group exhibitions in St. Ives, Falmouth, Newquay and the Royal Cornwall museum. Her work is now in private collections throughout the UK, USA, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and New Zealand.

Visit Helen’s website and online gallery here.

Helen’s solo exhibition at The Square Club continues until July 2026.

THE SQUARE CLUB

Located on Berkeley Square in the heart of Clifton, The Square Club welcomes both members and non-members through its elegant doors. Cocktail bars, a boutique lounge and an award-winning restaurant all await patrons in this refined Georgian setting.

The perfect venue for chic weddings, private soirees and exclusive events, The Square Club is Bristol’s finest and longest-serving destination for the city’s creatives.

Several art exhibitions are held each year to showcase the work of regional artists and makers. Find out more about the Gallery at The Square here.

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Museum Moment : The Royal Academy – Rose Wylie

Spot a red elephant running rampage along the gallery walls, paint splattering from every direction across the canvas in their wake. Wink at the paper cut-out girls in red satin, cheekily posing between trees as footballers enjoy a kickabout in the corner of the gallery space, their hairy legs on full show for all to see.

Rose Wylie’s solo exhibition ‘The Picture Comes First’ is a playful, cheerful and somewhat tongue-in-cheek presentation of this 92 year old’s imaginative practice.

Many pieces in this exhibition have been crafted using collage techniques and thick oil impasto. Text in childlike scrawl offers observations, descriptions, instructions and thoughts, wrapping across the canvases like TV subtitles – a narrator to these compositions of joyful mash-ups. It’s a riotous festival of colour, humour and feeling.

Drawing inspiration from her experiences of growing up in London during the Blitz, of popular culture and fairytales along with newspaper stories, biblical references and more, we enter a world pulsating with the mischievous energy of a true artist rebel. It’s fascinating to think what Joshua Reynolds would have thought of Wylie’s unanatomical creatures and insects as big as houses!

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Stay In A Storybook Castle – A Review of Castello Valenzino, Umbria

Cosy up in a castle and idle away the hours in a unique hotel setting.

Remember that time you slept like Sleeping Beauty in turreted luxury?

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Whispers of Italian folklore intermingle with the ambience of an authentic stay within the walls of Castello Valenzino.

A gate near a curve on the road to San Giovanni del Pantano leads guests up to a grey hulk of ancient stone, set within a few acres of terraced gardens. Bees buzz, busied with the sweet scent of abundant lavender, whilst olive trees gracefully brush their ashen green foliage against the medieval walls in rhythm to the Umbrian breeze.

LA STORIA

Perched on the verdant hillside as though an illustration from Basile’s Pentamerone, Castello Valenzino seems to belong to a fairy tale set in some far-off land. It’s easy to imagine courtiers with pointed hats and bustling dresses prancing through the rooms, knights on horseback approaching from the nearby towns of Umberide and Assisi, bread baking in the immense stone fireplaces.

A stay at Castello Valenzino feels like stepping into a story set in the past. It captures the imagination, stirs the deepest romance and evokes the timelessness of Italian elegance.

CASTLE CHARACTER

Almost like a structural fortress, historical walls flank the Castello’s central tower to reveal an archaic past. Dating from the thirteenth century, early records indicate the castle was once a sacred site. Later documents point to Castello Valenzino as a noble residence for hunting trips. Today, the royal and the rustic converge through sympathetic restoration.

Renovated as a charming accommodation option, Castello Valenzino offers a mixture of independent apartments and rooms. Each chamber retains period furnishings to provide an authentic atmosphere replete with original features.

Seeped in an air of aristocratic resonance, the castle still boasts exposed ceiling beams carved from the most ancient of trees. Thick walls of exposed stone along with steep staircases exhibit the architectural style of the medieval age. Arched doorways and narrow slit windows – just wide enough to shoot a bow and arrow from – testify to the castle’s once strategic identity. It’s like travelling back in time to another world!

Even with all these incredible features from a bygone age, the Castello still caters for its contemporary guests with all twenty-first century expectations – electric lights, hot water and reasonably good Wifi – so even the most aspiring of knights can feel at home within these castle walls. Inviting beds with fresh linens and soft towels ensure comfort along with room fans and blankets for whichever season you visit.

Meanwhile, modern day indulgences include jacuzzi baths in several rooms for a touch more lux, a wine cellar for organised tastings and the benefit of a small kitchenette in a select number of suites – the perfect option should you wish to stay for longer as ‘Lord-and-Lady’ of the manor!

Whilst the larger suites offer even more character with their open fireplaces and private outdoor terraces, the double rooms are bigger than usually expected for such an ancient setting. The Torgiano Room opened out into a tasteful lounge, an entire suite with a sofa and TV room leading on to the bedroom. A spacious bathroom with ample shelving completed the set up with views overlooking the valley.

The furniture is tastefully on cue in its stylish simplicity; it is evident that the whole site is impeccably clean and well maintained. Dried flowers placed in vases catch the eye, little offerings as though Medieval Morandi’s, echoing the artist’s gentle tones with the addition of sparing glints of crimson and ochre petals – coloured jewels in the castle’s holdings.

Castello Valenzino presents historic allure and inklings of magical lore, induced in a world of relaxation, rest and rejuvenation. Fling open those narrow windows and breathe in the scented Italian air! Take in the glorious views of the rolling hills! Marvel at the blue sky dancing far above! Survey your kingdom as the sun sets lazily in the quiet of evening.

Slip into slumber inside your castle room, secluded by the thick stone walls with history in their heart. Rise with the sound of birdsong and the hum of cicadas, refreshed and ready to take in the grandeur of the landscape and all that Umbria has to offer.

A STATELY SETTING

Prance out into the Castello’s gardens. Seek shade under the little pergolas or parasols lining the swimming pool. Although small in stature, this square of blue sparkles like a topaz in a tiara under the Italian sun. Plunge in to cool off and refresh as you take in the Castello’s surrounding views. . . .

Golden fields of honeyed linen gracefully drape the hillside, wrapping its dells in their folds of wheat and corn. Luscious thick forests border this harvest, as though a ruff around a Venetian merchant’s neck. The depth and darkness of the glade hides mystery in umber tones. Could this have been King of Woody-Valley’s castle, father of the unhappy princess?

A little stream runs in the darkness of the wooded hollow – as though running tears to fill a jug for awakening the beloved – the Valanzina beck from which the castle receives its name.

BEYOND THE CASTLE WALLS

Castello Valenzino is the perfect base to unwind and enjoy exploring ‘The Green Heart of Italy’. A region famed for its vineyards, truffles, pilgrimage sites and an annual jazz festival, Umbria is the authentic alternative to more crowded destinations. Breathtaking views and warm hospitality along with the slower, more relaxed pace mean Umbria offers something a little different!

Assisi, Gubbio, Perugia and Montone. So many historic towns and villages sigh in unison with Castello Valenzino. Discover fine dining beneath terracotta tiles, fashion in full swing through the winding streets and Basilicas decked out in renaissance splendour.

Umbria is the birthplace of St Francis of Assisi. With the UNESCO complex in nearby Assisi, this certainly helps to put Umbria on the map as a major centre for Christian pilgrimage and spirituality. Marvel at Cimabue’s masterpieces within the apse, spectacular examples of Byzantine Art.

Eager for more?

For your fill of spectacular medieval art including icon paintings and exquisite predellas as well as special exhibitions, head to the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria. Housed in the beautiful Palazzo dei Priori, seat of the City Council since the Middle Ages, the GNU is the only Italian public building to house a national museum.

And oh what treasures await!

For adventure seekers Monti Sibillini National Park and Lake Trasimeno offer the chance to get close to wildlife whether hiking, biking or swimming.

From olive oil to Deruta ceramics and Montefalco linen, artisanal souvenirs reflecting Umbria’s traditional craftmanship, famed since the middle ages, can be found on almost every street corner.

And for chocolate lovers, don’t miss Perugia! Europe’s largest festival dedicated to chocolate – EuroChocolate – is held here every year, following the tradition of Lusia Spagnoli’s Baci Perugina – hazelnut treats inspired by Hayez’s painting ‘Il Bacio’ (The Kiss), complete with a lover’s message.

Now that’s a contemporary Fairytale!

And if you fancy a personal tour to discover more of Umbria’s hidden gems, museums and historic sites, consider booking a knowlegable and multi-lingual local via GoWithGuide. From photography to Vespa themed tours, GoWithGuide‘s tour leaders present special opportunities to learn about the regional way of life in a fun and relaxed way, matching your personal needs and interests.

If you’re not sure how best to plan a visit to Umbria – or perhaps you can’t quite locate that charming Pizzeria you’ve heard about – reach out to a local GoWithGuide online. Ask them questions, check routes and itineraries, all before committing with payment. Your local Guide will not only refine your ideas and schedule, but GoWithGuide also offers airport transfers for any size group and pieces of luggage for a seamless arrival in Italy!

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

It is essential to hire a car, or moto, to reach Castello Valenzino. The location is quite isolated and this part of Umbria is very hilly! The nearest shops and restaurants are good 15 minutes drive away, so be prepared to navigate narrow streets – you can’t go wrong with a Fiat 500!

CASTLE COLAZIONE

Breakfast is served early at Castello Valenzino and like many places in Italy, it is not a big meal! Fresh breads with butter and spreads along with croissants and fruit tarts are available, served with coffee and juice.

Enjoy colazione in the privacy of your suite or dine in the banqueting room, surrounded by tasteful tapestries, the elegant stonework a fair companion. Rough hewn walls and flagstone floors all add to the ambience of castle life!

STORIA ONIRICA

Feel like you’ve stepped back in time to a bygone age of damsels in distress, knights in shining armour and rural living. A stay at Castello Valenzino is a destination for sweet dreams in the Fairyland of the South.

CASTELLO VALENZINO

Address :

Strada Provinciale del Pantano snc, 06019 – Umbertide

Visit Website

FEEL THE PULL OF PENDOUR

Instagram

Pendour – YouTube

PENDOUR PICKS

A Review of Villa Rucellai, Italy

PENDOUR PREFERRED * * * *

WANDERLUST

Linda Bell

Pendour Pamper : The Silk Collection Review

PENDOUR LIVING

Linda Bell

‘ ATCG ‘ – Artistry, Time, Colour and Gold

PENDOUR CULTURE

Linda Bell

Lakeside Life : Chapter I ‘Winter’ – A Stay at Fritton Lake

PENDOUR PERFECTION * * * * *

WANDERLUST

Linda Bell

The Healing Artworks of the April Sampson Cancer Centre

PENDOUR CULTURE

Linda Bell

17 - 03 - 2619 - 03 - 26

Lakeside Life : Chapter I ‘Winter’ – A Stay at Fritton Lake

What happens when a hotel stay becomes a story?

Quietly tucked away in the heart of Norfolk, Fritton Lake is more than a hotel – a place where nature, slow living and wellness come together. In this review lakeside swims, woodland walks and the warmth of a floating sauna unfold like wintery scenes in a short story, a seasonal tale of lakeside life.

AN ARRIVAL

The tree-lined driveway curved slowly through the parkland. The greying branches met overhead like the ribs of a cathedral ceiling. Their dark silhouettes stretched across the winter sky, silently criss-crossing like Nosferatu’s interlacing talons.

At the end of the avenue our travellers approached a brick building with its façade painted a welcome shade of yellow. For a moment she was reminded of time spent in Sintra, where brightly coloured walls gleam in luminous brilliance beneath a topaz blue sky.

Here, however, the warming earthy shade, touched with hints of ochre, perched solitarily and glowed softly through the pewter haze. It felt unexpectedly cheerful, a small burst of colour folded into the Norfolk Winter. A honeypot poised within the umber tones of the surrounding parkland.

Decorated as though a carnival top, with blue and white stripes climbing the wall and continuing across the oval ceiling above, swirling outward from a miniature chandelier, the entrance foyer was smaller than expected. Had they somehow stumbled into a chapter of Alice in Wonderland or a scene from Gene Wilder’s chocolate haven? Their arrival was starting to feel like the beginning of a story.

As they crossed ornate carpets breaking up the flagstone floors a relaxed and quietly chic atmosphere – very much muddy-boots and dogs-and-horses – greeted our travellers. Framed artworks from Fitzroy Modern Art Gallery paraded along the staircase and over the upright piano. Radiating a sense of exclusivity, these pieces presented an interesting contrast to the immense pike glistening inside a glass vitrine above the fireplace in the Billiards Room.

The Clubhouse at Fritton Lake felt really just that – a meeting space for those in the know. For nature lovers in search of the comforts that belonging to an exclusive group offers – minus all the fuss, rules and tight-lipped frowns judging apparent interlopers! A rather unique club-like feel!

As they checked in, our Fritton first timers received electronic wristbands, which they understood would give access through some of the gates further away on the estate. A friendly staff member answered their questions relating to parking, breakfast and exercise classes; all laid-back and centred around a casually good time. They were shown to their room upstairs decked out in a shade of sage green – as warm and comforting as could be on a chilly Tuesday in January.

Our guests glanced around the room, taking note of the TV set unobtrusively in the corner, thankful for its inconspicuous presence. A framed work on paper with emerald green leaf-like forms held the main wall, complementing its sage-hued shade.

Original features such as the Georgian sash window elegantly matched the snug-looking bed. A curiously arched door, nestled between two oak beams – again like something from Alice’s adventures, led the way to the en suite bathroom. Our guest smiled as she spied a heated towel rail and plenty of space to lay out an array of skin care saviours despite the estate’s offering of delightful, sweet-scented Bramley shower gel and hair-smoothing shampoo and conditioner. A pleasant surprise for any guest!

SENSATIONAL SHOPPING

Content with their room but realising they had forgotten to pack toothpaste, our travellers decided to explore. Arm in arm they strolled past little gardens bordered with cute box hedges to Valentine & Silver, the estate’s shop set in a renovated barn.

Browsing the products with gusto they were impressed by the range of minimally packaged soaps and toiletries, along with a delectable-looking selection of local wines. ‘If you were just dropped here, with only a swimsuit, it wouldn’t matter’ she thought, as everything – even beautifully knit scarves, jackets and socks – could be found lovingly presented next to sustainably made greeting cards, children’s hair ties, local honey, sweet treats and fresh milk, cheese and organic eggs.

A Secret Garden?

Gliding along the avenue of pleached trees she passed the tennis and badminton courts on either side. Presently, she approached what appeared to be a walled kitchen garden, now transformed into the pool and solarium. Rustic huts at either end of the 22 metre expanse of shimmering light blue appeared as though gingerbread cottages, replete with gabled roofs and even outdoor fireplaces for those chilly days! Within these biscuit barrel abodes were farmhouse style changing booths with welcome underfloor heating and large shower rooms.

First opting for a chance to check out the sauna, our guests proceeded through a gate in the kitchen garden wall. Taking in the expanding view they made note of how the grounds were carefully trimmed, weeded and tended for the Winter Season.

A bronze depicting a youth – arms outstretched to the heavens – inhabited the sloping lawn and was accompanied by a plaque referencing loss of life during the World Wars. Who had once lived and worked here? What were they like? Was their presence still felt in the biting cold and washed-out sky, just out of this youngster’s reach?

The wall of ancient red bricks revealed a shabby-chic lean-to on its other side. The glass panes mostly still in place, the potting shed structure lent itself to a make-believe of lovers’ clandestine meetings, rolling on an imaginary spool of black and white faded glamour. The old-worldly feel gave chance for whispers of the past to permeate. Could there have been a secret love affair or a Go-Between? A quaint idea.

Approaching the lake the temperature dropped a little more. As they stepped out onto the jetty a tablecloth of rippled velvet stretched as far as they could see to the left and right, the scene framed by the droops of weeping willows like veiled curtains. The curvature of the opposite bank meant they gazed across a crescent-shaped lake. A body of opaque fresh water, recalling the Radiohead album – A Moon-Shaped Pool.

Despite the occasional ripple of dark, peaty tones, the view seemed still and silent. A moment hanging unhurried and unspent. She imagined what the view must be like in Summer: the mottled tones of grey instead infused with green; the dark shade of the lake transformed to the Azul blue of the sky; blossoms along the banks; little ducklings of yellow fluff taking to the water.

A (Sunset) Sauna

Footlights led to a small black hut connected to the bank by a tip-toe bridge, almost like a scene from the Willow Pattern. Barefoot, she gingerly stepped along the path, wincing slightly at the sharp stones underfoot until she reached the bridge and finally across to her destination, the floating sauna!

A fiery orange glow from the crackling wood burner met our travellers as other Fritton Lake guests and club members shimmied along the bench to make space. Lower and upper benches made a cosy, sociable atmosphere. The heat rose. Skin feeling hot and dried, our nomads chatted with the other sauna sitters, learning about the park and hearing all about the cabins and what a treat it is to stay in one, nestled in the forest, or better still, to own one!

‘Yes, it’s a popular spot this’ remarked one of the ladies, before heading out. A moment later the sauna swayed as she dived deeply into the dark water. Aghast, the sauna sitters watched her through the large window, a single pane with unrivalled views of the silvery, lunar-like lake. The sauna rocked slightly until it regained its equilibrium. The woman re-entered the hut and the conversation, her dripping hair and skin quickly drying, glistening by the growing light of the fire.

The wood burner’s roaring heat made our nomad feel better, warmer, alive! It was like she had forgotten what it was to feel warm amid Winter’s foggy breath. Once she had plucked up the courage, she stepped out into the icy air, holding the steps as she lowered herself into the dark waters. First her feet, then allowing the water up to her calves and midriff. A deep breath. She closed her eyes. Shoulders in. Head under. Breathless. A burning sensation on her thighs. She bobbed back up for air, not letting go of the ladder. Elated, she took another deep breath and head under, once more. She had to prove to herself that she could do it!

Quickly up the steps and straight back into the desirable, welcome glow of the little floating sauna. Refreshed, feeling brazen despite the cold, emboldened by the fresh air and ready to test herself – Wim Hof style. After this initial timid scuttle into the peat-dark water, she decided to have another go. Jumping in from the ledge, just beside the window. Her body tensed as it hit the water, breaking the granite-hued surface. That sinking feeling, for a few moments the world seemed to stand still except for the descent. Then her head emerged back above the water line, a deep breath in. Clearing her fringe out of her eyes, she looked around the lake, taking in the darkening view, lifting her arms as though to see what would happen as the tingling sensation set in.

She rounded it off by blasting out a good twenty lengths or so back in the heated pool of the walled garden, steam vaporising off the pool’s teal top. She must always swim lengths in a pool. Wide, deep and long, the Fritton Lake swimming pool was perfect for front crawl drills, tumble turns and finally a cool-down. She completed her set lengths as the darkness grew around her.

Mist from the pool cast strange clouds in front of the wrought iron gate, the red brick wall now more brown in the twilight. Breathless, grasping hold of the pool ledge, she could hear the crows cawing in the distance. Completely alone she glanced at the open gate, its wrought iron design wreathed with tangled trees and spidery branches. The witching hour had begun.

EVENING GROWS

She drew back the plush curtains in the sage coloured room, closing out the receding light to prepare her outfit for dinner with friends who live close by. ‘Had I realised how wonderful it is to be here at Fritton Lake, I would have certainly tried the food in the pub’s dining room. But this treat will have to wait until a summer visit!’

Following an enjoyable evening she was reminded of other excellent hotel experiences, too good for photos and words… places that have a distinct feeling, where you feel immediately at home though all is new and exciting and yet to be discovered. On reflection, she decided that Fritton Lake was a little like a place she once stayed in in the Dolomites, or at the venue of the wedding of the last decade, hosted in Oxfordshire. But with its chilled vibe and lake-life focus, this new discovery of Fritton, just two hours out of London, hits the top!

AND SO TO BED

Tucked into the cosy white bed she enjoyed a few more pages from her book, glanced through the local ‘Living In Suffolk’ magazine and finished sipping a chamomile tea from the Teapigs chest. A bedtime ritual enhanced with the soothing sound of the Roberts radio, breaking through the quiet fabric of the night. The swim, sauna and ripples on the lake. . . . The wild, cool air – scented with grass and moss – lingered outside the window where bunnies roamed in frosty velvet darkness under the fleeting clouds and star-spangled sky.

GOOD MORNING!

As our guests awoke they opted out of the breakfast offering, despite the occasional scent wafting up from the restaurant below and along the corridor. An empty belly was better for her plan – an exercise morning!

Following a strong cup of coffee fresh from the Kofra Koffee tin (no plastic here!) and brewed in the cafetière supplied – nice touch for a hotel! – she packed away her belongings to meet the required check-out time and headed over to the gym for a dance and body sculpt class. The gym was clean and orderly, the machines of a high-spec with aesthetics also in mind! You could work out to views of the parkland, whilst around the corner the open hall featured wall bars and mirrors.

A little apprehensive, the ecstatic instructor put everyone at ease and then the music started. Pumps and samba, box step and Riverdance – all to the riffs of well-known favourite beats. A fun-filled (if rather sweaty!) way to begin the day. A few other members and guests joined in, with barre fitness to round off the session, hoisting weights above whilst in plie and développé.

Following a little chat afterwards, saying farewell to the other members of the class was like saying goodbye to well-known friends. She decided to head back out to the lake and couldn’t resist another sauna session with two more lakeside plunges, each time a little bolder, despite the ominous pike flicking near the surface, whipped up in the arctic wind.

Today, the blackened water seemed reminiscent of a Norwegian Fjord, or perhaps Lemony Snicket’s Lake Lachrymose minus the leeches of course! The muted tones looked even harder in the cold, after the frost. Along the opposite bank pines dressed in furry green attire dwarfed the naked branches of the deciduous trees. A final few lengths in the pool saw our guest shower off in the beautifully heated gingerbread changing rooms before heading to the Clubhouse.

Here, from the comfort of an armchair she enjoyed a creamy bowl of celery soup beside the crackling fire. Now that’s a Winter’s morning well spent!

FAREWELL, FRITTON

With yoga classes, nature safaris and even foraging sessions there’s yet more to enjoy and experience at Fritton Lake. A world of its own, an idyllic kingdom blending relaxation with a special opportunity to get close and connect with nature. Whether through incorporating freshly harvested ingredients from the land in their tasty dishes, fresh coffee in the rooms or produce in the shop, Fritton Lake has achieved a balance of adventure and relaxed effortless making each stay charming and exclusive.

If only it wasn’t already time to go! Passing through St Olaves and surveying the sweeping vista of the Norfolk Broads – pale and quiet in the Winter light – our travellers promised they would return to Fritton Lake.

Somewhere behind them, beyond the fields and trees, lay the dark lake – still and brooding, wrapped in the hush of the Season. A place of misty swims, crackling fires and cold-water courage. One visit had revealed only a single mood of the place; surely this nature retreat would transform as the seasons turned?

She imagined the jetty warm beneath her feet as dragonflies skimmed the watery world; the pool filled with laughter and gardens with colourful blooms bordering the estate’s shop and ball courts. . . .

‘Yes!’ she said aloud: ‘Winter was atmospheric. Summer would be the perfect time to return and savour the keen hospitality, comfortable beds, fitness facilities and the joy of lakeside life’.

To be continued with Chapter II ‘Summer’, later in the year.

LET'S GET SOCIAL

Instagram

Pendour – YouTube

PENDOUR PICKS

Villa Rucellai, Italy

PENDOUR PREFERRED * * * *

Linda Bell

Zamas Hotel Review : Where to Stay in Tulum, Mexico

PENDOUR PERFECTION * * * * *

Linda Bell

Katy Brown : ‘Enchanted’

Solo exhibition at the Russell Gallery, Putney, London

Linda Bell

Pendour Purchase Review – The Clothes Doctor

PENDOUR LIVING

Linda Bell

22 - 02 - 2610 - 10 - 26

Pendour Purchase Review – The Clothes Doctor

LOVE YOUR LAUNDRY

Laundry seems to be a given in life. No matter how conscientious we may be, stains, frays and accidents regularly occur! So, to avoid adding laundry to your long list of ‘chores’ or ‘housework’, we’re pleased to have found the Clothes Doctor to put Love back into Laundry.

The Clothes Doctor offers a welcome alternative to feeling overwhelmed and overcome with the garment monster lurking in the basket. Find solace in the soak, the suds and the spin. It seems so much more constructive to embrace the process of caring for your clothes, revelling in the fresh scent of revitalised knits, polished lacy numbers and buttery smooth sportswear, rather than fighting what can be a pleasurable part of daily existence.

CLOTHES DOCTOR

PUT THE LOVE

BACK INTO LAUNDRY!

🧺💛🧺

Clothes Doctor is your laundry saviour, elevating a once monotonous task to the realms of the glamorous and the chic. Their dedicated range of detergents and spray mists airlift your senses to the likes of Sicily, Provence, alpine hideaways or even a Silk Road setting. Further nifty products make caring for your clothes all the easier, banishing those tell-tale pills of wear and pro-longing the lifespan of your favourites. All this to keep you looking and feeling good so you don’t have to buy more to squeeze into your choc-a-bloc wardrobe!

Unlike conventional laundry detergents which blend polluting and dubious ingredients in plastic pods and jugs – ultimately damaging our waterways and seas – Clothes Doctor strives for sustainability. A small UK business integrating only eco-friendly ingredients, Clothes Doctor helps ensure that your wash is not a wash out for the planet.

So let’s get to it, bring on the scented suds and soaking saviours!

ORDER & DELIVERY

I first found Clothes Doctor when searching for a special detergent to wash my shimmering pillowcases and eye mask from The Silk Collection. Used everyday, these items require regular washing to keep them top notch, especially as they can become a little discoloured from oils and face creams applied at bedtime.

Impressed by the Clothes Doctor’s website and sustainable credentials, I spotted exactly what I was looking for, a PH neutral detergent to maintain the delicate lustre of silk without potential allergens or toxic additives, all packaged without excessive plastic.

There is a minimum spend of £45 for free delivery. This may sound like a lot but it’s quick to get your basket up to this threshold… yes, the products are rather on the pricey side compared to supermarket standards. But this is what it costs to develop and manufacture wonderful products with the power to transform ‘doing a wash’ to prescribing just what the Doctor ordered!

Find solace

in the soak,

the suds

and the spin.

Since my first purchase, Clothes Doctor have introduced an Everyday range, working out at just 30p a wash! Although these detergents and fabric conditioners are not specialised for particular clothing requirements, they are highly concentrated and have a lower price on subscription. Refillable glass bottles with metal nozzles mean there’s less spill and wastage once you’ve added some water. Delivered to your door, the Basil and Mandarin scent sounds as though doing the laundry will be a form of aromatherapy from now on!

PACKAGING

The products arrived in a cardboard box surrounded by noodles or nuggets. These completely dissolve when wet. The noodles reduce the need for polluting polystyrene or plastic-based packaging whilst offering the same amount of protection from bumps and jumps as the products work their way to save my silks!

Upon opening the box, I realised that the bottles of detergent were also wrapped in tubes of textured cardboard. Hugging the products tightly, they protect the delicate folds of the aluminium bottles near the base and follow the curve of the slightly tapered top. One of the aluminium bottles had received a bit of a dent on its merry way, but thanks to this cardboard sleeve the magical liquid remained intact!

All of the products – the Silk & Delicate detergent; the Knitwear Mist and Eco Liquid Baby Detergent – are packaged in rather cool-looking aluminium bottles. Endlessly recyclable and far more valuable than recycled plastic, aluminium replaces those toxic pods which leach chemicals into your skin as you handle them – and your clothes. The use of aluminium also reduces the need for giant plastic jugs of laundry detergents which either end up in landfill, the UK’s waterways or are shipped and burned in Asia!

Only the cap is made of plastic. Whilst these are great for measuring out just the correct amount of detergent, it would be wonderful if an alternative could be sourced, such as cork or another plastic-free stopper. Let’s hope the Clothes Doctor can find a way forward so we can entirely pass on plastic.

SLEEK N' SEXY

Not just better for the environment, the sleek and modern-looking aluminium bottles are also an upgrade for your home! Far more visually sophisticated than the giant plastic jugs with built-in handles, or goofy looking plastic tubs of pods, these products make classy additions to any kitchen or laundry room shelf!

The label design is clean and eye-catching and they’ve used some rather trendy symbolism, almost like ancient runes which continue onto the pattern of the scented drawer liners! This is a good move and matches Clothes Doctor’s commitment to sustainability and the idea of caring for and repairing our clothes, which of course dates back to our earliest history.

In addition to detailed instructions, the labelling also offers little rhymes and reveries, linking your laundry detergent to the destination which inspired its scent! This is sure to add a smile and a little charm to loading your machine or agitating that bowl (for the second – no wait – THIRD time today, what mucky pups!).

the labelling also offers

little rhymes and reveries,

linking your laundry DETERGENT

to the destination which inspired its scent!

This is sure to add a smile

and a little charm

to loading your machine!

CRAFTED IN CORNWALL

Upon closer inspection of these products I was amazed to realise that although Clothes Doctor is a London-based company, their products are manufactured in Cornwall! The land of our namesake and raison d’être, you’ll also find that the Clothes Doctor will make a special appearance on our Crafted In Cornwall post, coming soon!

IRRESISTIBLE INGREDIENTS

Clothes Doctor prides itself on using essential oils in their detergents and clothing mists. These are carefully selected to enhance the natural beauty and properties of fabrics such as cotton, wool and cashmere whilst reducing creases and offering protection from months. Natural oils such as lavender, cherry, bergamot and sandalwood are combined with slightly more surprising ones like cardamom and clove leaf oil. Blissfully combined, these crafted scents blend into a fragrant bouquet of pure intoxication!

Whilst industrially produced detergents often contain skin-irritating chemicals, the Clothes Doctor offers an opportunity to treat your skin, nose and clothes to the thrill of Nature’s pure aromas.

Years of testing, refinement and research has resulted in a range of products which care for what we already own. Over washing our clothes can lead to premature ageing of the fabric and the need to replace them too soon. The Clothes Doctor’s process of careful and considered development has resulted in a range of highly concentrated and super effective detergents and mists. A little goes a long way! Instead of harsh surfactants and sulphides, which damage both our clothes and waterways every time we load our machines, Clothes Doctor’s selected essential oils ensure a more natural approach.

Every formula offered by The Clothes Doctor is ingenuously mixed to gently clean without damaging fibres. This promotes that ‘nearly new’ feeling, maintaining the shape and colour of your cosy jumpers, poolside dresses and business shirts. The spritz and scented drawer liners also keep your clothes fresh between wearing so there is less need to wash certain items so regularly! A revolutionary idea: products that are designed to care for clothes, and not just clean them!

Each product is 100% vegan and cruelty free and the full list of ingredients can be found on the specification for each product.

PRODUCTS DESIGNED

TO CARE FOR CLOTHES –

NOT JUST TO CLEAN THEM

A FIGHT AGAINST FAST FASHION

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of all carbon emissions, more than that of aviation and maritime shipping combined! And to top this off, one truckload of clothes is discarded every second…. What an inefficient system!

Extending the life of our garments by nine months can reduce their footprint by a surprising 30%. This is where Clothes Doctor helps ensure that products are cared for and looked after, maximising the times you can wear that gorgeous blouse and one-of a kind jacket you picked out on your last travel adventure!

Have a special something requiring a repair? In need of new zips, buttons, patches and more? The Clothes Doctor have developed a network of clothes-caring seamstresses looking forward to putting some TLC back into your well-worn looks. Simply request a quote online and pop your clothing in the post and Clothes Doctor will take care of the rest! Repairs are expected to take 7-10 working days depending on the nature of what is required.

SEASONAL SCENT & PROTECT

Clothes Doctor have recently introduced a quarterly subscription service. Every three months their subscribers – or patients! – receive a limited edition box of detergents, moth repellents and other accessories carefully curated to suit the season! Tuck away your chunky knits and warmers in the Spring with a spritz of Cedarwood and Vanilla Knitwear mist to protect against over zealous moths until the Autumn. Squirt some crease release over your chinos or favourite linen trousers as part of their Summer Edition collection. Await your Winter box, featuring another scentalicious range of goodies to preserve and protect your favourite looks. Alter and adjust to suit your style!

SPECIAL DISCOUNTS

Clothes Doctor also offers a range of exclusive offers :

⚕️ NHS Discount

📼 Senior Discount

🍎 Teacher Discount

🍼 Maternity Discount

So that those uniforms and ‘off-duty’ outfits can work as hard as you do!

Simply register on their website to secure your well deserved discount, just as the Doctor ordered!

(Of course we’re looking out for The Cultural Worker’s Discount to relieve our paint-splattered, mud covered, dust coated, loose fitting creative dress code! 😀 )

RETURN & REUSE

Clothes Doctor offer a 20% discount for returning their empty aluminium bottles. These can be mailed free of charge. For every 1 – 4 parts returned to the Clothes Doctor’s ‘surgery’ you can receive 15% off your next order, or 20% off for returning five or more empties. There is no limit to the number you can send back in one go, but to help improve efficiency, the Clothes Doctor encourages customers to collect at least five parts before sending back.

Although this information is relatively easy to find on the website, it would be helpful for customers to have these instructions on their order confirmation email, or a little message included with their Clothes Doctor products. Afterall, who doesn’t like to be rewarded for helping to reduce waste and embracing more sustainable practices!

A SOAPY SUCCESS?

So how well do the products I purchased from The Clothes Doctor scrub up?

Overall, the two detergents and Knitwear mist seem to cleanse and freshen effectively. I’ve also noticed a newfound super-smooth texture when retrieving my clothing from the washing machine, as though the fabrics have been magically purified and conditioned! This must be thanks to the essential oils which push back the clock on your style to that ‘nearly new’ phase!

S.O.S. - SAVE OUR SILKS

The Silk and delicates detergent boats a blossoming scent of sandalwood and bergamot. This eco-friendly detergent has a neutral pH to preserve the delicate fibres of silk fabric.

I went for the larger bottle, as I have rather a lot of silk – some from the bazaars in Pushkar – needing some TLC! This larger size has apparently been discontinued due to the plastic cap of the bottle cracking during transit, but the smaller quantities are ideal for travelling, whether in Tulum or Italy, especially if you don’t go anywhere without some goodies from The Silk Collection!

I found that the Silk & Delicates detergent successfully lifted oil and grime from my eye mask and mulberry silk pillowcase. I sometimes do a ‘double soak’ to remove discolouration. It’s an extra bonus to drift off to sleep breathing in the delicate scent of sandalwood and bergamot!

This product also freshened up some silk from my time in India, which was certainly in need of a good cleanse. The Clothes’ Doctor Silk & Delicate Detergent really works to enliven the lustre of silk and prolong its luxe appeal!

Note : Since first trying out this detergent, the formula has been updated and renamed as Liquid Detergent for Knitwear and Delicates though the fabulous scent still stands true!

PENDOUR PRO-TIP

If you are handwashing your silks and delicates, or treating a stain by soaking, you can keep the water (if it’s not too dirty!). Grab a reusable cloth and wipe down your surfaces or even hard floors. Although not designed for cleaning or sanitisation, the scent of this Sandalwood & Bergamot detergent is too good for the drain – you’ll have your home smelling like a bouquet of nature’s most prized for full on olfactory bliss. You’ll also save on artificial fragrances in the forms of scented candles and air fresheners!

KNITWEAR KNIGHT

In the video above you can watch as I spray the Lavender & Thyme Knitwear mist on one of my favourite jumpers, a cashmere high-neck from Sezane!

Beautiful weather prompted me to pack away my winter wardrobe a little earlier than usual – though a longer time in storage of course mans more potential damage from moths!

So is this spray mist a knight in shining armour for your favourite knits?!

Yes, it’s been a hit!

Upon application the mist smells absolutely divine; the lavender and thyme transport you to the Mediterranean. See the fields of luminous blue lavender basking in the sun in your mind’s eye, as the fragrance of earthy thyme offsets the sweetness. The mist lands subtly on the fabric. . . . I must admit, I was a tiny bit concerned about discolouration, but if anything, the mist actually enhanced the mustard yellow shade of the top! The spray is pure and not too diluted by water – the cashmere did not get too damp and instead felt soft and fresh to the touch.

When taking my cashmere out of Summer storage I was both relieved and impressed to see that the lavender and thyme worked really well as a moth repellent! No holes at all, despite living next to quite a large forest where moths are a familiar sight. Spraying the mist regularly in the clothing cupboards has been highly effective.

However, it seems that the spray mechanism was not quite up to the job and I did have to transfer the beautifully scented solution to an alternative spray bottle. Perhaps this detail can be improved?

Not only a knight in scented splendour – armour strong against those pesky moths – the Knitwear Mist is a soak and scrub saviour, helping to reduce the need for regular washing. The essential oils seem to refresh the fabric, conditioning and rejuvenating the cashmere filaments. I think this jumper will last many years now thanks to the Clothes Doctor!

the knitwear mist smells divine:

lavender and thyme transport you to

the Mediterranean –

fields of luminous blue lavender

bask in the sun, a sweetness offset

by the fragrance of earthy thyme.

BEYOND BABY

The Eco Liquid Baby Detergent is specially formulated for sensitive skin. As this product was a free gift from the Clothes Doctor, I gave it to one of my best friends who recently had a baby. Apparently it cleans like a dream!! The cherry scent is nice and sensory, just right to leave all of Baby’s belongings sweetly scented and softened, ready to be put through their paces once again.

This detergent also turns out to be another one for scenting more than just what is says on the bottle! My friend loved the essence so much that she admitted to using it for her own bedding (sorry Baby!), sheets drying on the clothes horse as cherry tones waft throughout her home. The cherry scent is evocative of Springtime in Japan – you can just picture the delicate pink cherry blossoms! A moment and a place, captured in a bottle. This detergent is a perfect touch of luxury for any baby – and beyond!

The cherry scent is evocative

of Springtime in Japan –

just picture the delicate

pink cherry blossoms!

🌸🌸🌸

A moment and place,

captured in a bottle.

JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

In conclusion, we are pleased to support The Clothes Doctor in their commitment to the environment by caring for the clothes we already have! Beautifully scented products in streamlined aluminium bottles not only cleanse but protect your treasured favourites. Although a little more expensive than the usual supermarket detergent brands, which strip fibres and can damage clothing over time, the Clothes Doctor offers far superior products helping to prolong the life of your styled attire, meaning you spend less in the long run.

Generous discounts and a closed loop system show that Clothes Doctor really are opting for progress rather than profits!

And those pesky moths? So far the deterrent mists have been the only products that truly work!

The option to send in your beloved items to be repaired and revitalised is also a refreshing approach to reducing waste.

Overall, we’re so pleased to have discovered Clothes Doctor and if you’ve already purchased from them we’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.

We can’t wait to see how the Clothes Doctor will enable you to Love your Laundry like never before!

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Aligned to the Equinoxes and the Summer and Winter Solstices, PULSE, our exclusive e-journal, is released seasonally.

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PENDOUR PICKS

Pendour Purchase Review – The Silk Collection

PENDOUR LIVING

Linda Bell

The Healing Artworks of the April Sampson Cancer Center

PENDOUR CULTURE

Linda Bell

Pendour Picks for a Traditional Trip to Tulum

WANDERLUST

Linda Bell

Pas de Deux : A Dance of Art & Life – Barbara Hepworth Exhibition at Fondation Maeght

PENDOUR CULTURE

Linda Bell

11 - 01 - 2614 - 01 - 26

Architecture of Silence : Steve Joy

STEVE JOY - PAINTINGS 2025

The Synopsis ‘Architecture of Silence’ by Linda Bell explains some of the inspirations behind Steve Joy’s exhibition of abstract paintings.

Steve’s exhibition was presented by Lynch Eisinger Design Architects (LED) and Amy Barkow and installed in the Architects’ studio on Grand Street, New York City.

The opening event was held on Friday 7th November 2025 to a contemplative and engaged audience. The artist Steve Joy gave a short speech and Linda Bell’s Exhibition Synopsis was available for audience members to read.

A crowd of guests stand around the Architectural Studio of LED Architects to listen to Steve Joy's speech. Bookcases fill the background.

Christian Lynch and Simon Eisinger, the founders of LED Architects welcome guests to Steve Joy's exhibition. Steve's painting 'Architecture of Silence (Gravity) is behind them.

Christian Lynch speaks with guest and fellow architect Ali Sontali at the opening of Steve Joy's exhibition. Steve's painting 'Two Standing Figures (Guardians)' is behind them.

A few photographs from the Opening Reception.

Coming Soon – A Catalogue of photographs of Steve’s paintings will soon be available to purchase in our online Shop, The Pendour Parlour! Linda Bell’s Exhibition Synopsis will accompany the images. Proceeds from every sale go to the artist and writer – our way of giving back and supporting the makers of culture today.

A crowd of guests gather around artist Steve Joy as he makes a short speech during the Opening Event. Bookcases are behind him and drinks and snacks are laid out on the table in front of him.

In the foreground, Steve Joy speaks with several guests, they are all looking at a painting out of shot. Behind them members of the LED team are in conversation. Steve's paintings fill the background, installed upon the walls of the Studio.

A photograph of Steve Joy's monograph 'Uncreated Light' lies on a table. The cover of the book is brilliant red.

A few photographs from the opening event.

EXHIBITION SYNOPSIS : 'aRCHITECTURE OF SILENCE'

Hush –

and hear

the Architecture

of Silence:

a sigh

that echoes

across the Ages.

The timeless light of Byzantium gold finds contemporary awakening in Steve Joy’s structured paintings. His luminous, signature glow draws influence from the materiality of Medieval icon paintings – surfaces cracked, timeworn and weathered by the centuries. Joy’s repertoire of golden radiance is gently diffused by layers of varnish and beeswax veiled over abstract geometries. Yet these new works presented here by LED Architects reach beyond Cimabue’s distorted planes of perspective and the flattened forms of Giotto’s arched buildings.

Exhibition installation view

This exhibition heralds the fresh direction of newfound influence. Joy’s first New York solo exhibition since the early 2000s leads on from steadfast dedication to a practice split between Long Island, Nebraska and Europe. In these recent paintings Joy merges the appeal of ambitious American Abstraction with traces of ancient architecture. Angles, lines and structural forms fuse with poetic references, ideas borrowed from film and the artist’s own travels.

Desert Poem (Maroc)

2022 – 2025 Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

A voice cries out in the desert, revealing the silence of the sand. Joy’s painting ‘Desert Poem (Maroc)’ is sung in harmonies of iridescent, regal red tones. Evoking the loneliness and majesty of the expansive Algerian desert, this work is inspired by the artist’s own journey by camel near the Moroccan border. In another painting, thin transparent layers of blue recall the sea and sky viewed through the ‘whoosh’ of an open window in Nice. Stripes and luminous washes of varnish allude to Matisse’s Mediterranean interiors and the sea-salt scent of the waves.

A Window In Nice

2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

In contrast, the shimmering, silver hues of ‘Queen’s Mirror’ suggest a cooler, almost industrial presence. This work is inspired by an ornate, royal mirror Joy encountered whilst retracing the steps of Lord Byron in Sintra, Portugal. Silver leaf, ink and oil imply the image of a faded reflection. The tarnish of Time. A vacuum of vanity to rival Sylvia Plath’s poem. Memory and materiality become one. Instability reigns.

The Queen’s Mirror

2021 – 2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 122 x 91.5 cm, 48 x 36 Inches

Architecture of Silence (Foundation)

2025, Mixed Media on Canvas, 91.5 x 61 cm, 36 x 24 Inches

Several paintings in this exhibition are formed around a cross-shape structure. Joy’s recurring motif is inspired by the subterranean churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia. Carved deep into the earth during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, these hand-hewn sanctuaries are architectural hymns in stone. Shrouded in mystery, they are believed by some to be the handiwork of King Lalibela built with the help of Angels from on high.

Architecture of Silence (Gravity)

2022 – 25, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

In ‘Architecture of Silence (Gravity)’ a golden form resembling a Doric column appears tethered by delicate lines of ink – like the giant bound to the earth in ‘Gulliver’s Tales’. Influenced by sci-fi films such as ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Gravity’, Joy’s floating form hovers as though a floating structure of light. Weightless yet constrained, variations in the gold leaf suggest movement, as though the imprint of sunlight streaming in through an unseen window.

Joy also draws inspiration from Medieval Cistercian Abbeys dotted throughout France, such as Sénanque. Resplendent in their plain, restrained ornamentation, the minimal aesthetic of these architectural wonders holds profound stillness. Echoes of their floor plans appear in Joy’s compositions, evoking the deep sense of contemplation still present in these buildings. Joy’s palette and choice of materials recall the balance of sunlight and shadow around the cloisters which once guided the monks’ introspective transformation in their oath of silence.

Icon Byzantium Lionheart

2023 – 25, Mixed Media on Canvas, 152.5 x 122 cm, 60 x 48 Inches

While ‘Icon Lionheart’ references Fontevraud Abbey, resting place of Richard the Lionheart, the silent stones of Mayan temples re-emerge in the diptych ‘Architecture of Silence (The Mayan)’. Here, Joy engages with the remains of an ancient civilisation lost to the jungle following his frequent visits to Mexico. This work resonates with the haunting painting ‘Ozymandias’ inspired by Shelley’s poem where a ‘colossal wreck, boundless and bare’ lies on the ‘lone and level sands’ beneath a vast sky in an ‘antique land’.