4 days home and straight into the wonderful Watercolour Trio break in Bournemouth. Once again such diversity in our workshops. we tried nearly everything. Phil and his wife Kim even showed us how very talented they were with live music in the bar one evening.

What an awesome chance to travel and work, art and travel combined. 7 back to back cruises, starting in Dubai, traveling through so many inspiring countries, New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Sabang, Bali, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Singapore, finally to Hong Kong. Teaching on the beautiful Azamara Quest. I can honestly say those 3 and a half months flew by. We had amazing people in our classes making many new friends. Look out for the Travelling artist YouTubes of these journeys. I will get around to it soon.

Azamara Quest – Baltic Cruise July 2022

It was an absolute delight teaching on the Azamara Quest again. A wonderful itinerary in the Baltics and lovely people in our art classes. we covered a lot of relevant subjects to out itinerary. Totally blessed with our studio for two weeks overlooking the ocean at the stern. The bonus of of is all the new inspiration I have for future paintings.

https://www.pegasusart.co.uk/blog/tipsandadvice/marilyn-allis/

I was so pleased to win a £50 gift voucher with Pegasus Art, click the link above to see their blog writeup Artist & Illustrator of the month, Acrylic rolling lion.

Metallic Inspiration

You can’t believe how pleased I am to finally have this awesome medium, created especially to mix with existing watercolours or dyes to make super metallic paint. I might be a little biased, but its the best ever.

Well just sorting out the final bits & pieces from our very successful March 2022 Watercolour Trio Painting Break, in Bournemouth. The Marsham Court Hotel was absolutely perfect. beautiful rooms, gorgeous food. sea view studios and such helpful staff. It was great to meet up with old painting friends and new friends. Trevor Osborne was a great hit with his awesome hares, badgers and very loose puffins as was Paul Talbot-Greaves, with his stunning landscapes and beautiful strong greens. I taught Bluebell woods & a Cornish tin mine a little different for me, with lots of masking fluid. I’m still in awe of the great dynamics and it truly was a wonderful break.

Two week at the studio, working over Christmas, preparing for the Spirit of Adventure, in January 2022. A little different way off teaching due to the Covid measures. Lots of fact sheets and some video reference. It also doubled up for using for the new beginners on demand tuition with materials. Then alongside the surgeries on sea days, we explored the beautiful canaries, Portugal & Spain.

Well 3 weeks at home, was very crazy, back on board the Queen Elizabeth. A holiday, We thought we would treat ourselves for our birthdays and anniversary. Yes I met the art tutor onboard, but I had a break from painting for two weeks, I can’t say that I didn’t keep exploring to gather more references to paint.

Well back at sea again, This time on a new ship to me The Spirit of discovery. Teaching twice a day on sea days and a chance to explore, Greece, Turkey & lots of islands. I will say that this chance to explore has given me so much new reference material to paint. I just need some time at the studio. With a purpose built studio on the Discovery, it was an absolute joy to teach on.

After two years we are back. I can honestly say the best ever acrylic holiday at the Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth ever. We all arrived a little cautious of mixing and outside of our safe bubbles. As the week unfolded and we were taken out of our safe places in more than one way, confidence grew and the sparkles & sense of humor were relit. A big thankyou to Stephen Lees & Denise Allen for helping me make this happen and to all our lovely friends who attended. Class of 2021.

Class of 2021

Well you cannot believe how good it was to get back teaching at sea. We should have been on the Queen Elizabeth for 12 weeks but eventually made it 4 weeks later. The classes were awesome and so many new pupils who had never painted before, discovering a new talent. I arrived home with well over 150 demonstration pieces. A very busy cruise.

New is my Yearly subscription with over 100 tutorials available as well as 6 ZOOM active workshops a year. Excellent value.

This year has certainly been a learning curve. Now with a lot more ZOOM demonstrations and workshops, I can teach all over the world from my studio.

I also have been investing time in making kits for tuition, so step by step tuition with all the materials you need to make a piece of artwork.

Well something a little different to purchase murals of some of my paintings click here.

Well life has certainly been busy the last year. A whole new world of technology had to be learnt. As my world changed. All my work was cancelled overnight. So time to rethink. The first thing to do was to set up a membership tuition with lots of pre recorded tuition , Covering so many subjects I really enjoyed being able to play and grow as an artist. Never have I been able to paint so much.  Next came the live ZOOMs , very stressful, I will admit. but so worthwhile once we got the hang of this new way of teaching.  I personally think that these will continue along side attending an art group, as the quality and ease for members to view is so much better. Plus no travelling expenses, so demonstrations and workshops can be run world wide for no extra costs. 

I’ve just come across this article in Ouste  paper in Brittany, Lovely memories of manning this yearly expo with my daughter. probably 4-5 years ago now.

Jusqu’au 11 août, Marilyn Allis expose à la Maison des artisans, ses aquarelles et ses tableaux réalisés à la peinture acrylique. Née en Angleterre, le peintre travaille la technique et l’enseigne notamment au cours de croisières pédagogiques.

Elle a consigné ses recherches en trois livres : People aren’t Scary, Animals on the loose et Painting Dorset. Elle publie de nombreux articles dans la revue Paint. À Saint-Cast, elle présente des aquarelles bleues, représentant la région. Ses nombreux voyages l’ont également inspirée pour des toiles plus colorées dans lesquelles elle laisse s’exprimer son style impressionniste et contemporain.

Jusqu’au 11 août, exposition : Maison des artisans de 11 h à 19 h jusqu’au 11 août – contact : www.marilynallis.com

We are now up and running with our outside workshops. spent a beautiful day yesterday painting loose watercolour outside the studio safely social distancing. Its an amazing space.

Well Swing is investigating what we are up too. Things are well under way and the studio will be transformed very shortly. Much safer for workshops and a lovely area to sit for lunch and coffees, enjoying the magnificent view,. Cant wait to start classes here again.

Things came to a stand still last week, as my amazing husband was rushed into hospital. After a week he has escaped and itching to get started again. Although I think rest is on the cards for a little while.

We can begin to think of rescheduling workshops at my beautiful studio. I will be keeping numbers small. we are also having some exciting improvements made to make social distancing easier.

I can’t believe where the last 8 weeks have gone. I have been working flat out from my studio, creating all sorts of tuition, supported by the Patreon platform

broken into tiers. BASIC, MASTERCLASS & VIP. I have so enjoyed painting continuously and experimenting as I have been filming. All my normal work as with so many self employed people stopped overnight. All demonstrations, workshops, shows and exhibitions cancelled overnight. What an opportunity to rethink my business and learn new skills, technology I must admit was a steep learning curve. I can honesty say I have loved the past two months.

Well at last the Online tuition is set up. what a huge set of learning curves to face in one hit.  Its working and now easy online teaching is available. with step by step instruction in real time. You can watch at your leisure.

• I am going to be using my time positively as booking are being postponed and am bringing forward my online teaching. Each Tuesday will see a NEW YouTube teaching video launched and all I ask is that you subscribe to my YouTube channel. I am also launching a NEW subscription online school. Details will be up and running by the end of this week.
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• I cant believe what has been happening since my return from Morocco a few weeks ago. I’m very fortunate to have gained so much new reference material, will certainly keep me fresh for a long time. Very lucky to  have got home before all this craziness kicked in.
• What an experience, 6 weeks teaching on the amazing Azamara Pursuit. We got on in Lisbon travelled through the Canaries to finally spend 4 weeks travelling around Brazil and Uruguay. So much new colourful reference material to brighten forcoming demonstrations and worskhops.
• Back at the Marsham Court hotel with a watercolour weekend break. so busy art the moment. love it.
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• Well my first Acrylic Trio 2019 completed at Bournemouths Marsham Court Hotel. Ran smoothly with Tony Hogan and Michael Parker. Discovering 3 tecniques in acrylic painting. This colourful rooster was my demonstration piece on the arrival day.
• The class tackled an elephant and a cow on my teaching days. Pallette knife painting was a first for me and I enjoyed having ago a real treat for me to take part in a class.
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• Well life takes some twists, didn’t expect to be on the high seas so soon, but back to the Baltics on the Queen Elizabeth. 6 days to get ready, after an exhausting few months with the final stages of refurbishing my studio the break was very welcome. Such amazing classes with such lovely people yet again.
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• What an amazing time at the 15th Stock Gaylard Oak fair Yesterday. Meeting up with so many old friends and a chance to paint. The weather was really kind to us this year so we even packed up in the dry. I managed to finish this painting of my grandparents weddinf at Holt, Wimborne, back in 1910ish. Its painted in Dorset Blue paint very relevent to their and mine Dorset roots. The paint was drying too quickly so will revisit this in the studio, think it will be well worth it.

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  Back to my roots, I’ve spent 5 days talking about my workshops and holidays at the purbeck school, again another very personal time, one of my grandmothers living about 5 minutes walk from the school at the top of Worgret hill in a big tide farmers cottage. Happy days of playing on a mound of what we thought was a burial mound from the plague in Wareham, no one was ever sure. My other Grandmother Mrs Wellstead ran the Post Office at Holme Bridge, when she died at 82 her daughter Joan carried on running the little Post Office, theres nothing like going back to your roots.

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• Such a diverse life, after an amazing day at the Abbotsbury street fair, bringing back many memories of being taken there with my father as a child. from conversations I think I must have been at the very first fair. so a lovely feeling to be part of it now.
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• Well back to reality. After two weeks teaching in the baltics on the Saga Sapphire. I had some very large classes, who were so keen to learn. Its always such a priviledge to encourage passengers who have never painted before to take up painting. plus those lovely artists who are more experienced. A brilliant inspiring time.
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• Honfleur is so inspiring, after an amazing weekend laden with wine and coffee, and so much reference material. I feel a Honfleur theme approaching. It was a chance to soak up the smells and French atmosphere. Spent a wonderful evening in a small bar overlooking the harbour. Even the rain was atmospheric. The sun did come out and even more photos had to be taken.
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• Preperation for demostrations is well underway. I’m alway introducing new material to keep it interesting for the art groups and for me. Quite excited.
• Singapore to Japan, travels across Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong are still fresh in my mind, these are going to be an influence for quite a while on my preparation for demonstrations and workshops. Yet again amazing people attended my classes on the Azamara Quest.
  

  

   

  Well the last few months have seen a major change in my studio, it was time to have my own toilet, kitchen, comfortable seating area and a warmer workplace . Already in an amazing peaceful farm setting, it was just the little extras that were needed. My brilliant husband set to work to achieve this. Walls were knocked down, a kitchen installed with dare I say it running water. No more filling up bottles from a frozen outside tap. The best addition is the beautiful toilet. There  is still work to be done. the most important part is running workshops in all mediums from this transformed workplace.

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