I ‘d taken Nicholas Wilton’s free workshop before on the recommendation of a friend, back in 2016 maybe 2017. I’d watched her take his paid course and seen the transformation in her and her work, and always felt that I would love to do it but to be honest, I could never see me paying what felt like a hefty fee.

Then in 2017 I had breast cancer and and my creative pursuits came to a stop.  I’d been selling my work at fairs but felt no desire to get back to it.  2018 felt like a bit of a lost year, I was struggling to find a way back to me.

I went to a talk with the Lincolnshire artist, Sarah Watson at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln.  Sarah does bold expressive landscapes in oilsticks.  I noticed a bit of a creative spark! I bought some oilsticks

I started doing some large landscapes in my studio using my holiday photos - just for me, and the spark began to grow. 

In 2019 I was on holiday in Tenerife, reading an email from the artist Louise Fletcher, she was talking about CVP and I started to think…

“maybe this was what I needed” but “maybe I should keep painting and maybe next year I could take it…”

Very quickly I moved from that mindset to “ why wait a year!”  I felt excited, it felt like the right thing to do.

For the 12 weeks of the course and beyond, CVP filled up my life, with learning and possibility.  It gave me hope and potential of what the future could hold.  I loved the joy of painting and seeing what happened and what marks I could make.  My family got used to hearing Nick’s voice all over the house as I watched the videos.

This was a turning point in my life and has brought on so many other good things.  It was a big commitment pricewise, and if I hadn’t had that life changing experience I might never have said yes to it. Now I feel it was money well spent and very good value.

It took me a while to work with the principles and achieve work that felt like me, read the blog post – A year on from CVP for more on that.

It has sustained me in the five years since, I’ve watched other people take the course and felt that excitement for them, but until now haven’t felt that pull to do it again.  In January when the email came about this year’s course, that spark was ignited again and I felt the pull to dive back in, coming at it from a very different position.  So I signed up! #cvp2024