All I know is that its taking 2 and and sometimes 3 days to make 1 half hour programme. So these things are packed full of information. The other thing of course is that they are not just in the north east as the last series were. These are going to be filmed all over the country and the next 2 we are making are down in Kent.

The series is going to take the whole of the summer to film as you will be checking out the diary. This is because the production company have to take me whenever they can get me because I'm not in the habit of cancelling other things such as art societies for filming. Hopefully its going to be a long hot summer.

Link to Northern Echo Article

View The photos

This year has been another manic one in the Evans household or so I have been told by Brett, because to be honest I haven't been here that much. Its been another year of tearing around the country, in fact Europe, clocking up another 60,000 miles. I have visited some lovely art societies and met loads of new friends.

Brett and I have been to France 3 times this year. I have been to Ireland 3 times as well. I love going to Kilkea Lodge which is about an hour south of Dublin. Because it is a typical old Irish farm. Horses, rambling countryside, big old farm house, good food, good painting and lovely people. I have made some real strong friends over the last few years there.

Incidentally, speaking of Ireland, this is not just for the Irish you know, if anyone wants to go on any of the 2009 forecasted Irish trips, up to 3 people can come over with me on the Ferry in my car.

Amongst all this tearing about I am also really heartened by the amount of paintings I have sold this year. Even after all these years it still gives me a warm gushy feeling when someone is to part with their hard earned for something I have loved doing. Even after what seems like 100 years of painting, every painting is still a thrill.  Incidentally check out the premier gallery and have a look at the new stuff that I am doing these days.

Its now time for a few days rest in front of a roaring log fire and no doubt a very old James Bond film on Christmas day. But the day after boxing day, I bet I cant wait to start painting again.

2009 promises to  be yet another packed year event in the diary  there are lots of highlights that I am already looking forward to like for instance the Grand Adventure which Brett and I are really excited about which incidentally due to a cancellation we have 1 space. I cant wait to get back to Lavenham (which has 3 or 4 spaces available). As you can see by the write-up we did about Lavenham its one that I never want to end.

So now I'm off to paint.  I hope to see many of you next year on a painting holiday, on a workshop or at your art society.

Keep an eye out for new projects because I'm about to do 2 now.

Have a wonderful time over the festive season, best wishes

Charlie.

Occasionally this can be a very hard job for both Brett and I, like for instance Friday night and Saturday we had to have dinner in a sumptuous hotel and then go to the next fabulous hotel for lunch the next day, all in the name of holiday research.

As you will see from our itinerary for next year we have introduced quite a few new locations and destinations for our painting holidays, we have always gone to fabulous places and I don't like rubbish hotels, therefore the hotels have always been good also. But when I'm going back to them year after year even I can get bored with painting the same areas. To this end we found the stunning Swan in Lavenham, a beautiful area. This year we started with our new French destination. And so now after many many years I am going back to the lake district but with new destinations and new hotels.

The Inn on the Lakes, Ullswater is absolutely beautiful with a really old fashioned graciousness to it. With its owns ground rolling down to the lakeside of Ullswater, yummy food and top service, it was really hard  to fault the place. The village of Glenridding itself also eminently paintable .

Langdale Chase, Windermere. This place, quite simply, blew me away. The most gob smacking views imaginable of Lake Windermere. Again the hotel grounds roll down to the shoreline with beautifully kept gardens and little places to explore. All very secluded and private, it was hard to believe you had just driven off the busy A591 and there it was nestling in its own woodland in total peace and quiet. The rooms were a pleasure to be hold and even though we weren't staying there that night after lunch I felt totally chilled out. I must say I'm really looking forward to next year and doing this one.

If were are not careful we are going to be building up a reputation  for ourselves as only luxurious painting holidays because we have a real portfolio of goodies under our belt these days.  To see the photographs taken on the day click this link

As in all of our holidays if you live in the vicinity or can travel to the hotel on a daily basis then join the painting holiday as a day pupil and come as many days as you like throughout the holiday. We will arrange the hotel packed lunch for you accordingly, total cost including lunch and refreshments is £60 per day.

To view the photos click here

You will see some of the truly outstanding locations once you click onto the photographs. We even decided to make one of them into a project, you will see it as a new project on the projects page. The night before we went to the big house to paint it, we had a bit of a reccie. We turned into a tiny little country lane and there, in front of us, were the gates to a beautiful Queen Anne house. I said to Lucy Deeming, one of he painters, "I cant really go and knock on that door and ask if I can paint it", quite rightly, Lucy said, "they can only say no". The couple who lived here turned out to be charm itself  and were totally obliging and gave us run of the place. Purely coincidentally, this turned out to be the house of Lady Jane from the TV series "Lovejoy". Have a look at all the other beautiful places that we visited. Cant wait till next year for this one.

click this link to view the photos.

Last night we had our annual Christmas Paint-a-long, and yet again it was a lively crowd of painters full of Christmas spirit. Earlier in the day it was the usual slightly disorganised chaos for the setting up of the village, mulled wine, broth of various descriptions bubbling and smelling out the kitchen in the Evans household, people running in and out or in Brett`s case, mincing in and out, (I DON'T MINCE!) Carol and Kirsty  as usual being the bosses of it all.  Who am I to disagree with them, I just live here.

Quite a few people came quite along way, one couple came from Chester, not exactly local but as you will see from all the images a good time was had by all. It has to be said, there were some pretty damn fine paintings turned out on the night. I am not sure how much was of this was to do with artistic talent or the amount of mulled wine that was consumed. The interval about half way through the painting turned into a lovely social affair which is of course was always the intention.  It was a lovely way to round off the year as this was the last of 2007`s courses from home. 
23/12/2007

View the photos!

As normal everyone complained about the amount of buns and various other foods but Margaret insisted they ate them all or they wouldn't be able to leave.  The paintings produced over the 2 days were truly stunning I was proud of them all. 2 wonderful days were had be everyone including me. Hopefully the weather is as good next time.   

The last France holiday of the year was a resounding success. In fact it was said many an occasion throughout the holiday that this one was the best abroad holiday ever!  Brett and I went in both of our cars, split up as soon as we left home and went our separate ways picking up people along the way (3 people each) and eventually met up at Dover and sailed club class to Calais. During the trip of about 2 hours we were waited on hand and foot. Free champagne flowed and some gorgeous young ladies even offered all guests 15 minute massages. The thought did cross my mind but I declined.

When we eventually landed in France, we has a really easy trip down to the Chateau at Quesmy.  In time for a wonderful dinner in fabulous surroundings and lovely company. And guess what, the wine flowed like water.  This holiday was bound to be a good one. The next day it has to be said the weather was disappointing it rained for most of the day but we did manage to go outside in the grounds of the Chateau and with stunning subjects easily on hand we painted in doors all day in our luxurious inclement weather room.

The next morning started off misty but was dry and cleared by lunch time and we had a lovely day painting the hillside which was enjoyed by all even Marcel the French artist teddy bear. It has to be said, he has been to a lot of locations up and down the country in his short life.

On the Wednesday we went into Paris. And after a very eventful trip getting there, in other words Brett and I got spilt up in the traffic (I've got European GPS, he hasn't, must get him one for next year) we had a fabulous day in Paris sitting around lunching in Cafes drinking superb coffee ohhh and of course doing some watercolour pencil drawings as well.  Everyone got on really well with the pencils. Although it has to be said I thought they might lynch me when I stopped in the middle of Champs-Elysees and said we'll do one from here. I think everyone was fairly petrified at that prospect but after 5 minutes of starting, they soon forgot about the people watching them.

The rest of the week carried on much the same really.  Every evening at dinner in the Chateau it was a bit of a party atmosphere. Jean and Claudine were impeccable hosts nothing was too much trouble and everyone was made to feel completely at home. Normally this place is not one that does evening meals, and so they were cooking especially for our party every day. So consequently we had true French cuisine. Brett proposed to Claudine on several occasions because as anyone who knows Brett will know his belly is the most important thing in the universe.  We have 2 of these weeks forecast for next year both of which are already full. We are being urged to put on a third week because there is a waiting list for that one. Because of the fabulous time we all had I must say it seems likely that we will be having a third week.

Click here to view some photos.

Apart from two short sessions in Lavenham village hall which we had booked for the whole week in case we had inclement weather, we spent the entire week painting outdoors. And we painted in the village at Lavenham itself, at a farm house in a little country lane out of Lavenham, Long Melford, Chelsworth and also to Flatford Mill. We even had a couple of hours shopping whilst it was raining a bit in the lovely little village of Claire

All in all a fabulous holiday so much so that if you look on the gallery section I have even carried on painting it after I got home. I am so looking forward to the next one which is in July 2008.

Anyone thinking of booking this for next year should seriously think about it because this is a place to paint before you die (in a lot of years from now).

The very kind Barbara Small has donated her photos of the Lavenham holiday to us here at Charles Evans Art.

You can view the photos here.

For more information on the Lavenham holiday or to book for next year please visit the Lavenham page.