January Newsletter
News, Exhibitions and Events...
❄️🎨 A Fresh Start (Without Starting Over)
There’s something quietly hopeful about the hinge between years. Not the loud resolutions or the pressure to reinvent ourselves, but the softer invitation to return, more intentionally, to what already sustains us. On Christmas morning, when that brief spattering of snow dusted the fields and rooftops here in Brittany, it felt like a small benediction: a reminder that even the lightest shift in weather can make the familiar look newly possible.
So as we step into January, consider thinking less about “new habits” and more about refreshing the ones that have carried you this far. Picking up the watercolour brush (or other creative weapon of choice) with a little more curiosity. Letting pigments pool and wander again. Re‑learning the pleasure of slowing down enough to notice the way winter light falls across a mug, a hedgerow, a sleeping animal. Creativity doesn’t always ask for reinvention—sometimes it simply asks for our return.
As the painter Agnes Martin once wrote, “The adventure of our time is to find the thread of our true work.” January feels like a good place to pick up that thread again.
❄️December in Review - what we’ve been creating.
❄️January Project.
❄️Class News.
❄️Upcoming Expos & Creative Gatherings.
❄️Opportunities
❄️🎨 December in Review.
December’s classes felt like a gentle exhale at the end of a busy year—a chance to lean into quiet subjects that reward patience and close looking. In class, we painted a snowy lane, exploring how the palest washes can still hold weight and atmosphere, and how a simple shadow can elevate a whole landscape. Another subject was a misty winter landscape with a frozen lake, where students learned to let diluted washes do the storytelling. The stillness of that scene, all breath and chilly air, contrasted beautifully with our final project: creating a small tempera icon piece. Though still water‑based, the shift in technique slowed everyone down in a different way, encouraging patience, layering, and more contemplative mark making. Together, the three subjects formed a gentle arc through the season: from the outer world of winter to the inner world of coffee and craft.
❄️🎨 January Project: Joan of Arc
This month’s theme is Joan of Arc.
Your task is to create an original piece of work inspired by our iconic French heroine. Your interpretation can be as loose or as literal as you wish — the theme is simply a starting point. As always, you’re welcome to let your ideas wander and evolve as the project unfolds.
Most of us know the broad strokes of Joan’s story, but there is plenty of room for deeper research if that appeals to you. Art history offers a rich seam to explore: countless artists have depicted her over the centuries, and it’s fascinating to see how her image shifts to reflect the values and aesthetics of each era.
You might choose to explore:
a historical depiction
a modern-day “Joan of Arc”
a contemporary female icon placed within a classic artwork
heroines throughout history
political or religious repression
conflict in Europe
or any unexpected direction that emerges from your development work
Use any water-based media — including pen, for those who prefer the written word — but do consider how your chosen materials support the meaning or mood of your final piece. And as always, make good use of your sketchbooks for recording, experimenting, and developing your ideas.
❄️🎨 Spring Term 2026.
Regular weekly classes will resume week beginning January 19th with day workshops commencing a little later in the year. Spaces are limited so make sure you are booked in.
Contact for availability artinbrittany@gmail.com or text 0674790904
Landscape Artist of the Year.
This popular art competition showcasing talented artists from across the UK and Ireland returns to our screens on January 14th. There is a new judge for this series, Eva Langret who joins judges Tai-Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano alongside presenter Stephen Mangan. Something to look forward to in the long January evenings.
❄️🎨 Upcoming Expos & Creative Gatherings
ST-ART Rennes. Contemporary Art Fair. Couvent des Jacobins
20 place Sainte-Anne
35000 Rennes (24 janvier 2026 - 26 janvier 2026)From Heart to Work – Dobrée Museum, Nantes (until 1 March 2026)
The Youth of Fine Arts, Rennes and its Artists, 1794–1881 – Musée des Beaux Arts, Rennes (Nov 28 – Mar 29, 2026)
Sous la Pluie – Nantes Museum of Fine Arts (Nov 7 – Mar 1, 2026)
Do let me know if you attend any of these — I’d love to hear your impressions.
❄️🎨 Opportunities
There is still plenty of time to enter your work.
Jackson’s Art Prize 2026 – £6,000 + £2,000 in materials. Deadline: Feb 11.
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Open Exhibition 2026 Mall Galleries, London. Deadline: Feb 3.
❄️🎨 Stepping Into the New Year With Open Hands
As the last of the holiday crumbs are swept away and the days begin their almost‑imperceptible stretch, I hope you find a moment to refresh whatever creative rituals nourish you—whether that’s a sketchbook page, a walk with cold air on your cheeks, or a few stolen minutes mixing colours at the kitchen table.
Fresh starts don’t have to be grand. They can be as small as that Christmas‑morning snow: brief, delicate, and enough to shift the whole landscape of a day.
Here’s to a year of gentle beginnings, renewed habits, and the quiet delight of creating.
A+
Elizabeth
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Lovely intro, Liz. This cold, sunny weather is certainly a change from the rain earlier in the month. Everything looked different with the snow but I’ve also enjoyed the blue skies and the starry nights. Some spectacular sunrises and sunsets too.