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From Old School to the New School…
or how did my retirement hobby turn into a full-time business, a question I ask myself every day! As a child I was obsessed with drawing and spent many a ‘cold’ school holiday (I grew up in North Yorkshire) with pencil and paper sketching my favourite subject; horses! So why horses? Well I used to go to a local farm every Saturday morning for a riding lesson, that is until the farm dog ran into the hind legs of my horse. Suffice to say it ended badly for me and I decided it was safer to draw horses rather than ride them (plus my younger sister was not impressed when my horse stood on her foot)! Time passed and my drawing progressed to painting; firstly with poster paints (gouache), then oils. My father taught me basic colour mixing using the three primaries and my art teachers encouraged me to take my natural talent to new and exciting levels! I even started to think that there could be a future for me as a commercial artist, but it turned out to be no more than a pipe dream! In 1966 I moved to London to take up a career as a hairdresser, followed by 33 years in the electronics industry, until everything changed when in 2006 at the age of 57 I was invited to join my aunt on a painting holiday in Cober Hill, near Scarborough. After a gap of 42 years I rediscovered my passion for art! I was hooked and have never looked back since! So where am I now? You couldn’t make it up! Two years ago an opportunity to rent a studio presented itself, but my husband who was dead against it at first, made it quite clear that it had to be self-financing! Having previously worked as a vocational skills trainer I decided I could cover the running costs if I tutored an occasional workshop. Although a selftaught artist, I had come a long way in those few years and now specialised in pastels and mixed media. One thing led to another and I was soon approached by a number of talented local artists, all interested in tutoring
workshops for me! It seemed that I’d unwittingly tapped into a gap that I didn’t know existed! There was no business plan, no research, in fact it should have never taken off, but it did! What I’d discovered was a quirky old Victorian school near Cambridge, which people loved to spend their leisure time in painting and socialising with like-minded people. So where am I now? I’ve lived in Melbourn for 25 years and love it; have a tribe of grandchildren, including a great granddaughter, and I’m now a Professional Associate member of the Society for All Artists (SAA). In 2013 following in the long family tradition I was sworn in as a member of the Gild (this is the correct spelling) of Freeman of the City of York, something that I’m very proud to be part of. And this year I’ve signed up for another three-year lease on the studio, and produced my first glossy brochure (helped by my talented artist friend, Stacey Leigh Ross). It contains 32 pages of exciting workshops and events and I’m thrilled to bits with it! But none of this would be possible without my fantastic, long suffering husband Dave. At nearly 73 he’s amazing! Not only does he chop all the wood to keep the log burner in the studio ticking over, but he’s the acting site services manager, taking care of the cleaning, decorating, picture hanging etc, etc. And what of Cober Hill? Well I still return every May to spend 5 days with a lovely group of fellow Yorkshire folk trying out all sorts of wonderful artistic experiments; the only difference being that I’m now the tutor and have been for the past 5 years! For more information about the Old School Studio and what’s on offer visit www.theoldschoolstudio.co.uk Valerie Jean Pettifer: Proprietor of the Old School Studio, Whittlesford, Cambridge. melbournmagazine
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