LOCAL artist, Celia Olsson, will be opening her garden studio and gallery for Devon Open Studios between September 12 and 27 and is looking forward to welcoming visitors to see the paintings she has created during lockdown.

She says it has been a strange time to live through, but it has given her a chance to develop new ideas and experiment with different methods.

Her paintings at this time reflect the strange times we are in, concepts of distance, memories of past travels and voyages that sadly couldn’t be made.

Celia paints in a loose style mainly using watercolour because of the wonderful choice of vibrant colours, but during lockdown she has had plenty of time to "play" and has been experimenting with different methods.

She says half the excitement of painting is arriving in the studio in the morning to discover how, or if, the previous day’s experiments have worked out. Celia will be happy to talk about the experiments, studies and sketches on show.

Both her studio and the gallery in the garden room will be in use so there is safe space for a few people to arrive at the same time and Celia is fully equipped to follow Covid-19 regulations.

Celia is also restarting her popular fortnightly watercolour classes in September, and is available again to run workshops for art groups across the South West.

At all these events she likes to encourage people to have a go without fear of failure and give them confidence to develop their own style.

Celia will open her studio at Bondleigh near North Tawton, every day from 11am to 6pm during Devon Open Studios except on Sundays September 13, 27 and Thursdays, September 17 and 24.

For more details please telephone Celia on 01837 82 796, email: [email protected] or visit the website: www.celiaolssonartist.co.uk .

For further details about Devon Open Studios, visit: www.devonartistnetwork.co.uk .