Contemporary artists of the Cotswolds

Living in such a picturesque part of the countryside means that the work of many Cotswold-based artists flourished rather than floundered due to the pandemic

- Jane Wheatley

Bringing the garden inside: textile artist Caroline Nixon grows her own designs

THE Cotswolds is a honeypot for artists: there they all are, tucked into its dips and folds, working away in their barns, sheds and garden studios. From Judith Yarrow (www.judithyarrow.com), painting what she sees on walks around her Chipping Norton home and making enchanting sketchbooks for her grandchildren of things we like doing', to Pip Shuckburgh (http://pipshuckburgh.co.uk) and her very English scenes—choirboys outside a honey-coloured church, Edwardian figures en fête on the lawn of a country pile, like Lowry meets Tottering-by-Gentlythere is much creativity here.

Fifteen months of lockdown were undoubtedly hard for artists, with galleries closed and exhibitions postponed. However, it also delivered some unexpected opportunities. Charlbury-based Elaine Kazimierczuk (www.elainekazimierczuk.com) had planned to spend last summer visiting wildflower meadows. Instead, she posted an invitation via the hashtag #paintmymeadow on social media and her inbox was soon filled with a host of images from around the country, resulting in joyfully vivid paintings.

Eleanor Campbell (www.eleanorcampbell.art) used those sequestered weeks to wander the fields around her Kingham home with a knapsack containing Posca pens, watercolour pencils, paper and a little stool. 'Lockdown was my saving,' she recalls.

Instead of going shopping for new materials, Broadway artist Jeremy Houghton painted new work over old canvases, whereas glassmaker Nigel Calvert, unable to visit his foundry, sat on the banks of the River Severn producing a series of large paintings 'in multiple shades of blue'.

The botanical textile artist