`It's so special being alone in a wild, isolated place ARTIST HANNAH WOODMAN

Creativity runs in the family for Cornwall-based fine artist Hannah Woodman.

’I grew up around an appreciation of both traditional crafts and fine art,’ she says. ’My mother studied set design, and although my father had an engineering background, he loved art, too, and was always collecting unusual pieces. I think when you’re surrounded by creativity from a young age, it sort of seeps into you.’

Growing up near Dartington in Devon, Hannah cannot recall a time when she wasn’t trying to capture what she observed around her on paper. But while she received huge encouragement from her family, her traditional schooling didn’t support such artistic ambitions. ‘There was the age-old concern that trying to earn a living as an artist wouldn’t be sustainable,’ she says. She therefore took a degree in History of Art, then went on to study at the renowned Courtauld Institute of Art, before becoming a teacher, then a lecturer in schools, museums and galleries. Family life took over in her twenties (her three daughters, Ellie, Rosa and Lara, are now 24, 22 and 19), but her compulsion to paint remained constant, even in the midst of busy family life. ‘It was my way of keeping a connection with art, and I couldn’t have been without it.’

At the time the family was living in London, but in 2003, Hannah and her former husband made the big decision to move to Truro in Cornwall. Some years previously, they’d purchased a very remote cottage at Gwithian on the west coast and this eventually became Hannah’s studio. ‘Whenever I could, I would drive out there to work. I loved the solitude and felt able to immerse myself in the extraordinary natural surroundings.’