The Royal Academician Opens Up About Her Creative Life and Her Studio, Which Is Opposite Her Husband Bernard Dunstan’s, in Their Kew Home.
Both you and your husband are painters – do you share one studio?
No. One day, in 1958, when I returned from taking our youngest son Bob to nursery school, I found a table arranged for me in Bernard’s studio room. Alas, there appeared only luck for one of us at a time. So Bernard erected a hut in the garden, just outside his room, but in touch through the window for signalling coffee breaks. Later, when all three boys had grown up, I took over their playroom, south facing, which suits me, even if the sunlight sometimes strikes the easel.
Your husband was elected to the RA in 1959 and you became a Royal Academician in 1989. Was there any competition?
No, I think it has worked because we made some separations early on, so our work would not overlap. Bernard rather handed over the landscapes and still lifes to me. I perhaps would have loved to do music pictures, but Bernard was much more experienced and freer to go to rehearsals.
Do you sometimes criticise each others’ work?
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Denne historien er fra April 2017-utgaven av Artists & Illustrators.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Still life IN 3 HOURS
Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn
Movement in composition
Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement
Shane Berkery
The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio
The Working Artist
Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work
Washes AND GLAZES
Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING
Hands
LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands
Vincent van Gogh
To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display
BRING THE drama
Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene
Serena Rowe
The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall
Bill Jacklin
Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration
