In Conversation with Ellen
Ellen and her husband have lived in Truro for 18 years. For Ellen, her work as an artist, and where she lives are very much linked. Every new piece starts with a walk through the Cornish landscape and it all goes from there.
“You just have to rely on happy accidents and it’s not unusual for me to turn the whole painting upside down and think, oh, I can see a lot more here.”
Inside Ellen’s studio you’ll find a lively mix of paints, brushes and canvases. The studio itself feels like a piece of art and you get a sense of the artistic process that takes place there. She’s quick to challenge the dreamy image people may have of artists.
It is about finding inspiration and translating that on to canvas, and it may not look like your normal nine-to-five, but artists have to put in the hours and follow a timetable to make sure that the pieces are completed, and ultimately get onto gallery walls. It’s from their position on those walls that many visitors to Cornwall will have the opportunity to take home a piece steeped in Cornish spirit and soul.
“Having people come down for the holidays definitely gives a boost to people like me and to the general economy of course.”
For some the number of visitors in the summer can feel overwhelming, for Ellen she sees it as a positive and describes the summer months as taking on a festival-like atmosphere with the visitors bringing an energy and those positive effects being felt throughout the towns and villages.
Summer too brings customers to the galleries, which in turn means many of Ellen’s pieces find a new home outside of Cornwall. Even though summer is the time when she’s most in demand from the galleries, winter is her most productive time, when she creates the art that will hang on these gallery walls come the summer months.
“It’s not the visitors that are increasing the prices.”
Having lived in Cornwall for nearly two decades Ellen has witnessed the changes with her own eyes over the years, the positives and the negatives. The housing crisis is a familiar topic of conversation and it’s a complicated issue.
“It’s not the visitors that are increasing the prices.”
Having lived in Cornwall for nearly two decades Ellen has witnessed the changes with her own eyes over the years, the positives and the negatives. The housing crisis is a familiar topic of conversation and it’s a complicated issue.
“Over the last 10 years I have noticed changes to the county. It kills the community when the locals can’t live in their locality.”
Ellen believes that the proposed regulations for short-term lets are a reason for many to be hopeful about the future.
“Over the last 10 years I have noticed changes to the county. It kills the community when the locals can’t live in their locality.”
Ellen believes that the proposed regulations for short-term lets are a reason for many to be hopeful about the future.
“There will be a good list of how many people are renting out rooms and houses in one area. How can that be bad?”
“There will be a good list of how many people are renting out rooms and houses in one area. How can that be bad?”
Find out more about Airbnb’s support for the proposed regulation of ‘holiday lets’ here.