About Us
Simon studied ‘Fine Art’ at Manchester School of Art before studying for a postgraduate at The Royal Academy Schools in London. Afterwards he lived in Milan where he pursued his interest in the early Renaissance painters such as Sassetta di Siena. He paints in oil but likes the portability of watercolour. He favours the ‘simply’ executed and the thought provoking.Donna studied ‘Illustration’ at Bristol School of Art , specialising in ‘food and travel’. At one time the medium for her illustration was ‘batik’. From there she moved onto painting in ‘plaster of Paris’. Now she creates watercolours, sharp and detailed ‘mandalas’ and graphic ‘grids’ depicting herbs and spices, fish and fruit in kaleidoscopic recipes depicting the culture and cuisine of the places she loves.
Travel for them, both before they met and then together, has taken them from the Antipodes to south-east Asia, but particularly India and Nepal. Many of the themes which run through their work today are a product of their time in India, whether it be high altitude treks from Ladakh to Manali through Zanskar or exploring the fish, fruit and vegetable markets in Kerala and the spices of Cochin.
It was their honeymoon in Spain which first drew them to this landscape. A picnic in the mountains around Grazalema watching the Griffon vultures flying beneath their dangling feet made them gravitate to the primal places of Spain's interior.
Life in London saw Simon use his love of landscape and architectural design, but it was his environmental concerns which began to provoke the need for a change.
When twins Solomon and Sesame arrived seven years ago they precipitated the need for a change too, for an adventure, to explore more deeply solutions for their concern for the environment and to exercise their creative needs more completely.
For a while it was the search for the appropriate property to develop on ecological grounds that preoccupied them. And they were always drawn back to Spain. Eventually they found Cortijada Los Gázquez. Now their dream of a sustainable carbon free home is complete. The twins are bilingual and growing exponentially in the fresh air and, for Donna and Simon, the adventure continues. And they are keen to share it.
