I arrived at the Mawddach Residency with a very specific project in mind. I had a solid plan of how I would execute it, what it would look like, how I might present it in a gallery space, and pages of notes and research I had
made in made in advance, so as not to waste a single moment of my time there. Within a few days, this plan was swiftly abandoned.
After graduating in 2021, I entered full time employment and faced the reality of maintaining an art practice within spare evenings and weekends, without a studio. As a result, my approach to art making became very regimented, and the work became smaller, more meticulously planned, repetitive, and ultimately constrained. I would not start a painting without first making a detailed digital mockup, as I feared ‘wasting’ time and materials on making something that had potential to fail.
I had not realised how detrimental this had been to my practice until I was faced with the vast and beautiful emptiness of the studio, and the two whole weeks that stretched before me. The sudden realisation of this unique opportunity for creative freedom in such surroundings that I would never normally have access to, convinced me that my time could be better spent experimenting with my practice, following my intuition, and playing, rather than just working. I knew that my proposed project was something I could execute relatively easily, and I could have left with a number of polished paintings that followed my usual doctrine, but probably wouldn’t help me progress, nor make the most of this unique opportunity.

In the days that followed, I explored not only Fairborne (as I originally had planned), but also Borth, Aberystwyth, and the surrounding hills, rivers and waterfalls, photographing and documenting anything and everything that took my interest. I explored Jake and Scarlett’s extensive library, and pulled out books on local folklore, medieval Welsh art, Paula Rego, and Hockney’s drawings. I started working on several paintings at once, tested out new colour palettes, tried abstract painting, and let them all sit unfinished, to breathe, and chat to each other. I painted the sunset over the estuary, the snow on the mountains, and the white ponies of the bog. I developed an unexpected interest in illumined manuscripts and used them to adorn drawings of abandoned churches and pond dwelling sorceresses. I hunted, optimistically, for sightings of beavers and otters, and though unsuccessful, was rewarded with my first oyster catcher and great spotted woodpecker.
A particular highlight was a visit to Barmouth to hear the ‘Welsh Whisperers’ storytellers perform national folktales, which captured my imagination intensely and informed much of the work I made thereafter, particularly within my printmaking. The evening was bookended by the long walk over the estuary bridge in the pitch black, occasionally illuminated by the moon or a passing train. The sound of the waves so close and the darkness underfoot gave the impression of walking on water, as if traversing our own strange ‘thin place’ from the mythical world, back into our own.

As exciting and liberating as it was to have some creative freedom back for the first time since university, it was also challenging. Not all my experiments were successful, and I found it diƯicult not be overly self critical when I wasn’t 100% happy with my work. Reflecting on this, I believe this was an important part of the process toward creating a healthier approach to my practice, and trusting that pushing myself out of my comfort zone will help me to learn and progress far more than remaining within it.
I could never have expected how profoundly my time at the Mawddach Residency would alter my perspective on my practice. It has truly re-ignited that sense of play and joy in art-making that had perhaps been lying dormant for some time, and has given me some treasured memories with good friends that I will be forever grateful for.

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I had the honour of looking after Toby throughout November while also experiencing a month long residency to dedicate my time to painting, drawing and lithography. Just over a year and a half ago, I moved from West Wales back to London, and returning to the Mawddach estuary felt like I’d never left this part of Wales! My favourite thing about the Mawddach Residency is the place’s immediacy to nature. I find such joy in being fully immersed in the views just by sitting at one of the many beautiful windows in the house. It allows for that magical spontaneity of deciding to catch that last 20 minutes of a sunset, running out the front door, laying my canvas and paints out on the estuary wall, and rushing to get down every colour I can spot.
I approached painting with more playfulness and joy towards image-making than I had previously in my London studio. I had lost some ‘silliness’ which I was determined to find again; I have a deep connection to the Welsh landscape and find joy in learning more about the areas I’m in and the Welsh language.
Prior and during my residency I had been looking at Matisse's paper cut-out collages, Mamma Anderson's landscape paintings, and reading Feral by George Monbiot and The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes. Before dinner I would go on a walk with Toby, wondering the hills up behind the house in awe of the view and the fact that I’m sharing this moment with a cat! I’ve returned to Walthamstow with a lot of little paintings on the go, all snapshots of the colours, patterns and excitement I found within the landscape.

In September, Scarlett showed me the process of Stone Lithography and during my residency I was able to practice again on my own. With drawing and painting being my primary way of image making, I’m used to seeing the work as it is in the moment; knowing when to stop, and being able to intuitively edit parts of the image staring back at me. Working on the stone encouraged me to be methodical, pausing during the process, writing about it, reflecting on mistakes and preparing for upcoming steps in the process. The walk across the bridge to St Johns Hall Gallery (where Scarlett's print studio is) in the morning was beautiful and gave me time to think about how I’d use my day in the print studio. The stone I worked on used drawings from my current and previous visits to the Mawddach Residency. Although I still had my issues with the dreaded scum, It was so rewarding in my last week to peel back the tympan and see a clear print staring back at me!

I’m really grateful to have shared the month with some of my incredible friends I met studying painting at Aberystwyth School of Art such as Eva, Zoe, Toby (human) and Octavia, and to have also spent more time with Emma, the other resident during November. I have fond memories of walking over Barmouth Bridge at torchlight to listen to folk tales by the Welsh Whisperers at the Dragon Theatre, sitting for Draw Brighton and numerous bird-spotting walks up the Mawddach trail.
Thank you, Scarlett and Jake, for this opportunity, I feel so fortunate to have spent a month at the residency and to leave so full of new ideas!

Millicent Evans
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There is a certain kind of magic that seems to happen when you commit yourself to an intensive, sustained period of work in an environment you find inspiring, in supportive creative company. It's like the distillation of a perfect creative life - for the time period you are there, you get to focus on your work, explore ideas with people who get it, and be inspired and encouraged. Having that support is really grounding, and makes an activity which might otherwise seem a bit random (going to paint in a remote spot for two weeks), seem totally achievable and welcoming. My time at the Mawddach Estuary was my second experience of being on residency; my first was in West Wales, in Ferwig in 2022 at CreateSpace Wales, so I knew a little of what to expect – mainly that residencies can be strange and wondrous things!
 
As I remembered from before, for me, there is a period of disorientation upon arrival and for several days afterwards on a residency. I am a landscape painter, working outside on location, and had chosen this residency for its access to geography which I knew I would find inspiration in. It didn't disappoint - the landscape was so awe inspiring and varied, and unfamiliar to me so at first I couldn’t ‘get my eye in’ – I hadn’t fully worked out what I was interested in, and how I wanted to paint it. The first few days I was thus a little scattergun in my approach, painting subjects fairly randomly and not being entirely sure what to settle on. I made several paintings that I really hated, and had to scrape them off as I didn’t want to waste the paint. (I work thickly, in oil paints, with a palette knife). Near the end of my first week I travelled up to Angelsey, which although much more in my comfort zone in terms of subject matter (wild and coastal), was too far away to travel to regularly. Luckily I discovered interesting places closer to home in the second week and felt far more like I’d found my feet; I painted at Lake Gwynant, about an hour away, and a favourite haunt of Kyffin Williams, one of my favourite painters. In the last few days I made two larger scale diptychs at Cregennan Lakes, a twenty minutes drive from the residency. This was the time I felt I was most ‘in my flow’ with my work, and time seemed to just disappear as I stood and painted all day long. There was so much to visually translate there that I would have struggled on just one canvas; working on two paintings next to each other allowed me to expand into the longer view comfortably and more adequately capture the sweeping, mountainous vista in the expansive, gestural way that I wanted to. 

Adding to the sense of artistic community and comradery, I particularly enjoyed posing for a portrait session with Jake's drawing school, Draw Brighton, and also an impromptu private view night with the neighbours and their guests, where I got to share the work and the experience, which was a lovely way to finish the residency. I experienced a period of mourning after leaving the Mawddach - of missing the landscape that I’d just ‘settled into’, visually, for all the potential paintings that I could’ve made if I’d stayed, as well as the company and support of my hosts. For me, painting daily, without interruption or spending much time on the usual admin that comes with being an artist provides a kind of ‘jumpstart’ in my practice, and I'm hugely grateful that such places exist for artists to delve deeper into their work. I’m already thinking about where I could go next, and the paintings I could make there…
 
Works from Emily’s residency can be viewed at
https://www.emilyfaludy.com/mawddachresidency

When I got the mail from Scarlett from Mawddach Residency I was so pleasantly surprised. I was not sure what to expect, so I brought  printmaking stuff, paper, ink, and painting stuff, basically everything  for printing, drawing and painting that could fit in a suitcase. Luckily this was no problem with the flight, none of the inks, copper sheets or paints in the suitcase raised eyebrows at the security. My suitcase however protested by refusing to roll the handle back in, I guess even an artist suitcase has a stubborn personality.

I was paired by Scarlett and Jake with fellow artist Arianna Tinulla Milesi. In the weeks of preparation for the residence, we met online, and we got along fine and prepped boring stuff like groceries ahead of time.
We first met in real life on the train, while the greatest landscapes flashed by.  In this three hours we got to know eachother and I was already stunned by the views of sea, sheep, rocks and the landscape.
Upon arrival Scarlett and Jake picked us up from the train station and during the two week stay they were in every way the kindest hosts, they really gave an extra shine to the residency. I really felt at home and free to ask anything, and we even drew together during the drawing classes of  Draw Brighton. It was such a treat.

One of my reasons of aplying for this residency was to focus on making art undisturbed. This was precisely what happened. During the first week I made a drypoint, did online portrait and model drawing and wandered through the amazing landscape. I also took the time to roam around and connect with the landscape. If you know the Netherlands, perhaps you know that one of the main features of the landscape there is that it is flat. For me the variety of the landscape was a delight. Hills, mossy rocks, trees with curly gnarled branches, the movement of the skies, river and sea and slightly annoyed sheep. The mist between the mountains which looks like cottoncandy on the more mistier days. Even a really bright rainbow made an appearance.

Although it was October and well into autumn, the landscape was covered in different shades of green.  And it was warm and sunny aswell. Luckily there was also mud and sheep dung. You know, to keep it real.
The landscape reflected in my work in foil prints and brightly colored goache paintings. I used every sheet of printing paper that I brought and created landscapes, and mythical beings such as a fox with anthers and a cat-like creature.

I also made some works inspired from life, I made a tetra print of Toby, our cat in residence, who sneaked up one night to eat a hole in our bread. And made a cardboard print with the box of Tunnucks Teacakes of a bold female figure.
We were invited to join the Draw Brighton class, firstly as portrait models ourself, but we also  got to draw Jo, a female swordfighter in medievel armor and Frankie who posed as all the creatures from Alice in Wonderlands Tea party. I enjoyed  these sessions a lot and made a print of one of the poses later with foil lithography.

Scarlett also invited us to join her in her atelier (honestly Scarlett and Jake are sort of Wonder-hosts) where she showed off her newest lithograph and introduced us to foil lithography. I tried this before but it was a bit tricky; with Scarlett it was delight.  She is a a really good and fun teacher and I practiced with the foil lithography during the rest of the residency. I also enjoyed her atelier from a printmakers perspective, comparing practices and materials, her printed work and her most handsome presses. Honestly, what more do you need?

In the two weeks I was at the residence there was so much going on in my work, I loved the experiments, the discovery of new things,  the focus, the wandering in the landcape, the new fun people that I met, the hospitality of Jake and Scarlett and of course the company of Arianna.
Now that I am home again I already notice a new urgency in making new work. I expect to see the Mawddach's influence in my work for a while to come. 

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A slice of me still cannot believe that a line led me to be part of the magical environment of the Mawddach Residency with Scarlett, Jake and their cat Toby.
The project I submitted was about drawing and learning through my body using all the senses. My main
interest was focused on seaweeds; my biggest fear.
I needed a direct experience of the underwater world as my chance of closeness to know these organisms better though multi-sensorial observation. I am afraid of them because I identify seaweeds with the darkest and most scary inner feelings. In general the underworld is associated with the irreversible coldness of death, but I tend to see it also like the place where silent revolutions happen, where a seed or a fish may feel safe, covered with a peaceful osmotic armour.
During my two weeks there, inspired by the overwhelming nature the Mawddach estuary offers, I additionally focused my attention on all the perpetual exchanges happening constantly through a porous limit, like the conjunction between the river and the sea, the water and the beach, all those areas involved into the perpetual, daily seesaw of the tide. All these spaces are a sort of “no man’s land” where living organisms redefine the concept itself of in and out, up and down, where everything is flexible and possible, the whole idea of directions and levels looks like a bunch of meaningless categories. Every day I explored the Mawddach river bed, under the Barmouth viaduct and the feeling of walking on quicksand was so powerful and scary but also reinvigorating: I am not going down, I am just being pulled in a different dimension. I was learning the physical sense of just being present and being animated into a moving environment.

Everyday one of my tasks was finding little treasures like seashells, algae and seaweeds. I collected them,
like someone else’s unwanted gifts. I studied, drew, painted, embroidered, printed them, an important
exercise also psychologically, acceptance of what you have and just do with that. No judgement, just
observation and acquaintance through artistic practice and eventual identification through empathy.
I decided that it could have been challenging and on point to use clothing instead of paper so I could wear
not just the landscape but also seaweeds and to see how I felt. I involved only vintage dresses and
bought in local charity shops to make the whole operation as sustainable as possible.
Along with this, a new part of the universe had been unveiled by Scarlett who generously introduced me to
Lithography on foil. It was just the new adventure I was looking for and that now I am obsessed with. My
other fellow artist, Marie-Louise Wasiela, the fabulous one I was paired with, wisely pushed me into this
direction all the remaining week. Jake and Scarlett invited me and Marie-Louise to join all their drawing sessions, as artists but also as models. For me it was the first time and it has been so challenging and amazing at the same time. Everything was so natural and everyone was so encouraging.
Scarlett and Jake invited us to consult books from their studios and they have been the most flexible and
welcoming people and artists, always generously sharing their time, their experience and their delicious food as well. And if this isn’t enough, the accomodation is impeccable. Spacious, lovely, fully equipped, stylish and extremely comfortable. Jake and Scarlett gave us food for birds and every morning Marie-Louise and I had our daily session of bird watching from the window of the kitchen.
Magic exists, it’s a superb tangle of people, nature and lines in Wales.

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When I arrived at the beautiful Mawddach Crescent house, I still wasn’t entirely sure what direction I would be taking with my residency. I just knew I needed dedicated time to concentrate on my artistic practice after a long period of stress juggling a day job as well as multiple other creative projects. Removing myself from the hustle and bustle of London life was becoming more and more of a priority in order for me to regain my creative sanity.

My main subjects are often trees and woodland landscapes and I often employ the use of the human propensity to see meaning in chaos, in particular pareidolia - seeing human faces and figures in natural forms – so I was initially still determining how I would find a way to respond to the estuarine mountainous landscape. But once there, I realised the surroundings were so rich and varied that I was really spoilt for choice and actually narrowing it down to concentrate on a few dedicated projects would be the challenge. I started off doing sketches outside in the woods behind the house. I had the time to become intimately acquainted with specific trees and views. I extended my pareidolia beyond the trees and also started exploring the rocks and sand that are other major features of this landscape.

Beyond the woods and the rocky landscapes themselves, I also enjoyed responding to the local materials available – slate was a satisfying medium on which to paint and one I had never thought of using before. I also became fascinated by the bladderwrack seaweed - of which there was in abundance of course. I walked through it barefoot, I ate it for breakfast and brought massive hunks of it inside and observed it up close and created drawings and plates based on its shapes and textures. It gave me a sense that there must be some folklore behind this magical healing and nutritious substance and ultimately created my own story surrounding it for which I made an initial drypoint plate and intend to expand in future.

As well as having time to draw outside I could also sit inside and work for hours, uninterrupted… or simply meditate on the changing tides from the studio window. My fellow residency artist Lucy Ward and I were lucky enough to be staying by the Mawddach during a ‘supermoon’, which was a fantastic excuse to stay up all night just watching the moon lighting up the landscape and shifting the shadows and colours through the night.

I had recently received a diagnosis of adult autism and having this time to think and explore how this might reflect on my artistic practice helped me to realise that actually, there are optimum ways for me to work. Having all day to simply explore the landscape and draw, paint or print with no distractions was a gift and finally allowed me to hone in on and exploit this way of working – for long periods with no distractions.

I still have so much in my head and on my camera, awaiting further treatment - to be either made into oil paintings, pastel drawings or drypoint or mezzotint prints. The Mawddach Residency has left me with a lifetime's worth of ideas, not to mention the inspiration provided by Scarlett and Jake who showed me that there can be a better way to live as an artist.

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I was lucky enough to go on the Mawddach residency with my friend Catherine Gerbrands. I hoped for inspiration from the incredible landscape and the chance to work on some practical things too, such as trying to loosen up my marks and doing more sketching outside. I gained all of those things, but what I didn’t expect was for the residency to have such an impact on me personally as well.

We explored the local area and I was drawn to the woods near the house, full of moss scattered with navelwort and wonderfully twisty oak and ash trees. I also liked the hawthorn and rowan on the exposed hillside, which had been warped into permanently windswept shapes, juxtaposed against angular rocks. The estuary was always spectacular and I spent a lot of time staring out of the windows, watching the light, weather and tides and how they changed the view so much.

I learnt a lot about sketching outside, not least that it takes me ages and I need to push through my impatience and bad drawings at the start and stubbornly wait until I’m really seeing and my breath slows, to end up with sketches I like or are useful. I loved drawing the trees, which started to feel like old friends after a while.

I brought mount board scraps with me with the intention of drawing outside and then making collagraph/card cut prints straight from the sketches, but in the end I liked the sketches too much and didn’t want to cut them up. I did really enjoy drawing on the mount board, though. This is something I will use as part of my prep in future. It felt more permanent than drawing in a sketchbook, so I found I stuck with the sketch rather than giving up and turning the page, but I didn’t feel like it was too precious to use either, because it would just be recycled otherwise. And I can always make a collagraph from it if I want to.

I had all sorts of plans for prints, but with limited time in this amazing place, I didn’t want to spend too long making plates. I switched to making monotypes to record the shapes and shadows of the tides and sandbanks, and the fast-changing light and weather. This was particularly important for night scenes, which didn’t show up in photos so I worked on monotypes with the images fresh in my mind, or late into the night looking out of the window. I allowed myself to be experimental and take risks, because I wasn’t printing with any finished goal in mind. In the drypoint and collagraph plates I made, I tried to keep things loose and sketchy rather than being really particular like I would normally be. It’s an energy I would like to take into my future work.

Most of my prints are landscapes, but they are also a part of me, metaphors for things in my life or emotions I’m processing, and it has been a tough few years. After this residency, I’m feeling focused and hopeful, and I realise that this experience is something I really needed to reignite my love of printmaking and push my work forward.

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I arrived at the residency with bold plans to dive back into my large-format geological paintings after two years of a slower pace of work due to growing and raising a baby boy, who came along to Mawddach Crescent with me along with my husband, a non-artist, as caregiver. I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to re-establish my practice in this way - the combination of the space offered by the residency along with the time freed up by my long-suffering partner meant I was able to spend at least 6 hours painting most days around childcare.

In the end, while I came away with a huge selection of sketches, reference photos, maps and ideas to bring into future geological work, the work I made was not the work I expected, as I couldn't stop painting small flash studies of the estuary and the views around the house. On reflection, it was strange to think that I could dive back into my most evolved form of work after time away, as well as to think that motherhood wouldn't change the way I thought about my work. As it was, I painted at a lightning pace, trying to get every second of painting time out of the residency and reassuring myself that I still 'had it'!

There was time for the geological reflections I really value, particularly the serendipitous discovery that the rocks the house is built on were formed in an estuary, 500 million years ago and very similar to what we see today! It really kicked off some ideas around the intersection of present day and ancient spaces, and how to separate my work from time and human viewpoints.

I was so grateful to Jake and Scarlett for offering time for some kind, incisive and sharp criticism on my work (which I asked for, and I asked them to be sharp with it!) which highlighted areas of future development as well as giving me a bit more direction for my practice. If I take one thing away with me, it's that description which Jake's probing questioning elicited, that I view my work as an act of worship towards great and uncaring natural forces. What do I do with this idea?

It's clear, though, that my time by the Mawddach isn't done and the world is sending me signs to that effect. Having never heard the word Mawddach before in my life, at Earth's Canvas, the art and geology symposium held two weeks after my residency (which I spent the last two years of my life organising) I heard the name no less than three times, spoken by different artists and presenters in their talks! If that isn't the estuary calling me back, I don't know what is.

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