Artist reveals her secrets in talks as country house exhibition opens

HANDS-ON: VAL ARCHER is known for her still-life paintings, which capture in exquisite detail the objects she comes across on her travels.

Now people can see a colourful exhibition by the artist, the first of six art events hosted by the National Trust at Nunnington Hall this year.

Place and Culture features 45 works inspired by the oil painter and teacher’s fascination with the things she has encountered on travels in Italy and England.

The artist was at the country house near Helmsley yesterday showing visitors her painting techniques and talking about her work.

She explained how she could “lose hours” drinking in with her eyes the details of the object that has caught her attention be it a piece of wood, a terracotta floor or a mosaic.

Ms Archer, who has studios in London and near Cortona in Tuscany, said: “I paint things I love looking at.

“I’m very interested in surface, in pattern and texture and I prefer it when it’s old and you find it when you are doing something else. “I work on between five and 15 pictures at once, so I move between them all, so they are gradually accruing detail.”

Her painting (above) began with a Roman mosaic, and she later added the pomegranates cracked open to reveal all the “jewel-like” seeds, to make the connections with the tiny mosaic tiles beneath. While she had not had time to make sketches during this visit, she said she would be returning – having been captivated by the “wonderful stone walls, snowdrops and aconites and gorgeous milky light” on a fine February day in Yorkshire.

Place and Culture is on display until Sunday, March 24, and normal admission prices apply.

The exhibition will be followed by Voices of the Landscape , by Justine Warner and Patrick Smith, starting on March 30.

The British Wildlife Photography Awards exhibition takes place from May 18, and Birds and Beasts – sculptures by David Cooke, in the hall’s gardens, from June 25.