After visiting Ireland on a painting holiday, Sue and Mark Gilkey decided to take the plunge and buy a traditional cottage there with an inspiring coastal setting, and sweeping views of the sea

Raku ceramicist Catherine Lucktaylor talks about finding inspiration on the Cornish coast

Your indispensable guide to the capital

ROB POINTON IS NOT AN ARTIST who waits for inspiration to arrive. He goes out to meet it – on station platforms, street corners, rain-lashed pavements and ceremonial parade grounds – easel planted fir

Sharon Ingoldby takes furniture painting to a new level, transforming old and neglected pieces with charming folk art-inspired pattern and colour

For artist Nellie Shepherd, the landscape outside her painstakingly renovated farmhouse is just as important as the colourful scene inside it