"In 2022, I received a QEST Anthony and Elizabeth Mellows Charitable Settlement Trust Award to gain further training in fresco painting. The first part of this, in June, involved working on a wall. I was keen to get practice in this as I had previously mainly worked on small portable panels.  I asked Isabelle Bonzom, artist, fresco expert and author to mentor me. Initially, this was conducted through zoom sessions with Isabelle at her home in Paris and me at Merz Gallery Sanquhar in front of a large brick wall. Many thanks to Dave Rushton for allowing me to be set loose in his courtyard!"

Check her blog - QEST Scholarship, Merz fresco

"Continuing with my QEST Scholarship, I attended a week long fresco course, l’Art de la Fresque, at the beautiful Abbaye Saint Jacut de la Mer in Brittany, France. This was run by Isabelle Bonzom and Valerie Letombe and hosted by VMSF. There were thirteen participants – I was the only foreigner. The journey from Saint Malo was exciting ; squashed into a taxi with five others, we swept past inlets full of fishing boats and small towns decked out for summer, me brushing up my French and getting to know some of the people I would be spending a week with."

Check her blog - QEST, L’Art de la Fresque, Brittany