Dorset Art Weeks has begun, so we met four artists in St Michael's who are sharing a studio over the two weeks to showcase their work.

Elizabeth Sporne and Sally Davies have been joined by David Brooke and Caroline Ireland and you will be able to see each of their work at St Michael's Studios until June 6.

David Brooke

David has a distinctive, imaginative style, and mainly paints in acrylic although he also draws in coloured pencil, pen and ink.

His pieces have a humour/mystical theme to them, many of figures with bold outlines and colours.

He said: "I have always been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember

"I started off having mythical elements to them, but I didn't want to be tied down to any particular story and it has generally become more of a felling and slowly changed into something as I go along. I like to think of them as very positive."

David works with Caroline Ireland in a studio in Morcombelake after the fire at St Michael's in 2018 destroyed their studio, but they are unable to exhibit there.

He said: "Liz and Sally very kindly offered us to come here for Dorset Art Weeks to share their space, which is very nice of them."

As well as a selection of his paintings, he also has a range of pints and cards available.

Elizabeth Sporne

Liz is predominantly a portrait artist and was asked to create portraits of Tudor monarchs Elizabeth I and Henry VIII, as well as Chidiock Tichborne, for Athelhampton House near Dorchester.

She said: "I did my first portrait at 15 or 16 and it immediately looked like the person so I knew I was on to something. I didn't have a particularly arty background so I didn't have a clear trajectory."

Liz worked in graphics and a sailing magazine before coming back to Bridport to take the leap and do art full-time.

She added: "About 10 years ago I found myself back here. Shortly after the opportunity came up to share a studio with Sally and that took me back to doing it properly.

"I had always wanted to, but earning a proper living always seemed to take precedence, so moving back to Bridport, I made the conscious decision to put what I wanted to do ahead of what was the sensible thing to do - if not then, when?"

Caroline Ireland

Caroline grew up in an artistic family but studied archaeology. She had always painted and at some point realised she needed to make it the focus of her life.

She said: "Bridport is a very inspiring, artistic place, even when I first came here around 20 years ago and I found myself organising the first Bridport open studios event in 1999 because anybody who did quite different work found it quite difficult to get their work seen.

"There was such a lot of good work being done I wanted to get people in to see it and I thought a little local open studios event might do that. It all seemed to work - people wanted to do it and people wanted to come."

Caroline first moved to St Michael's in 2002, joining fellow artists Kit Glaisyer and Andrew Leppard.

She added: "We decided to call ourselves St Michael's Studios and gradually more space opened up in the building with quite a few artists. The whole place turned into an art and vintage scene and this area became a very vibrant place.

"We carried it on until we had the fire and myself and David managed to find another studio in Morcombelake and we're still there no, so we've kept working.

"In some ways we have very similar ideas about things, but David's work and mine differ in that I am much more interested in colour and colour effects. Over lockdown I went blank and I started improvising with colour, to lift my spirits as well as other. That's what these paintings are about."

Caroline is pleased to be back exhibiting in Dorset Art Weeks.

She said: "It's mostly an online situation so it's been very interesting for me to see we have actually had quite a lot of visitors and it's delightful for people to finally come in and see what we're doing. It's wonderful and everybody is so welcoming."

Sally Davies

Sally says that school was "a complete waste of time" and when she left she went to art college but could not do fine art, photography or sculpture as she had no O levels.

After working in retail and being told she could not become an assistant buyer - also due to having no O levels - Sally started party planning.

She has always made clothing and was making pieces for her daughter when she started sewing her own designs in children's clothes.

Sally said: "That blossomed and did really well.

"One day at a party, someone said, 'I love what you're wearing', so it progressed from children's to ladies' fashion."

Her other love is horticulture and flowers - being influenced by former Gardeners' World presenter Geoff Hamilton - and begin gardening and selling at markets. She would take photos of the plants in flower for the times of the year they weren't.

She added: "Someone said, 'your photos look great, why don't you do cards?'.

"I started off playing around with my photos and started bringing watercolours in with it and the painting side has taken off as well."

Sally also provides splashback screens for kitchens and bathrooms.

She said: "It's beginning to take off, it's really doing well, most people love the fact they can have something so different, a piece of art in their kitchen or bathroom and it can also be outside art as well."

The studio, off St Michael's Lane in the Tower Building, venue 126, will be open 10am to 5pm everyday during Dorset Art Weeks, until June 6.

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