Arts Features

Stepping into the garden, Tess Wilmot's sculptures look so lifelike, you might think you'd stumbled onto a secret meeting between the animals.

But there's no feathers or fur in her art work, just a mix of ground up rock and resin.

Tess has been living at Riverside in South Devon for eight years and here, close to Ivybridge, is where she gets her inspiration.

Her double garage has been turned into a workshop and her permaculture garden encourages all kinds of wildlife. 

Tess works in her studio on a commission

She works with Plasticine initially before making a mould and then casts her finished animals in coloured stone and resin. 

Open Studios is a chance to see Devon artists working in their own environment and for Tess it's an opportunity for her to demonstrate her skills: "I think it's nice to see what inspires the artists and you get to see places you would never normally have access to.

"It's like an adventure - you never know where you're going to go and who you're going to see, but you get to meet really passionate people who love what they're doing."

This year fellow artist Amanda Pellatt joins Tess for the first time at the Riverside studio. 

Although Amanda uses conventional media to paint, her pictures are anything but conventional. It has been a while since she's concentrated entirely on her own work, although that's what she really wants to do.

See some of Amanda's paintings using oils on linen

She has spent the last few years studying and in November 2007 graduated from a Masters in Arts and Ecology at Dartington College of Art.

Now her work concentrates on the local environment which she says she loves: "We live by the beautiful River Erme and I've just started a whole series of paintings tracing the river's path - from Long Timber Woods, just above Ivybridge, to the watershed at Princetown.

"I'm hoping collaborations with other artists will evolve."

As well as these abstract landscapes, Amanda will also be showing her orchid paintings.

She calls them her 'concubines' because they were inspired by her research into Chinese history and she says the bigger the better:

"I'm very happy with a 4ft x 4ft canvas and I use very thick paint."

"For me Open Studios is a stepping stone, to get back into painting and the process of making things again and I'm going to be with like minded people."

Chinese history is behind this orchid painting

More than 300 artists across the county are opening their doors as part of this annual event.

Organised by the Devon Artist Network, visitors can follow nine trails around Devon to see various artists at work. There are full details on the website which is linked from this page.

From sculptures to painters there's something for everyone.

So, if you want to see some Devon art, on your doorstep, make the most of this year's Open Studios and you never know, if you visit Tess and Amanda you might get a peak at the Riverside garden too!