Artist Emma Archer left her native Birmingham nearly a decade ago to immerse herself in a new life in the Italian countryside. By that time she’d spent a decade on the front lines of the British art scene and was ready for something else entirely. Her lifelong passion for Italy led Emma and her partner to acquire a derelict farmhouse, which they lovingly and painstakingly restored using traditional methods and materials. 

 

Emma took a break from her artwork to start a family and cultivate the land attached to the farm. Finally, Emma developed a beautiful studio overlooking her olive grove, where she returned to drawing and painting. It’s as idyllic as it sounds and the beauty of Emma’s surroundings inspired her new work. Gone are the urban cityscapes of her post art-school Birmingham days, replaced with the languid-cool, lazily-listless, vibrantly-vivid watercolours and acrylics of the Botanical Collection Emma will have on display at Lightwoods House. Just looking at Emma’s paintings on a computer monitor is mesmerising, and Lightwoods House seems like the perfect place to enjoy them.