About your tutor

watercolour artist & expert teacher, Sarah bell

Hi, I’m Sarah Bell. My passion is watercolour: painting it, talking it, and teaching it. It’s my calling….

I paint and teach at my beautiful art studio in Penzance in the far west of Cornwall.

You can see and buy my original watercolour, acrylic paintings, and prints, at my own gallery, The Artists House Gallery on the historic Market Jew Street ( “Jew” is an English spelling of the Cornish word for “market”) in Penzance. The gallery is run by my husband Nigel.

My students range from absolute beginners to experienced painters, but the thing they all share is that they want to grow creatively. With 20 years’ experience of helping spread the knowledge (and the excitement!) I have what you need to give you a jump-start and get you Watercolour Confident.

My story

Sarah Bell - Watercolour artist and tutor

I live with my husband, daughter and cat in Penzance, a seaside town in Cornwall.

The sea is just around the corner, and the ocean, the sense of space and fresh air are so inspiring to me as an artist. I love painting; drawing; reading too late into the night; anything vintage; and searching for seashell treasure in rockpools.

I first learned to paint with my watercolour artist dad, when I was just ten. Rucksacks on our backs, we’d go off painting on the moors of Lancashire and sketching and painting outdoors is still my big love.

Fast forward past art school in London; Artist in Residence work for actor Kenneth Brannagh; and working as a freelance illustrator in a canal-side studio in Amsterdam for nine years….

Now I work in my lovely studio in Penzance; my husband runs a gallery here where he sells my paintings and cards; my daughter helps me keep control of my emails and bookings, and the cat loves “helping” with my artwork (by sitting on it when it’s wet.)

“Sarah is a complete delight and her enthusiasm for watercolours is infectious.”

— Glyn Canney

Penzance & The Studio

For years I dreamed of living in Penzance: it’s arty, quirky, with sea-fresh air, and the magical St Michael’s Mount castle perches on a rock in the ocean. Yes, it’s far away from most places, and that’s why it’s so special.

But the main line trains pulls in from London Paddington every hour and cheap flights come to Newquay airport just an hour away, so it’s not hard to get to. You can even sail to the Scilly Isles from here.

You’ll find me most days in my studio in Penzance: an airy whitewashed space with wooden shutters in a beautiful Georgian building, where I paint my watercolours and greetings card designs and teach my workshops.

Penzance has beaches, rockpools, art, semi tropical gardens, a stunning Art Deco pool, all kinds places to stay and great places to eat. Coastal walks, Bronze Age village ruins, the Minnack Theatre, Tate St Ives. You may need to stay longer…

Wish you were here!

Where to stay

“Conde Nast Traveller calls Penzance ‘Cornwall’s Coolest Town.'”