Painting in Spain
 at White Fountain Studio, a secluded holiday retreat ...

 
     
     
 
Welcome
White Fountain Studio
Art holidays
Accommodation
Self catering, B&B, HB
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Tom Brown
Location
Gallery
Other activities
6th form courses
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WHITE FOUNTAIN STUDIO
 (ESTUDIO DE FONT BLANCA)

The perfect place for Painting Holidays or a secluded holiday retreat

White Fountain Studio is the home of artist and teacher Tom Brown and his wife Liz, a professional and inspired cook. It is set in its own grounds amidst pine trees and with terraces of almond trees falling gently away from the house leading the eye to the impressive Ferrer and Bernia mountains beyond. The house is beautiful with a real sensitive feel for the traditional Spanish home both inside and out.

Attached to the house there is quality independent accommodation used for  Painting Holidays and also for Holiday Accommodation. There is a large painting studio which is Tom's workshop and the base for both non residential and residential painting holidays.

It is only just over an hour from Alicante Airport but here there is a wonderful feeling of being somewhere special, a place which is not only a haven of tranquility but also a safe comfortable retreat where you can feel your energy levels being restored. Whether you are here painting in Spain or simply relaxing White Fountain studio has everything you need.

The house is only a few kilometers from the classic Spanish village of Tarbena which has its own unique and intriguing history. The rich green valley is covered with steep cultivated terraces mixed with wild forest and high mountain slopes. The dramatic limestone terrain provides the perfect habitat for an incredible diversity of wild flowers and birds. Signs of the numerous but elusive wild boar are everywhere in the valley. This is an ancient place rich with the history of the Moors in Spain. Their legacy can be seen in place names, the terrace system of agriculture, Mozarabic trails and the ruins of buildings and castles many centuries old.

The visual qualities of this place are totally seductive for the artist and the depth of peace is healing for those in need of quiet. Surrounded by such mountains and being close to the sea, Font Blanca is also ideally situated for a wide range of outdoor activities.  

The quality of the scenery is stunning,

the feeling of tranquility totally absorbing

   

 

White Fountain studio in Almond blossom 2008

Click for bedroom terrace view of the mountains. Looking out onto the Sierra de Ferrer and Bernia mountains. This is the view from the main bedroom out of the French windows and beyond the terrace. To fall asleep and wake up to this view every day is like living in Shangri la.

Kitchen corner. The large traditional style kitchen is certainly the hub of this house and one day will be in Casa y Campo magazine. This is Liz’s studio where she is most at home keeping the guests happy with her culinary delights.

Relax on the special sunbed which sleeps three! How exciting is concrete! It has never floated my boat before but it is definitely an inexpensive material with more creative possibilities than I ever thought of before.

White Fountain studio in Almond blossom 2008. In February throughout the valley there are hundreds of Almond trees in full blossom. The tantalizing fragrance of almond blossom is exquisite. It is great to see the house melt into such beautiful surroundings like it actually grew there.

The Casbar. We lived for 18 months in a shed while we built White Fountain studio. Before the permission came through to start building the house the casbar was something of a warm up piece. Having time on our hands it was pure self indulgence using hand made tiles for the walls and old clay tiles for the roof. Now it is a great place for a siesta during the day and in the evening you can relax in front of the wood fire with a glass of vino tinto

Main bedroom. Peace, white space and a haven of tranquillity looking out across the terrace to mountains beyond………….

A large bathroom in the Moroccan style; lots of arches and a barrel vaulted ceiling. The walls are hand painted in various layers and glazes of Moroccan blues.

The family at almond harvest time. On the terraces below the house we have about 120 almond trees. The almonds are ready to pick around September time. Son Philip and Kate are both sculptors in London and joined us with grandsons Angus and Jess for the occasion. What more could you wish for, three generations of nut pickers!

Click for view of studio and house from behind. This puts the house into true perspective in terms of its position amongst the mountains, looking directly at the Ferrer and Bernia Sierras. Tarbena is 5 km away and the nearest other villages of Parcent, Jalon, Castell de Castells and Callosa en Sarria are a further 10 km beyond that. Down on the coast 20kms away are the well known towns of Calpe and Altea.

     
     

 

 ©  2008 Tom Brown Painting in Spain  established 2005