The Bakehouse Studio in Langholm

Julie Dumbarton is an artist based at Studio 7 on the Orange route. The Bakehouse Studio is Julies' working studio. Situated in Langholm , it was previously a bakery, but was left unoccupied for over 13 years after its closure, until Julie discovered and fell in love with the building in 2004. "I’ve tried to keep the character of the old building - the old oven remains, along with the first aid kit and, of course, the baker boys bike! Retaining its previous life has been really important to me, whilst also nurturing it to a new focal point of Langholm. " Mike Day from the Scotsman newspaper took the above picture of Julie in her studio for the magazine.




Recently Julie held a 6 week painting course that was targeted at people who had no experience of working with oil paint, to give them an idea of working in a professional studio. "I had 19 people who all completed a painting of high standard, this all came together in a show in the studio. We had a huge turnout, I even involved them with hanging the work to give them an idea of what's involved in putting on an exhibition. The whole experience was a great success."

"I spend so much time in my studio it was such a nice change to open my doors and have such a nice group of people to enjoy the experience of painting with. Not just the highs but working out difficulties and learning about patience and how an image evolves through a process. Its been a great experience for me."

"The bakehouse is such a great old building, many of the people
who came to paint had stories of when it used to be a bakery years ago,
saying it had the best warm rolls for miles around."

Some comments from the participating students:

"I have just loved the whole experience and discovering the delights of creating a picture that i love. Thank you for such a great experience and finding the delight of colour and being able to do a picture I'm delighted with. " Jean Miller

"I've really enjoyed these classes, I was so out of my comfort zone but today i finished a painting I'm really pleased with and would love to do more". Ann Dalgliesh.

"This will be an exciting spring fling for me. I am selling really well at the
Morningside Gallery in Edinburgh and had great sales too at the House for an
Art Lover exhibition and The Red Barn in Cumbria. I'm exploring elements in
my paintings that I always have in my work in finer detail. I have loved
painting poppies and sunflowers in landscapes and this year I have been
invited to Chelsea to paint some of the gardens and plants that are
built in a short time."

Julie has some exciting work commissions coming up; she has been commissioned to paint a piece involving local schoolchildren to celebrate their school as it is under threat of closure.

You can see many more paintings at Julies website.....http://www.juliedumbarton.com/index.html