West Coast Art and Craft Retreat

West Coast Art and Craft Retreat West Coast Creative Studio is a proudly West Coast supplier of Arts & Craft materials with a combination of original & personalised gifts.

Offering weekly classes where you can find new inspiration and skills with our talented artists.

Meet Cubism Reverie
28/09/2026

Meet Cubism Reverie

And the red obsession continues… The second piece in my Red Series — Elegance Unveiled.I wanted to keep the lines loose,...
28/09/2026

And the red obsession continues…
The second piece in my Red Series — Elegance Unveiled.

I wanted to keep the lines loose, the marks imperfect and the personality strong. No chasing photographic perfection here — just expression, attitude and a whole lot of RED.

There’s something about working with a limited palette that I’m really enjoying. Red demands attention. Black gives it drama. And that pale, almost porcelain face provides a moment of calm amongst all the noise.

Two down in the Red Series… and apparently red and I are not finished with each other yet. 😂❤️

🎨 Elegance Unveiled
The Red Series — No. 2

Sometimes a painting doesn’t need to shout to get your attention.She simply arrives.Big hat. Red lips. A touch of attitu...
27/09/2026

Sometimes a painting doesn’t need to shout to get your attention.

She simply arrives.
Big hat. Red lips. A touch of attitude. And absolutely no intention of explaining herself.

“Poise and Presence” is all about confidence — that quiet kind that doesn’t need approval. I kept the palette deliberately bold and limited, working with strong blacks, flashes of red and earthy neutrals, allowing the exaggerated lines and imperfect marks to
I particularly love seeing her mocked up in a modern interior. Apparently she doesn’t just want a wall… she wants architecture.

🎨 “Poise and Presence”
Original artwork
RLN Artworks | Westcoast Creative Studio

Because sometimes presence is all the statement you need.

What happens when you give a group of creative people the same basic wooden house and then tell them to make it their ow...
27/09/2026

What happens when you give a group of creative people the same basic wooden house and then tell them to make it their own?

Apparently… absolutely nothing remotely the same!

Today’s class disappeared into the tiny world of miniature art — painting, building, distressing, planting microscopic gardens, hanging washing, parking bicycles and creating little shops complete with cats supervising proceedings from the windows.

Four students. Four houses. Four completely different personalities.

From soft coastal blues and weathered walls, to bold red roofs, quirky patterns, pretty pinks and burgundy — every student took the same starting point and created their own little story.

And the details! Tiny postboxes, flowerpots, bicycles, washing lines, shutters, birdhouses, rolled-up papers and shelves stocked with miniature goodies.
This is exactly why I love teaching creative classes. I don’t want four versions of my idea. I want four versions of theirs.

A little bit floral.A little bit feminine.And a whole lot of organised chaos.Faces of Flora started with a face and some...
25/09/2026

A little bit floral.
A little bit feminine.
And a whole lot of organised chaos.

Faces of Flora started with a face and somehow wandered off into a garden of doodles, patterns, petals, spirals, leaves and hundreds of tiny marks.

This is the kind of art I love creating: from a distance you see the portrait, but the closer you get, the more there is to discover.

And yes… I eventually had to confiscate the pen from myself.
There comes a point when “just one more little circle” becomes a genuine threat to the artwork.

Faces of Flora
Original mixed-media artwork
RLN Artworks | Westcoast Creative Studio

🌿🌸 Where flowers, faces and a slightly overactive imagination collide.

A project i finished a few weeks ago and never got time to post.From Bali Brown to Beach-House Beautiful.Another Granny ...
24/09/2026

A project i finished a few weeks ago and never got time to post.

From Bali Brown to Beach-House Beautiful.

Another Granny B makeover, but this time I really didn’t want to paint the furniture — I wanted to preserve the beautiful Indian mahogany hiding underneath.

I found this huge, solid Bali coffee table for just R1,800. Those gorgeous curved legs and all that beautiful timber were far too special to cover up, but the original dark reddish-brown finish was simply too heavy for my new, lighter lounge.

So out came the Granny B! 🎨

Instead of applying an opaque coat, I used Daisy, Beach Sand and Olive Charm, working the colours in as a wipe-on finish. The idea was to soften and lighten the mahogany while still allowing its natural grain, warmth and imperfections to show through.

And that was the magic. ✨

The old orange-brown tone disappeared, but the table still looks and feels like wood — not painted furniture. The beautiful panel detail and those fabulous curved Bali legs suddenly became the stars instead of disappearing into the dark finish.

Once I was happy with the layers, the whole piece was protected with Granny B Armour Matt.

I absolutely LOVE how the original mahogany still peeks through the soft washed finish. It’s lighter, calmer and fits perfectly into my coastal lounge, without losing the character that made me drag this enormous beast home in the first place.

Granny B colours used: Daisy • Beach Sand • Olive Charm
Finish: Armour Matt

Sometimes a makeover isn’t about covering up what’s underneath — it’s about letting the beautiful bits show.

R1,800 well spent, I think! 😍

Day 9/10 creative challengeMy love of small things .A display full of twenty miniature (10x10cm )shelves filled with t...
20/09/2026

Day 9/10 creative challenge

My love of small things .
A display full of twenty miniature (10x10cm )shelves filled with tiny paintings, books, flowers, clocks, plants, bottles and all the completely unnecessary little treasures I can squeeze into them.

Each one develops its own personality as I work on it. Some are elegant, some arty, some slightly eccentric… and one appears to have been taken over by the Easter Bunny. 🐰😂

The best part is hunting for the tiniest objects (mostly junk)and then creating a whole little world around them. Things that would normally be thrown away suddenly become furniture, décor or artwork when you look at them through miniature eyes.

It is ridiculously fiddly, completely impractical and takes far longer than anything this small has any right to take… which naturally means I love it. 😂❤️

Apparently, when I run out of space in my real house, I simply start decorating imaginary ones.

Day8/10 creative challenge done with oil paint pens I do not enjoy still life and flower paintings.But i do loooooove ab...
20/09/2026

Day8/10 creative challenge
done with oil paint pens

I do not enjoy still life and flower paintings.But i do loooooove abstract !

Apparently my flowers have decided that quietly sitting in a vase is far too boring. 😂

They’ve dressed themselves in their brightest colours, invited a few enormous blue leaves along for moral support, squeezed into one vase and started a parade. 💃🌸🌼

This one was all about colour, wonky lines, exaggerated shapes and absolutely no attempt at behaving sensibly.

“Floral Parade”
Original contemporary floral artwork
🎨 RLN Artworks

A little bit quirky.
A little bit unruly.
And most definitely not a bunch of wallflowers. 🌺😂

Day 7/10 creative challengeAnother stress reliever from the past.An inexpensive craft for the family to do together.Rock...
18/09/2026

Day 7/10 creative challenge

Another stress reliever from the past.
An inexpensive craft for the family to do together.
Rock painting Need to do it again when i can handle paint smell.

🌸 Day 6/10 of Creativity — Book Folding 📚Sometimes the paintbrush needs a day off… but the hands apparently still need t...
17/09/2026

🌸 Day 6/10 of Creativity — Book Folding 📚

Sometimes the paintbrush needs a day off… but the hands apparently still need to make something! 😂

A different creative escape is book folding — and it’s also a brilliant way to upcycle old books that have reached the end of their useful lives.

Old university law and tax reference books are perfect. They date quickly, become redundant and are often easy to find in second-hand shops. Best of all, many have 1,000+ pages, which gives you fantastic volume for more detailed folds — sentences, names, designs and even facial portraits.

There’s something wonderfully satisfying about taking a forgotten old reference book and turning all those intimidating pages into a piece of art. 🌸📖

No paint.
No canvas.
No washing brushes.

Just a ruler, a lot of folding… and the slightly questionable decision to voluntarily spend hours counting pages. 😂

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11th Street
Saint Helena Bay
7282

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Monday 09:00 - 16:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 16:00
Thursday 09:00 - 16:30
Friday 09:00 - 13:30

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