Sudbury artist takes up teaching to share the pursuit that helped her recover after two strokes and life-saving surgery
When Phillippa Gunn was a child she loved drawing with her grandma, but as the years went by motherhood and a busy job meant there was no time for art.
Then aged just 28 her world fell apart. She suffered two strokes and doctors discovered she had a life-threatening hole in her heart.
She had open-heart surgery and faced an uphill battle to recover while raising her two young daughters and trying to earn a living.
Then she realised something that would change her life … she still loved art. And after starting to draw again she found it was a wonderful way to relax after a stressful day.
Phillippa moved on to painting and started to sell her vibrant and colourful flower pictures. Three years ago she gave up her job as a teaching assistant to concentrate on a career as an artist. Now she has a new mission. To bring the joy of art - and the therapeutic benefits that helped her so much - to others.
She began teaching and her weeks are now packed with adult and children’s classes, after school clubs, workshops and art-themed parties. She also produces art boxes that match up with her online tutorials so people can learn at home.
“I’ve realised I love teaching as much as I love painting,” she says. “I want people to feel confident and able to learn. When you see their work it’s wonderful. It doesn’t matter if they’re eight or 80, you feel like a proud parent. I just want people to feel that joy when they are painting … make them feel good.
“Art is therapy, that was why I took it up in the first place and once you start you can’t stop. When you’re painting you can’t think about anything else.
“It’s completely addictive and you can’t think about anything that’s stressing you out. Everyone says to me ‘I could just sit here for hours’.
Phillippa, who lives in Sudbury with daughters Honey, 19 and Betsy, 15, and has a studio in Lavenham, grew up in Suffolk and learned to draw on weekend visits to her grandma who was a keen artist.
Her first career was hairdressing and she really enjoyed the creative aspects. She was apprentice of the year at West Suffolk College, and twice won college competitions for the most imaginative styles.
After having her children she set up as a mobile hairdresser and it was while doing a friend’s hair that she suffered a stroke.
“When I woke up, I was on the stroke ward in West Suffolk Hospital. They took me to Addenbrooke’s by ambulance. The following day, a doctor told me I’d had two strokes.
“My speech and eyesight had been affected and I couldn’t really stand up. I had physio and occupational therapy to get me back walking.”
A scan and further investigations revealed a large hole in her heart that was allowing clots to get through. “In a way, it was a good thing I had a stroke, because I wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” she said.
She had life-saving heart surgery in Papworth Hospital but still suffered health problems. “My heart was never in rhythm. I was lopsided, and walked with a limp.”
Looking for a new way to earn a living she opened a coffee shop, but still struggling with her health found it hard to cope with the pressure.
It was then she began drawing again as a way to wind down in the evenings, “I’d start one and, before I knew it, it would be 1am. It was just a relaxing thing to do.”
In the end, she had a pacemaker fitted to regulate her heart and her fitness improved. “It was a life changer. They didn't really want to do it at such a young age, but I was just finding everything so hard.”
She went back to hairdressing, and also began volunteering at a primary school, helping children with reading then getting more involved in anything to do with art including running an art and craft club.
In 2017 she got a full-time role as a teaching assistant at Acton Primary School. “All this time, I would go home in the evenings and paint for me. I’d be online all the time, learning different techniques.
“I just loved it. I painted anything at the time, but it was always flowers I would go back to. Flowers just cheer you up.”
Working full time as an artist since 2021, Phillippa gradually began to take on more and more teaching jobs, while still selling her own paintings, prints and coasters at craft fairs and online.
“Because I used to work at Acton Primary I went back there and did one after school club a week. Then word got around.”
She now goes to primary schools in Lavenham, where her daughter Honey is now a TA. Sudbury, Acton, Great Waldingfield and Long Melford. “They are always really popular and that hour is fully booked.”
“Because I had a background in working with children I have a roaming DBS which means I can go into any school. I’ve been as far as Bishop’s Stortford doing workshops for children.
“From that I started doing adult classes where they reproduce my paintings - usually one of my flower paintings.
“I encourage them to interpret my painting in their own way. Then I encourage people to go off and find their own subjects. They are often better than they think they are.
“I also started doing holiday clubs for children at Newton Green village hall for up to 20 five to 12 year-olds, two times a week during the holidays.
“When I started my adult classes I was doing them at Breakout in Long Melford and they helped me loads.”
The next step was to get her own studio to use as a base, and she found the ideal spot at Lavenham Studios which is home to a variety of small businesses. “It’s a lovely peaceful place that looks out onto fields,” she says.
“Then I thought why not a beginners class - that’s spread over five weeks for adults. It’s much more in depth. Everyone gets one two hour session a week.
“You have to be really versatile when you are doing art for a living so then I started doing parties, birthdays, hen parties, anniversaries. I’ve just done a 50th wedding anniversary for 22 people aged from five to 97, and a 10th birthday party.”
As demand grew and grew she realised she needed another way to connect with people. “I started thinking there is only one of me, and there are not enough days in the week to do everything, and people started asking about online tutorials.”
Now she does a range of tutorials and produces ‘Art in a Box’ containing everything people need to follow her instructions to produce their own version of one of her pictures, usually of flowers or animals.
She stresses that having the right materials is crucial for a successful result. “I thought it would help if I could make a box where you get all the paints I use, and brushes, a reference picture of my painting, and explaining things like how the different brushes work and how to thin the paint.
Phillippa’s students all get the same materials she uses herself - acrylic paints, canvas for adults, and fine art paper, which is a heavier weight and doesn’t crinkle, for children who also get aprons to avoid splattering their clothes with paint.
“I go in with everything to do a school workshop - it’s normally flowing on from a topic they’ve done, for example the Great Fire of London.
“I’ll do a painting and they paint along with me. If you don’t have the right materials you can’t achieve the right result. People also hire me out to do workshops for their companies.”
She adds: “Sometimes I have finished a class two hours later than I should if someone hasn’t quite finished. You just want them to feel really good about their work. I want them to take their time.
“People chat to me and open up a little bit. I love how everybody gets to know each other. The majority of people come to classes on their own.
“For me it’s job satisfaction and watching them achieve something lovely. Some people will want their painting to be really realistic and some not - some really loose, some dainty.”
At the moment Phillippa can be working seven days a week. “I don’t really get a day off. I will at some stage, but you know when you feel a bit driven …
“I do get some of the mornings off, but also do home education classes for children.”
For more information go to phillippagunnart.co.uk
