This website is dedicated to the creative works of Joan Sidnell, British painter, sculptor and author. The works on display reflect both Joan’s considerable creative talent and her somewhat adventurous life.

In her time, she has been a nurse, farmer and artist, as well as mother to ten children. Married three times, she has lived in four countries, setting up her easel and laptop wherever she went to record her surroundings and let her imagination wander.

Joan works on a book in her garden

She has also been a student of human cultures, obtaining a degree in anthropology from the University of Wales, Lampeter, and has assisted with archaeological excavations on the Giza Plateau, Egypt.

Joan was born on the Feast of the Assumption, 1934, at the Louis Margaret hospital in Aldershot, England, first-born daughter to Iris and Reginald Whatton. Her father served in India with the British Army, leaving Joan and her mother to face Hitler’s bombs and rockets alone for most of the Second World War.

While Joan’s father was British through and through, her mother Iris was born in Turin, Italy, the daughter of an Italian father and a Maltese mother. These foreign origins and the struggles that they entailed form the core of Joan’s book Oh Grandmama!

Partly biographical, partly autobiographical and with a good dash of fiction, the book tells of the love affair between Joan’s Maltese grandmother and Italian grandfather, their tumultuous marriage and separation. It goes on to detail the transplantation of the family to England, and the lives, loves and struggles of subsequent generations, up to the modern day.

Joan’s inspiration for the work came largely from her mother Iris, who was scarred by her troubled childhood. It was hoped that writing the tale would set ghosts to rest.

Joan as a little girl

Joan has written a number of other books, often taking inspiration from real-life experiences. Among her first works was Twelve Pairs of Boots, an often comical record of her life on a farm in Kent, where she raised her children with husband Alan, a headmaster.

The same farm provided inspiration for Grumlin O’Grady, a children’s story about a bad-tempered half-elf seeking to defend his country home from invading humans. The book was written largely to entertain Joan’s children, but it also bears some profound messages that adults may appreciate.

Joan’s move to Egypt some years later provided inspiration for yet another book, this time on a more worldly topic. Honour is a fictionalised account of mysterious and brutal events that took place in Cairo, not far from Joan’s own apartment. This novel reads like a detective story, but it also raises questions about the difficult position of women in conservative and ultra-religious societies.

These four books have all be published in paperback and can be purchased online. Further details can be found on this website.

Joan’s Italian grandfather with brush and palette

Joan is perhaps best known for her talents as a painter and sculptor, skills which she perhaps inherited from her Italian grandfather, Giovanni Boella, an artist of some renown in his day. Indeed, she often took creative inspiration from her grandfather, whose picture she kept close by in her artist’s studio.

Although Joan trained and worked as a nurse, she also earned a living for many years by selling pictures and sculptures, as well as giving private painting lessons. Most of her artworks have been sold or given away, and they now adorn homes far and wide. However, she has kept a few samples stretching back several decades, many of which can be viewed on this website.

These few works  —  in acrylic, watercolour, oils and pastels — provide an insight into Joan’s wandering life, from England to Wales, Egypt to the south of France. They demonstrate her love of nature, her empathy with both animals and people, and her fascination with human culture in its rich variety.

Joan is now back in Kent, England, where she enjoys the company of her extended family, including many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It is partly for their benefit that she has sought to share a few of her creative works — the record of an artist’s life.