On the final day of his recent water colour short course, we sat down in the Oak Hall with Brian Smith to discuss his upcoming courses as part of the West Dean x Petworth House collaboration.

Could you start by introducing yourself and talking about the courses that you'll be teaching as part of the Petworth collaboration and how they relate to Turner?

Turner was known for painting mood, light and atmosphere and that's what I specialise in, that's what I'm about. I'm writing a book on it at the moment and it's about that intangible thing of capturing the mood, the light and the atmosphere of whatever the subject matter is and Turner was prolific and a wonderful master of that skill. So what we’re going to be doing is working at Petworth Park ‘en plein air’ in very similar surroundings to those Turner painted in. We’ll also be taking a looking at some of the paintings that are going to be on display at Petworth House on this course. It's a wonderful opportunity for people to actually grasp the initial idea of painting plein air, I’m running a one day course for beginners and a two day course for the more experienced depending on the level of experience. But predominantly it's going to be about working outside and absorbing that wonderful atmosphere and seeing what can be created.

What makes Turner significant as an artist?

He’s significant because his work was transitional in as much as he liked to suggest and imply and allow the viewer to interpret the marks that were made. There's a high degree of observation from him but when the viewer saw the work, they'd also have to interpret the marks that were made. Those marks might capture the essence of a stormy ship at sea, or the atmosphere of a storm coming in, whatever was happening in the environment that he was choosing to paint.

What draws you to watercolour as a medium and especially that plein air element?

The fundamental thing I like to paint and what I’m fascinated by is collective shape, the mood of any subject. I paint urban scenes a lot of the time, daily life appeals to me, you know, it can be incidental to someone else, but it can mean a lot to me. You make something that appears ordinary and make it interesting, that’s the joy of plein air, it might be people, it might be trees, it might be landscape, it could be the house – anything! I tend to look for collective shapes, I group shapes of objects, and things that create harmony within a piece of work, which is very much in line with the marks Turner made, he was a master.

What would you say to potential students who feel intimidated about picking up a paintbrush, either for the first time or the first time in a long time?

I'd first of all say that initially, if you do small quick ideas that breaks the process down so you're not worried about. It doesn't matter whether it works or doesn't work. You might do a selection of five or six, small, quick things that take half an hour or so to get the idea to get the arm moving to get the paint flowing and then to start to ease yourself in. It's that process of putting brush to paper and making marks, and then seeing what they become, then you can move on to the larger subject, the more challenging piece and your your confidence grows. Like anything. The more you do something, the more confident you get. Just ease yourself in and don’t being afraid of failure. It's a learning curve for all of us, but it's wonderful fun.

Feels like a quite a philosophical approach to painting, do you apply this in life more generally?

Well, yeah, I mean, we've lived in various parts of the world. My wife and I have wandered a little bit and we've enjoyed that ‘what-if’ process where you’re never sure what's going to happen until you try. I think, you know, we've only got one life, so go for it and it's the same with painting, you know, push yourself and join one of the courses. I think people will get an awful lot out of it.

More broadly, why should people engage in creative pursuits?

Well, everyone has a busy life these days. People spend their whole life chasing around and chasing aims and trying to achieve things. Engaging in the creative process is so fulfilling and it's just it takes you to a different dimension and what it means is, you've got to give it your wholehearted attention in order to achieve something. You can't do it without full thought.

Learn more about West Dean x Petworth House collaboration