The Spring Gardens and surrounding tree borders are the perfect place to find strong contrasts. You will venture down their pathways to reveal a bold approach to drawing and painting. Working both in the studio and around the Spring Gardens, you will be hunting out some visual woodland shapes with striking contrasts, taking in not only the forms before you but the light around these forms. You will look to one or two particular artists for inspiration as you explore some dramatic tree and plant shapes. Your tutor will offer up some painting techniques to help you explore the subject fully. These various approaches will enable you to develop a personal and intuitive response to your subject matter. Finally, your drawings and painted sketches will be brought together in the form of one or two watercolour compositions.
There will be plenty of demonstrations and one-to-one support from your tutor. You will be encouraged to progress, change and explore.
By the end of the course, you will have generated new ideas for further development. You will have shaken up your thinking/intuitive mental balance and become better acquainted with a painting arena outside your normal comfort zone.
No preparation is required for this course, but please bring any photos/sketches that you find inspirational and any techniques/materials that you want to discuss or explore.
GENERAL COURSE TIMELINE
All working methods will be demonstrated by the tutor and repeated as required.
The tutor may change the course structure as appropriate.
- Course welcome and outline
- Drawing from observation, exploring form, light and shade - outside
- Looking at selected artists by your tutor and considering some dynamic approaches to your subject matter
- Some drawing exercises to loosen up
- Painted sketching to develop ideas
- Being adventurous - personal interpretations of the woodland landscape: using colour to create mood
- Considerations of the pictoral with final paintings
- Sharing ideas
- Group review and how to keep up momentum after this course