Abstract Coastline
Drawing / Mixed Media / Water-based / Abstract / Landscape - Materials included
We haven’t scheduled this course yet. Please email us to register your interest for future availability.
Register InterestCourse details
Create abstract and experimental compositions in collage and watercolour inspired by the Cornish coastline.
Where do you gather inspiration for your art? How do you start a painting when you don’t know where to start? Over three days, artist Kitty Hillier will show you how to look at your everyday surroundings afresh and create experimental and abstract compositions from a process of close observation, slow-drawing and playful mark-making.
Start with a slow meander through St Ives and across Porthmeor Beach. Gather objects for inspiration and draw your surroundings using close observation. Using all of your senses, Kitty will show you how to pay attention to the seasonal transitions, forgotten spaces and discarded objects.
Drawing inspiration from the work of various artists including Eileen Agar, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Sandra Blow, Kitty will explain how these artists distilled natural shapes and forms into their creative practice, and how you can use these artists’ works to inspire your own creative journey.
Integrating this inspiration into your own work, you will use collage and watercolour to play with various ideas. Work on a series of collages and use line and colour to explore multiple resolutions for your compositions. If you are looking for fresh ideas and approaches to liven up your practice, this course is for you.
What will I learn?
- Gain inspiration from your everyday surroundings. Learn close observation and how ‘being in the moment’ can help you make more intuitive, abstract work.
- Build confidence in drawing and mark-making.
- A greater understanding of other artists who have been inspired by landscape and abstraction.
- Building tools from objects around you. Gain confidence in working in various mediums.
- Transform your observations into abstract paintings.
Who would this course suit?
This course is suitable for anyone. If you are interested in loosening your approach to drawing and painting, as well as finding new ways of capturing the environment around you, this course is for you. Most importantly, this will be a chance to explore and experiment without judgement.
There will be some walking on the morning of the first day.
Taught by
What to Bring
Our studios are fully equipped and we provide you with all the materials you need for your course. However, if you have a favourite set of brushes or any specialist materials that you would prefer to use, please bring them with you.
Timings and Breaks
The first day starts at 10am and finishes at 4.30pm, please aim to arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the start time.
All course days after that start at 9.30am and finish at 4pm and there will be an hour for lunch. There are plenty of nearby places to eat and we will serve tea and coffee at break times during the day.
What our students say
It was delivered in a calming, easy to understand way. Kitty was supportive and encouraging, and pushed us out of comfort zones enough to get the best out of every student.
The course was really well designed, and Kitty Hillier was clear, coherent and very patient. She created a really special learning environment.
Kitty was so brilliant throughout and created and encouraged a magical atmosphere of calm, alongside furious productivity. I enjoyed every second of it, it was exactly what I needed to loosen up my style and I will be embedding many of the techniques into my own practice. Wonderful people in a truly inspiring space!
Kitty has a lovely relaxed meditative approach and is so generous in sharing her personal processes.
FAQs
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