Abstracting Nature

Mixed Media / Abstract - Materials included

We haven’t scheduled this course yet. Please email us to register your interest for future availability.

Course details

This course encourages you to slow down and connect with your surroundings. It invites playful experimentation with colour and materials, allowing the creation of unique, layered artworks.

Join Cornwall based artist Kitty Hillier in taking inspiration from her daily wanderings around the Cornish coastline. Benefit from Kitty’s contemporary take on landscape and nature which encourages material experimentation and using all the senses to finding a way in to creating abstract compositions using ink, collage and acrylic paint.

Seek inspiration from your everyday environment through a process of close observation, slow drawing and playful mark-making. Start with a slow meander through St Ives and across Porthmeor Beach. Kitty will show you how to pay attention to the seasonal transitions, forgotten spaces and discarded objects.

Back in the studio, discover the joy of colour mixing from the three primaries to find your unique colour stories. Taking inspiration from Kitty and other artists’ practices, learn how to add texture and depth to your paintings and start to build up your surfaces using layers – you will end the course by creating your own unique abstract compositions, using the colours and textures that resonate closely with you.

Eileen Agar, Adam’s Apple, 1949 © The Estate of Eileen Agar

St Ives Painting collage online art Course Kitty Hillier — Eileen Agar, Adam’s Apple, 1949 © The Estate of Eileen Agar

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 and maquettes 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.

Abstracting Nature

Mixed Media / Abstract – Materials included

We haven’t scheduled this course yet. Please email us to register your interest for future availability.

Taught by

Kitty
Hillier

View Kitty’s Work

My approach encourages play, experimentation and trust in our gut intuition. It’s always great to hear that after trying some of the quick mark-making and drawing exercises that I teach, people are keen to repeat them at home regularly as a way to relax or reset.

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.

There will be some walking on the morning of the first day.

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

I enjoyed the pace and range of materials that Kitty covered. The course has given me lots of ideas and things to think about over the next few weeks. We were lucky enough to see Kitty’s piece in the exhibition at the Penzance Exchange, and it helped understand her thinking. The studio was really well organised – lovely to be able to have coffee and biscuits too!

Sara M

The course was very well organised, Kitty was very experienced and enthusiastic. The experimental side was fantastic. Thank you!