Drawing inspiration from Zennor’s rugged landscape and folklore, Hilary Jean Gibson, will guide you through her watercolour painting process, emphasising the importance of sketchbooks and research in addition to the painting process itself, extending beyond the artwork.

Join artist Hilary Jean Gibson as she visits the historic village of Zennor, the 12th century church, and its surrounding cliffs. Zennor lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has been home to many creatives over the years. D.H Lawrence and his wife lived in Zennor during the First World War, whilst he was writing “Women in Love” and the artist Patrick Heron lived at “Eagle’s Nest”, overlooking the cliffs near Zennor, until his death in 1999.

Hilary has a fascination for history and enjoys exploring narratives in her paintings. She will be walking and working with water-based materials, in her concertina sketchbook in different Zennor locations, sharing her observations as a visual diary and exploring the myth of ‘The Mermaid of Zennor’. Delve into the fun of exploring colour and water-based paint and combine this with the drawing and sketching exercises laid out in this course, to make composite paintings that capture the essence of a place.

What’s included:

Preparatory videos make and prepare your own concertina sketchbook for taking on your travels and explore a range of watercolour painting techniques to help keep your ideas free flowing.

On location footage observe and learn from Hilary as she introduces the village of Zennor and shares her techniques for working in the landscape.

Drawing Exercises which can be completed over a few days or a week, depending on your time commitments. (Use the reference images for this or you can go out and explore a place of your choice).

Reference images of the unique Cornish landscape that our tutors will be visiting. You can revisit these time and time again, to practice the techniques learned in the session.

Studio Session (1.5hrs)

Learn more about the artistic process, the symbolism and inspiration behind Hilary’s paintings. Hilary demonstrates how she scales up her ideas and lets the process help her paintings unfold. Using the watercolour techniques and drawing exercises completed earlier in the course, have fun with creating your own paintings.

‘So enchanting and valuable. The course gives you a clear plan of action to research the subject and make studies of it , and demonstrates methods you can use – all of which is transferable to your ongoing practice. It’s also very interesting to hear about Zennor and the mermaid’. Geraldine.

What will I need?

A list of materials will be available to see in your account along with all the pre-recorded lessons and exercises upon purchase of this course.

You will need access to the internet and ideally a PC, laptop or a tablet with audio.

You will have access to this pre recorded course for up to 60 days after purchase.