Course details
Moving between en plein air sketching on the cliffs and beaches around St Ives and developing work back in the studio, create intuitive and expressive responses to the landscape using oil paints and oil bars.
Inspired by expressive painters from St Ives and beyond, this course encourages you to move between direct observation and personal interpretation, developing a freer and more sensory response to land, sea and sky. Through a balance of time spent outdoors and in the studio, you will explore ways of reimagining landscape through colour, texture, gesture and abstraction. Use observations as starting points to develop intuitive and expressive paintings in oils and oil bars, exploring dynamic mark-making with brushes, knives and other tools.
Open to all levels, this course is ideal for those interested in experimentation, generating ideas and loosening their approach to painting. You will be moving away from representation towards abstraction and a personal, painterly language rooted in atmosphere, memory and place.
There will be time spent walking and working outdoors on rough coastal ground in order to capture the rugged landscape beyond the town and along the coast path. The weather can be unpredictable, so please come prepared with suitable footwear, waterproofs and warm clothing.
Day to day plan
This is a rough indication of what to expect over the course. However sometimes the structure of the days may alter depending on the nature of the group and weather.
Day 1
Following a brief introduction and discussion we will start off by looking at the working practice of artists Joan Eardley, Alfred Wallis and David Tress. Later, we will head out to the Island. This iconic part of St Ives will help us consider the landscape, the skyline and horizon working tonally, expressively and broadly, with a limited colour palette.
Day 2
Today, we will work a little larger, using oil paint on our coloured grounds. We will consider the working practice and imagery of Barbara Rae, who developed monoprints from her drawings. Following a demo you will try out monoprinting and monotype. After a drinks break, we will walk out to Clodgy Point. Working loosely, thin to thick paint with lots of quick studies.
Day 3
Our aim is to create loose, vigorous and expressive landscape painting in oils. The day will be spent on individual pieces, layering to create texture and depth, developed from our outside work.
Ahead of your oil painting course with us if you would like to brush up your skills, you are entitled to 25% off our online “Getting Started with Oil Painting” course here. You will be given a code after purchasing our studio oil painting course.
Our studio ‘Beginner’s Oil Painting’ courses can be found here.
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
Jill was an excellent tutor. Very well run course, engaging and insightful. Thoroughly enjoyable and I learnt lots of new techniques.
Jill is a brilliant artist and a great teacher. I’m an untrained novice but this was so accessible and inspiring
I have attended many courses here and they have always been excellent. But this was superb. The tutor was so inspirational and I shall draw on her generous knowledge over and over again. Jill catered to a range of experiences and her style was so approachable.
The energy and patience of Jill, our tutor, was amazing and l am so pleased with the work she helped me create!
Jill is experienced and very knowledgeable. She packed the three days with flexible options, learning and experience. I am coming away energised and with new avenues to pursue and a range of approaches to experiment with. Jill was generous with her time and met each student’s process with encouragement and thoughtfulness. I think the course contained a vast amount more than one might expect on a three-day workshop.
The resources and the space to work in were excellent. The tutoring was wonderfully inspiring and supportive. I felt encouraged and supported all through and learnt new things
FAQs
You might also like...
Resolving Intuitive Painting (recording)
Caroline Robinson
Immerse yourself in a world of instinct with this explorative online class, looking at ways to coax an intuitive painting to it’s natural conclusion.
Painting Clouds
Tom Rickman
Learn how to capture the shifting drama, light and atmosphere of the sky and discover how clouds can transform a landscape and become the focus of a powerful painting.
Seeing the Light
Kieran Stiles
When artists talk about light, what do they mean? How does it work, and what does it say? Explore different concepts and methods of representing light in this 2 and a half hour recorded online course led by artist Kieran Stiles.
Coastal Light in Oil
Gary Long
Join artist, Gary Long, on location and in the studio as he shares his oil painting journey, from preparatory drawings, discussing colour mixing, layering, brush techniques to the creation of depth and dimension in his drawings and paintings of Pendeen Watch.
Window into Plein Air
Andrew Barrowman
Have you ever wanted to paint outside but unsure where to start? Delve into the practice of oil painting en plein air inspired by the remarkable Cornish landscape.
Abstracting Zennor in Autumn
Martha Holmes
Following Martha’s hugely successful first webinar with us, we welcome her back to explore a rich Autumnal palette. Delve into abstract expressionism to create a landscape painting in oils with this two-part recording.
Postcards from St Ives - Whistler at the Coast
Andrew Barrowman
James Whistler and Walter Sickert painted together in St Ives in 1884. What can we take from their energetic studies to help you with your own landscape painting in oils?