Join us for this St Patrick’s Day special and get inspired by St Ives painter Tony O’Malley’s intuitive and playful approach to capturing the Cornish landscape.

Take inspiration from O’Malley’s approach and create transcriptions inspired by his approach. Let artist Hilary Jean Gibson guide you through O’Malley and his peers’ work to inspire your own panoramic abstractions of Porthmeor Beach.  

This new series of online classes, ‘Postcards from …’ will use the places in and around St Ives that inspired an international roster of artists including Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Alfred Wallis, Bryan Wynter and Patrick Heron.  

Focusing in particular on sites which captured these artists’ imagination, Postcards from… will take you on a creative journey to the famous spots around St Ives including its harbour, Porthmeor Beach and its cobbled, winding streets, lined with stone fishermen’s houses. Using films of these familiar landscapes, led by one of our experienced tutors, this series will transport you to these inspiring St Ives locations, wherever you are in the world. 

Born in Ireland, artist Tony O’Malley held a long connection with the landscape and people of St Ives.  O’Malley lived and worked in St Ives for 30 years and was influenced by his artist friends there: Lanyon, Heron and Wynter. Self-taught, O’Malley spent most of his life working as a bank clerk but kept a daily practice and kept visual diaries. Of becoming a full-time painter later in life, he said:

‘I have no time for people who mess about doing nothing when it suits them… There’s so much to do. If I run out of canvas, I just paint over something I’ve already done. I’m an old man, and started painting late. I don’t want to waste any time.’ 

Grounded in nature and history, he worked intuitively, painting on everything from scraps of recycled paper and canvas to fragments of wood and slate. After marrying Jane Harris, who had connections with the Bahamas, he divided his time between the two places, eventually returning to Ireland for the last part of his life.  

Following from O’Malley’s exciting approach to art and practice, join Hilary live from our studio above Porthmeor Beach where Hilary will paint both from O’Malley’s paintings and from a live-streamed video of the beach. Hilary will use waterbased materials for her mixed media pieces, but following O’Malley’s anything-goes-attitude, you can use whichever medium you like!

What will I learn?

1. Delve into the processes and techniques of Tony O’Malley, an exciting St Ives artist from the 1960s.
2. Enjoy working more intuitively through following O’Malley’s urgent and playful technique..
3. Learn new ways of capturing the landscape around you, wherever you are in the world!

Who would this course suit?

Beginners and those with more experience are both welcome to join. If you are looking to learn new ways to expand your drawing and painting practice, or just inspiration by looking to other artists, this course is for you.

How does an online session work?

We will send you a link the day before the session so you can join in live.

You will be working from the same recorded video as Hilary so you will see both Hilary at work and the video on screen

You can put questions to the tutor using the online chat function. We record the sessions so you can watch on demand, as often as you like, for up to 6 months after. You will also be invited to join our Facebook Alumni group so you can share your discoveries with fellow students from around the world.

Please note as this is a live broadcast from time to time there will be technical challenges that are beyond our control. When this happens we may have to delay the start while we resolve them. We kindly suggest you enjoy the recordings instead of attending the live session if this might not suit your plans.

Share your work live with others on social media using the #schoolofpainting

What to Bring

We will email you a full guide on setting up ready for the course covering equipment and materials when you book. Hilary will use gouache paint, but acrylic will work in a similar way. You will also need cartridge paper or watercolour paper, at least two A3 sheets.

You will need access to the internet and either a Smart TV, PC or laptop or a tablet with audio. Phones are not really suitable however cast your phone to a Smart TV.

Timings and Breaks

Live broadcast: 4.30pm-6.00pm, Thursday 17th March.

During the session please pose questions to the artist using the chat function.

We will be sending you a recording of the sessions so you can revisit as often as you like for up to 6 months after broadcast.