Get Involved

Not So Still Life ✏️

Our brand new 2-day course, with local artist Roger Towndrow gives you the opportunity to experience still life in a new way, with this exploratory drawing course.

Produce drawings in series, quick studies and sustained works, and explore various artists such as Paul Klee and Julie Mehretu, discussing how movement and imagination relate to working from observation.

📅 1-2 February
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Find out more through the link in our bio ...

Upcoming Exhibition 📅

We are pleased to share the details of Inscape Outscape, an exhibition by a group of 18 contemporary artists who teach at St Ives School of Painting.

Visit the exhibition, held at the historic Porthmeor Studios, from 10-17 December. Meet the artists, view the full collection of works and if you are inspired by a particular artist, there will be an opportunity to book onto one of their 2025 courses!

🔹 Inscape Outscape
📅 10-17 December, 10am-5pm
🖼 Private View: Tues 10 Dec, 5pm-7pm (open to the public)
📍 Borlase Smart Room at Porthmeor Studios

Featured:
@alicemumford
@amyalbrightartist
@camilladixon1968
@erobertsarts
@garylongartist
@greghumphriesart
@hilaryjeangibson.illustrator
@ilkercinarel
@ionasanders
@eiselejill
@kate_southworth
@kieranstiles
@kittyhillier
@houghliz
@lizzyluckwellart
@marionelizabethtaylor
@tomrickmanartist
@victoriagillowart ...

Live Q&A this Thursday 🎙

If you are thinking about joining our developmental course, the Porthmeor Programme, join us online this Thursday evening for a Q&A with course tutors Kate Southworth & Greg Humphries.

Ask any burning questions you might have and hear from alumni who have previously taken the programme.

📅 Thursday 28 November, 18.00
🔗 Sign up via the link in our bio
@kate_southworth @greghumphriesart ...

Inside Outside🪟

Inspired by Vermeer, Pierre Bonnard and Winifred Nicholson, discover how to use windows in your paintings to frame, open and contrast. Guided by Alice Mumford, you will also examine the particular challenges when tackling space in paintings and how artists overcome these.

📅 10 - 12 February
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🖼 Featured: Summer Jasmine, Alice Mumford
🔗 Book now via the link in our bio ...

Give the gift of art this Christmas 🎁

Is the daunting task of festive shopping playing on your mind? This year, you could buy a family member or a friend an unforgettable experience with one of our gift vouchers.

And we have an option for any budget. Vouchers come in any denomination from £10, so a £30 gift voucher could get them an online course, or a £400 voucher would give them the chance to join us for an inspirational 3-day course in our studios overlooking the beach!

Your first gift, sorted ✅
🔗 Tap the link in our bio ...

Live online course with artist, Holly Razavi 🎨

Join our upcoming 2-part live webinar with Holly Razavi which aims to encourage people to observe the often-overlooked details in their surroundings. Hear about Holly`s methods for deconstructing colours and forms to capture those fleeting moments in time.

🎥 Live broadcast: 3rd & 5th December, 16.00
💻 Re-watch for up to 90 days after the start of the course
🖼 Featured: Mousehole Harbour, @hollyrazaviart ...

Still chance to join 🌗🌙

Part two of @greghumphriesart online course, The Art of the Sun + the Moon is coming up. We saw some brilliant work (featured) come out of the first session as students learnt how to create an abstract painting evoking the feelings of the sun and the moon, and explored artists who have dealt with the subject of these celestial bodies in the past.

You can still catch up on part one - watch it before or after part two!

🎥 Live broadcast: Tues 19 November, 16.00
🔗 Book now via the link in our bio
🖼 Featured student artwork: `Autumn Sun`, Myrtle Watt ...

"Iona is a wonderful artist and empowering tutor who gave everyone the space to be themselves and develop their skills and talents without fear or criticism. A remarkable achievement." - Anita 💫

Just one piece of incredible feedback following our course `Banish Fear of Failure` with Iona Sanders. You can join her course in January, kickstart the new year with a new found confidence:

📅 20 – 22 Jan 2025
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Book via the link in our bio
Featured: Kitchen Table, Iona Sanders ...

Original Rebels Exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Museum 📅

A collection of work by artist tutor, Camilla Dixon, which traces the legacy of environmental and social activism in her work back to the time of Hepworth and Heron, is soon to be showing at Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, 22 Oct-24 Dec.

Camilla is passionate about using art to communicate thoughts, concerns or obsessions. Her upcoming one-day workshop `Art & Message` will help you identify what you want to say or explore, and then experiment with ways to create work around that, or incorporate these ideas into your existing practice.

📅 Art & Message, 25 November
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio

Featured: A Figure in a Landscape, Original Rebels, Camilla Dixon ...

This week, we welcome Brighton-based artist Julian Vilarubbi to our wonderful team of tutors.

After studying painting at the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he won the Richard Ford Award for travel in Spain, Julian has been creating landscape paintings based on travels throughout Europe and Russia. Julian works en plein air as well as in the studio, and drawing underpins all of his work.

Take a look at Julian`s upcoming courses in 2025:
🔹 Figure in a Landscape, 19-22 June
🔸Landscape & Composition, 29 Sep-1 Oct
🔗 Find out more via the link in our bio

Featured: Swimmer at the Mixed Pond, Hampstead Heath, Julian Vilarrubi ...

Expressive Painting in the Elements 🌊

Guided by Amy Albright, follow in the footsteps of artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Peter Lanyon, whose abstract expressionism will help to inform and inspire your own individualistic style. This is an opportunity to paint outside in various locations in St. Ives, from gardens to the dramatic shorelines.

Featured: Keynvor, @amyalbrightartist

📅 22 - 24 Apr 2025
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Book via the link in our bio ...

Welcome to new tutor, Roger Towndrow 👋

With over 30 years of experience teaching BA and MA Fine Art Courses, Rogers recent work has explored a range of subjects through drawing. This has included imaginative landscapes, plant studies influenced by 17th century botanical illustrations, and work based on studies from nearby Tehidy woods.

Learn from Roger in his upcoming 2-day course, `Not So Still Life` which has an emphasis on enjoying the process of drawing as much as making a finished piece.

🗓 1-2 February
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Book now via our website ...

New for 2025: Changing Tides 🌊

Explore the ever-changing ebbing and flowing of the ocean and learn how to create the effect of light shimmering on water with the use of cold wax and oils.

During three-days, guided by artist @kieranstiles, learn to build confidence in representing light, and also the textural quality of the natural world.

🗓 24 - 26 Mar 2025
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Find out more via the link in bio ...

Through Art & Message 💬

Join us in November for a new one-day exploratory workshop helping you to transform your ideas, thoughts and obsessions into art.

Artist Camilla Dixon will help you identify what you want to say or explore, whether personal, political, or even philosophical, and encourage you to experiment with ways to create work around your chosen message.

🗓 25 November
📍 St Ives, Cornwall
🔗 Book now via our website
📸 Pictured: Camilla Dixon, Original Rebels Exhibition 2024 ...