Art Courses
Courses are suitable for all abilities including beginners.
We are fortunate each season to occupy a unique, privately-owned studio with bespoke facilities in Victoria Road, Aldeburgh, which is adjacent to Aldeburgh Church Car Park. The size of the studio limits the number of participants on each course to six.
We are just a few minutes’ walk from the sea front and a similar distance from our lunch venue, the well known Lighthouse Restaurant.
Using our studio and the Lighthouse Restaurant allows us the freedom to run the courses when we wish and to provide an extended ‘season’ with weekday and weekend courses. I am now taking bookings and am asking for a £50 deposit to secure a place. Please use the booking form provided.
Watercolour – A Short Refresher Course
*This course is now FULL – please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd March 2025
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £235
Students attending this course will be introduced to a simple, straightforward method of painting in watercolour which is easy to understand, feels natural, and above all, enjoyable. By following a few basic principles, rather than arty techniques, Andrew will show by way of practical demonstrations, how to keep watercolours looking fresh and lively. The course is suitable for both beginners and painters who have tried watercolour and become disappointed with their work. Beginners will get a sound introduction to a medium which has an undeserved reputation for being difficult and more experienced painters will get a review of some fundamental principles which it is all too easy to forget. All aspects of watercolour painting will be covered. There will be plenty of opportunities for practical work and the weather in spring should be good enough to work outside.
Portraits – Adults & Children: Watercolours,
Soft Pastels & Pastel Pencils
*This course is now FULL – Please use the Contact Page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Thursday 10th & Friday 11th April 2025
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £235
Portraits are a fascinating and challenging subject but one which is thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying! Carole will demystify the process of capturing a likeness by leading you through several exercises aiming to improve accuracy, whilst studying the features, looking at facial proportions, the form of the head and comparing adult and children’s faces. Demonstrations of how to mix flesh tones, add shading, tackle realistic hair and clothing and painting a background will be in watercolour and/or soft pastels. We will be working from photographs. If you are using your own reference, please use as good a quality photo as possible, and preferably one not showing teeth!
Wildlife Sculpture in Wire
POSTPONED: Please use the Contact page to ask about future course dates
Tutor: Caro Burberry Cost: £235
This is a two-day sculpture course for all levels of artistic experience where you will have fun, learn new skills and play with creative possibilities. It’s is an ideal introduction to 3-D work using easily accessible tools and materials. Over the two days you will learn how to design and construct a wildlife subject of your choosing. You will be shown how to translate 2-D drawings and images into a 3-D sculptural form and achieve a realistic pose and detailing using a variety of wires. Suitable materials and finishes for different situations will also .be explored.
Freshen Up Your Watercolours
*This course is now FULL – please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th & Monday 19th May 2025
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £345
This three-day course is for beginners, who want a sound introduction to watercolour painting, and for painters with more experience, who have become disillusioned with their work in this medium. Teaching will mainly be by demonstration; individual guidance will be given according to experience. Andrew will aim to show students how to paint a fresh, lively – what is often referred to as a “loose” – watercolour by concentrating on a few basic principles. Fancy techniques and tricks will not be a feature of this course. Instead, the focus will be on seeing clearly, applying the paint in a simple, unfussy and enjoyable way, in order to retain the elusive characteristics of watercolour, transparency and spontaneity. The course will also include plenty of practical work to stimulate and encourage students to continue in this endlessly fascinating, and occasionally frustrating, medium. Hopefully the weather will be fine so we have the opportunity to work outside.
Family Pets – Monoprint & Collage
*2 places available*
Date: Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th July 2025
Tutor: Karenza Jackson Cost: £235
This is a fun opportunity to immortalise your pet in collage, using your own prepared collaging papers for texture and markmaking, and bringing it all together with monoprinting. Not having a pet will not stop you from joining this course as hares, rabbits, foxes or birds always make good candidates.
An Aldeburgh Sketchbook – Pen & Wash & Watercolours
*This course is now FULL – please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th July 2025
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £235
This course will include sketching buildings, boats and beach scenes as well as some quick people studies and a “how to” on perspective – all the skills required to improve your observation and drawing technique and the perfect way to fill your sketchbook. We will mostly be working outdoors using pencil, waterproof and water-soluble pens with watercolours. Carole will tutor on an individual basis.
After an introductory session on Saturday morning in the studio looking at techniques and tips and on working ”en plein air”, we will be out in Aldeburgh for the rest of the day, and all Sunday. if you are not used to working outside. Tuition will be on an individual basis around a chosen location, enabling you to select your own inspiring scene to sketch or paint. On Sunday we will also practice some people sketching. If it rains, there are places we can shelter to work.
Chairs, water pots, drawing boards, and easels (if required), are supplied.
A Room with a View – Mixed Media
*Just 1 place remaining*
Date: Thursday 14th August 2025
Tutor: Karenza Jackson Cost: £125
Looking out through a window or door is a very good device for framing a view to the outside world. People are always curious to know what is out there. Participants might like to make something of their surroundings in Aldeburgh or the view could be of anywhere you would like to be on that particular day! Working in mixed media will allow you the flexibility to develop your work in any direction you want to go.
Acrylics – Landscapes & Seascapes
*This course is now FULL. Please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Thursday 28th & Friday 29th August 2025
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £235
Acrylics are one of the most versatile of painting mediums, ideally suited for catching the light sparkling on the sea, the texture of pebbles or sand, or the more subtle effects of skies, clouds and aerial perspective in landscapes.
On Saturday, after a general introduction to using acrylics, palettes, brushes & supports, Carole will lead you through a series of short exercises painting skies, clouds, trees, waves and water to practice a range of techniques exploring many ways to use this adaptable medium.
On Sunday, you will be able to work on a landscape or seascape of your choice from your own reference or one of Carole’s. We have not planned to work outside, but if it is fine you may wish to spend an hour on Saturday afternoon sketching or taking photos to work from on Sunday.
Oil Painting – A Direct Approach
*2 places available*
Date: Thursday 4th & Friday 5th September 2025
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £235
The course is suitable for both beginners and more experienced painters who have been disappointed with their pictures in the past. It is suitable for three types of students: complete beginners, students who have used other mediums and would like to move on to oils but are confused about the technical aspects and more experienced painters looking for a fresh, direct approach to this versatile medium. Teaching will be by demonstration. All aspects of oil painting will be covered from priming a suitable board to the final varnishing of the finished painting. Direct oil painting means completing a painting in one sitting, sometimes called the alla prima method. The main purpose of the course is to take the mystery out of oil painting and demonstrate how a straight forward method can produce a lively, fresh painting in a single session.
Leporello/Concertina Sketchbook – Aldeburgh Scenes in Mixed Media
*This course is now FULL – please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Thursday 11th September 2025
Tutor: Karenza Jackson Cost: £125
If you are daunted by starting to work on large, clean, white pieces of paper, this workshop will help to get round that. Working on a smaller scale with a handmade concertina sketchbook is a way of presenting your work in a new format. By ‘messing it up a bit’ with random areas of colour or markmaking and then working back into it with mixed media can be very liberating! This is a format favoured by many working artists.
My Scene: Relief Sculptures in Clay
*Just 1 place remaining*
Date: Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st September 2025
Tutor: Caro Burberry Cost: £235
Working in clay to build a relief sculpture is a versatile and fun way to transfer your drawings and ideas into a 3-dimensional picture. We will be using a professional air-drying clay that is tactile to model, durable and paintable once fully dry. Choose your preferred scene, Aldeburgh or otherwise inspired, and enjoy learning how to carve to create shadow and depth, and to model highlights, texture and foreground in your landscape.
The Elements of Portrait Sculpture
*Just 1 place remaining*
Date: Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th October 2025
Tutor: Caro Burberry Cost: £235
Portrait sculpture is a fascinating way to capture not only the likeness but the essence of someone’s spirit in three dimensions. Using a series of photographs and measurements from your chosen subject (you will be instructed what to bring with you on the course) you can have fun exploring working ‘in the round’ using professional air-drying clay. Caro will lead you step by step through the process of modelling your portrait sculpture to create a realistic likeness. The skills of observation, selection and refinement will be covered and essential elements that capture personality and spirit will be demonstrated by Caro. Advice for continuing and finishing your sculpture at home should you wish will be given.
Mixed Media, Collage & Painting Class
*This course is now FULL – Please use the Contact page to ask about our Reserve List*
Date: Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd November
Tutor: Ake Arnerdal Cost: £235
In this fun and liberating class, you will use a wide range of materials and sources to create your art pieces. Some examples of what you can use are newspapers, photos, drawings, plastic, fabrics and so on. These will be combined with acrylic paint, pastels, ink, charcoal and marker pens.
We will work both figurative and towards different levels of abstraction. The power of colours will be explored, and you will play with different combinations to achieve various moods or feelings in your work. The use of diverse mark making as a way to communicate is also something we will look at. The class will work for all level of experience including beginners.
