Art Courses
The courses are suitable for all abilities including beginners.
Our courses are limited to 6 participants.
Art in Aldeburgh courses are held at Church Farm Studio, Victoria Road, Aldeburgh, IP15 5EA
Pen and wash
Date: Saturday 16th March and Sunday 17th March 2019
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
This two day course is suitable for both beginners and those more experienced artists who would like to work with watercolour and ink. You will be taught by practical demonstrations, both in the studio and outside, if the weather is suitable. The main aim of the course is to introduce participants to a simple Pen and Wash technique which has potential to produce a lively, fresh and satisfying picture. Andrew believes it is important for participants to find a style and method of painting which they enjoy carrying out and suits their temperament and lifestyle, a method that can also produce a satisfying painting and can be adapted to fit the time they have available to devote to painting.
Photographic Course
How to extend your knowledge about photography
Date: Saturday 13th April and Sunday 14th April 2019
Tutor: Stan Hill Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
This is a two day photography course, ideal for beginners, for those who have had more experience but want to improve their photography and for painters who use photography to aid their work. The course will be tailored around the needs of the people attending the course. Stan will help those who want to discover and improve their digital skills. He will show how different cameras and lenses work, how to download and how to use the computer programs Photoshop/Lightroom. The Aldeburgh landscape has many opportunities for taking photos and Stan will help those to capture the best composition. Back to the studio, he will show you how they can be treated in Photoshop. Finally the images will be discussed and critiqued with a view to helping improve the images by editing.
Oil painting: A direct method
Date: Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2019
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
This course is suitable for both beginners and more experienced painters who have been disappointed with their pictures.
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.
An Aldeburgh Sketch Book
Date: Saturday 13th July and Sunday 14th July 2019
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Aldeburgh is full of inspiring subjects to sketch – beautiful buildings, breathtaking views, the beach, boats and the sea as well as lots of interesting people! Carole will show you how to translate these delightful surroundings into sketches and pen and wash studies. The course will cover buildings and perspective, boats and beach scenes as well as quick people studies – all the skills needed to fill your sketchbook, and an ideal way to improve your drawing technique. We will mostly be working outdoors using pencil, waterproof and water soluble pens with watercolours and/or water soluble pencils. Suitable for all abilities.
A fresh approach to watercolour
Date: Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th July 2019
Tutor: Andrew Pitt Cost: £295 ((includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
This three day course is for anyone who has tried watercolour but has been disappointed with their results. It will be suitable for beginners and more experienced painters who have got bogged down in ‘rules’. Andrew aims by demonstration and individual tuition to show how the elusive properties of watercolour, transparency and freshness can be achieved. The course will include plenty of practical work including how to analyse and simplify a subject in a visual way. The aim of the course is to stimulate encourage and show that painting attractive, lively watercolours is achievable by all, using a straight forward no- nonsense approach. Hopefully the weather will be fine and we will be able to work outside.
Bring the picture alive with people
Date: Saturday 3rd August and Sunday 4th August 2019
Tutor: Paul Vousden Cost: £195 ((includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Working in a medium of your choice: Acrylics, watercolours, water soluble pens or pencils, and inks.
This course is suitable for all levels of experience including beginners and will help develop and refine your approach to figure painting. We will look at simple techniques for sketching and observing figures in Aldeburgh and then take this back to the studio to paint up. As well as discovering tools and techniques for rapid figure drawing you will also be able to study and apply shorthand to the principles of body language and human interaction that bring figures to life in your work, whether this is part of a land or cityscape or a feature figure study. This course is not designed to be a rigorous activity, but intended to be a flexible and enjoyable use of your observational and interpretive abilities to create a picture. At the end of the weekend all will be able to take away a completed picture.
Collage and mixed media
An opportunity to explore the intriguing and contemporary world of collage and mixed media.
Date: Saturday 10th August and Sunday 11th August 2019
Tutor: Ake Arnedal Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Ake will examine historical and contemporary collage and mixed media. In this fun and supportive class, a series of themes and subjects will be explored while giving you the opportunity to investigate your personal interests. Ake will show how to incorporate shape, colour and texture using a wide range of materials including ready-made and painted elements, photos and fabric combined with traditional painting and drawing to create the artwork. This two day course is suitable for all levels of experience including beginners.
Pastel Perfection
Date: Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October 2019
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Using soft pastels and pastel pencils, this weekend course will explore ways of using this colourful and responsive medium to capture the colours and light of the landscape and buildings, the subtleties of skin tones in a portrait or the texture of an animal’s fur. Through demonstration and personal tuition Carole will guide you through many techniques to use soft pastels and pastel pencils to their full effect. The choice of subject is yours and weather permitting we may be able to sketch and/or paint outside. Suitable for all abilities.
An Aldeburgh Sketch Book
This is a repeat of our July course by popular demand
Date: Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th October 2019
Tutor: Carole Massey Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Aldeburgh is full of inspiring subjects to sketch – beautiful buildings, breathtaking views, the beach, boats and the sea as well as lots of interesting people! Carole will show you how to translate these delightful surroundings into sketches and pen and wash studies. The course will cover buildings and perspective, boats and beach scenes as well as quick people studies – all the skills needed to fill your sketchbook, and an ideal way to improve your drawing technique. We will mostly be working outdoors using pencil, waterproof and water soluble pens with watercolours and/or water soluble pencils. Suitable for all abilities.
An invitation to abstract art
Date: Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th November 2019
Tutor: Ake Arnedal Cost: £195 (includes refreshments and a light lunch with wine)
Pay: £50 deposit to reserve your place
Working in a medium of your choice: Acrylics, watercolour or pastels.
Are you curious about Abstract Art and how to create and develop it? This class will provide you with an insight into this world. A wide range of different approaches to working in this way will be explored. Ake will begin by looking at the works of some artists who have chosen this way of expressing themselves and see how this language has developed in the art world of today. In a relaxed and supportive atmosphere you will gain an understanding of its history and the ideas which lay the groundwork for this form of art. You will try out different approaches i.e abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction, colour field painting and minimalism. Looking at the wider area between the representational and abstraction we will start by working from the figurative perspective and gradually work towards abstraction. Apart from the exercises you have explored, you should have completed a piece of work of your choice to take with you at the end of the weekend.