HEAD LIFE
March 8th/9th Sat/Sun
Fee £100
Tutor: Eleanor White
This course is FULLY Subscribed

A lively approach to drawing will be taken in this workshop, looking at artists from the 20th century and how they sought to capture the sitter. The course will cover drawing and painting and will consider the form, mass and structure of the sitter as well as a personal response to the pose. As the title suggests it will concentrate on working from the head, giving an intense focus for the weekend. This course would act as an introduction for those wishing to approach this subject for the first time and also for those with some experience.

Throughout this fun two-day workshop we will journey through a variety of experimental and unusual media processes in order to develop a semi-abstract mixed media - an exciting and imaginative response to a variety of imagery.

In this watercolour course tuition will comprise an understanding and choice of colours, various wash techniques (including wet-in-wet work), developing drawing and composition skills and a wide range of atmospheric and textural ideas. The course is suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike.

Laura will encourage you to take everyday objects and inspiration from the courtyard as a starting point to plan your artwork. Her hands on, direct approach will soon have you confidently using acrylic, inks, charcoal and pastel. You will then use a wider variety of tools and mixed media to build surface texture and make expressive marks. She will tailor the course to suit your individual needs, encouraging the complete beginner or more experienced artist.

Drawing is the foundation underlying most artwork whether with brush, nib or whatever. Sketching can be described as the skill of quickly catching an impression. This two-day workshop is aimed at passing on tips, skills and techniques involved in gathering visual information more easily and quickly. We will look afresh as such areas as perspective, scale, placement, angles, tone, line, negative space and so forth, in a way that will enable you to apply them as you wish in your artwork.

Botanical Illustration is the art of depicting plant forms accurately to capture their individual characteristics and to aid identification. The course will include demonstration and individual tuition covering drawing techniques, composition and colour mixing. We will be working in watercolours. Please bring your own selection but you may find the list sent to you with “Things to bring” useful.

Peter will give demonstrations as well as personal help and guidance for those who haven’t done much painting with water-colours, as well as helping those who want to improve their technique. He will show how light reveals and models the visual world and can be a great source of inspiration for the creative artist, particularly how it effects the everyday objects around us.

He trained as a book illustrator and has taught art and design for many years. His courses at Old Sleningford are very popular and helpful.

This two-day course will help painters in oils to achieve a pleasing landscape sketch in two hours when light and shadow are constant. Robin will start the first day with a demonstration to show preparation of materials and the advantages of working on 8” x 10” panels with a tinted ground. The second day starts with a half hour lecture with slides of the work of the great landscape sketchers like Corot and Constable.

Have fun working with pastels and pastel pencils, exploring the tricks and techniques available with this exciting medium. Suitable for beginners and the more experienced enthusiast, pastels are a quick and responsive medium for creating realism or atmospheric images.

Angela will take you on a floral exploration using mainly watercolour, but also introducing some mixed media, e.g. gouache, ink and pastels - oil or soft. The aim of the workshop is to encourage a more imaginative, expressive, free and sometimes slightly more abstract approach to flower painting. Anyone who loves the form and rich colour of flowers, regardless of experience, will find this approach inspiring and a help in developing confidence.

Miranda writes: “Look at the proportions and perspective of the figure when starting a portrait. The composition is important for catching character so look not only at the features but at the same time take into account how the pose of the sitter is in itself expressive of the character.

Analyse the whole look of the sitter and translate this to tone or line trying to capture the character: looking at the shading and light, form and the effect of colour and dramatic light for different effects: using the quality of line and pattern to give areas different treatment.”