All Courses

Now Offered as an Pre-recorded Online Course - Once registered, students have access to the films for as long as you need.

A Handful of Objects is designed as a three day course led by Simon Carter, looking at how you can create energetic and inventive compositions based around objects and activity in the studio. There are 3 films, plus a short introductory film, that last for an average of 1 hour. Working in your own studio you collect a group of objects together that you will start making paintings from using direct observation, seeing how inventive you can be while staying true to the familiar objects. You will then look at constructing larger pieces in a process of collaging and building, looking to find big compositions based on still life but with the lyricism and breadth of landscape.

Gather a group of favourite objects: two man-made things, two natural things, two patterned things and reproductions of two favourite paintings. For the first 2 sessions of the course it would be best to work with acrylic paint on paper, painting, collaging, glueing together, building an image. Looking to make something large, dramatic, disruptive and daring. Making paintings from this dymanic collage could be done in oils if you prefer

Now Offered as an Pre-recorded Online Course - Once purchased you have unlimited access to the recordings.

Drawing and painting self-portraits, looking at yourself in the mirror, is a grounding, challenging and invigorating experience. You are in good company as many of the great painters in history made Self Portraits. You are free to invent and take risks, as there is no one to offend or judge the likeness other than yourself. It is a chance to contemplate, scrutenise and explore how to capture more than just a likeness; to convey with feeling the mood of the gaze, to enjoy the sculptural qualities of the subject and materials. During this 3 day course Emily will have a large mirror in her studio so that she can draw and paint herself, live on camera, to demonstrate and also work alongisde you. She will lead you through processes that help you become confident at manipulating the materials so that they become the subject. She will suggest ways of layering marks and shapes taken from observation to help you invent more expressive ways of making the features of the face. A fleeting glance, the tilt of the head, rubbing through, redrawing and editing provide a fertile ground, with its layered materials and moments, to offer you powerful images that hold your gaze.

By the end of the 3 days you will have lots of drawings and painted studies that will be full of good material for many paintings. You will also have begun at least two paintings. Emily will encourage you to continue these paintings after the course has finished.

Artists’ work that might inspire you: Matisse, Picasso, Chantal Joffe, Maggie Hambling, Stephen Chambers (‘The Court of Redonda’ series), , Bonnard self portraits, John Skinner, Frank Auerbach, Katie Sollohub, Francis Bacon, Dennis Creffied, David Bomberg and the Rembrant late paintings.

Course dates: April 23^rd - 26^th  2024 (Tuesday to Friday)

Suitable for all levels, including beginners.

Inspired by the 'Matisse in his Studio’ exhibition, we will be creating simple still life set ups in the studio, bringing a sense of domestic space, though props, objects, fabrics and furniture. The way objects inhabit a space can be so evocative, suggesting something that has, or is about to happen, a half drunk cup, an open book. Still life has also been used by artists as a simple, manageable subject with which to play with much more universal themes, the play of light on forms, the effect of colour and pattern in a composition.

Course Dates May 8^th -  10^th  (Wed - Friday) 2024

On this three day practical course we will explore how digital photography can be used as a valuable resource for landscape painting. Unless you are a plein air painter it is likely that you are making paintings in a studio away from the landscape, in this case photographic sources can help with what can be a visual deficit. One of the great advantages of digital photography is the ability to zoom in, and to be able to explore the subject in ways that are rooted in its image. By zooming in and cropping the photograph we find image possibilities of which were unaware at the time we took the photograph. Bolder, simpler compositions may often be found, but also the experience of entering into the image has its own rich reward.

Course Dates May 13^th - 15^th (Monday - Wednesday) 2024

Experiments with close up observation, collage, spatial arrangement of forms, and layering and glazing methods.

Please be aware that oil paints and associated solvents are not permitted on this course.

A three-day course in which you will make a minimum of 2 large scale collages informed by research and resource drawings and paintings, made prior to commencement of the large scale works. The course will start with making a succession of drawings from close up observation of either house plants or some gathered flora and fauna or foliage in the garden. The drawings are done in order to establish shapes and forms which will then form part of a process which scales up these intimate details, shapes, forms, and spaces. They will then be used in different stages as ingrediants for making components for larger works, constructed through collage making processes and incorporating painting and glazing techniques. The goal will not be to produce ‘finished works’ but rather to think about new approaches to making images that artists can then take back into their own practice.