All Courses

Now Offered as an Pre-recorded Online Course - You can start the course any time between June 24th and September 30th. You can have access to the films for as long as you need. This is a pre-recorded version of the live online course that I did in May. It is created as a 4 day course and each days recording is approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes long. It provides demonstrations and explanations of the processes and exercises that I offer. These are designed to help artists tackle the subject in a way that is expressive, personal and more intuitive. It also suggests ways to navigate the creative process and the journey that a body of work takes . The joy of being able to offer these recorded sessions is that you can work in your own studio space and at your own speed. You can watch them several times over and at a pace to suit your daily timetable. You can take much longer than four days if you need to. Once you have completed the course and made work, which does not have to be finished, you can send me images. I will enjoy looking at them and give you emailed feedback about what you have done and advice about how you might go forward..

'Long summer days and outside spaces'

Online Course Start a daily practise that becomes a personal project and a body of work

In the height of summer the days are luxuriously long. With the dawn at 4.45 am and the sun finally setting at 9.20 pm I always feel that I want to make the most of the light and be outside as much as I can. I wish these long days could continue but Nature has its own pace and rhythm governed by the sunrise, sunset, the seasons and the weather. These long days will shorten and the summer will become a longed for memory again. So while it is here what better way to celebrate and honour it than to make the most of the long days by painting and drawing in those quiet magical times when the birds are waking up or the sun is sinking towards the horizon giving long shadows and rich colours. This summer school is about being immersed in those magical moments. Many of us are having to spend much more time at home, not travelling and staying safe. This means that it is possible to get up early and, whilst still in pyjamas with a mug of tea, go outside and draw before the rest of the world wakes up. If you are more of a night owl than a lark then perhaps your preferred time would be as the day draws to a close. Or both of course.

Online Course The Working Landscape is a four day practical course led by Simon Carter. The course gives you the opportunity to follow Simon in his working routines. It will be a rare opportunity to look over his shoulder as he walks and draws in the landscape and as he draws and paints in the studio. Students will be able to follow Simon onto the Essex coast by means of a short film, and watch as he draws and discusses the process of observational drawing. You will then be required to head out into the landscape to draw, whether it is your garden, the local park, the beach or a favourite walk. Simon will then discuss how these drawings can be ‘unpacked’ in the studio, making larger expressive, mark-led drawings from them, and then look at how these are used to start a painting.

Online Course The Working Landscape is a four day practical course led by Simon Carter. The course gives you the opportunity to follow Simon in his working routines. It will be a rare opportunity to look over his shoulder as he walks and draws in the landscape and as he draws and paints in the studio. Students will be able to follow Simon onto the Essex coast by means of a short film, and watch as he draws and discusses the process of observational drawing. You will then be required to head out into the landscape to draw, whether it is your garden, the local park, the beach or a favourite walk. Simon will then discuss how these drawings can be ‘unpacked’ in the studio, making larger expressive, mark-led drawings from them, and then look at how these are used to start a painting.

Course dates: 15-17 September 2020 (Tuesday - Thursday)

Course Dates October 5&6, November 2&3, November 30 & December 1,  2020

By registering here you are booking for all the weeks in the term.

This monthly course provides help and support for experienced painters to become confident in establishing and sustaining a good regular working practise and a flow with their work. Both Emily and Julian focus on ways of inspiring a creative energy by giving talks, creating helpful exercises, giving demonstrations and one to one tutorials. Working as a group and individually each artist is helped to put more intensity and content into the work. Artists are given strategies to prevent hesitation, being stuck or bored. Artists need to bring their own subject, studies and on going work to each session. Being part of a group of like minded artists, and attending this course regularly over the year, will help each artist produce a strong and significant body of work, build confidence, independence and trust in their own creative abilities and intuition.

Course Dates October 7-9  (Wednesday - Friday) 2020

Choose which sessions in the year you would like to come. Booking ahead is essential to secure your place.

These sessions are designed for artists who need encouragement and support to become more confident and self-motivated with their painting. Artists bring their own subject and the tutor helps them to unpack, research and create their own personal practice, in order to help their work evolve and for them to see the creative possibilities more clearly. As part of the course the tutors also do talks showing the work of other artists. We explore using new materials and tools to play with to refresh and add to what you are doing. In conjunction with this we create practical, creative exercises to unpack the process of painting. Each student is given individual critiques and tuition as well as benefiting from working with a group of like minded artists. Three consecutive days gives the space and time to really see progress and to get absorbed in your work.

Dates: 12-15 October 2020 (Monday - Thursday)

These courses are only suitable for experienced painters who need help with ongoing work.

“John is uncompromising, bright, funny, passionate and relentless when it comes to painting.  He takes a ‘tough love’ approach to tutoring and will push you out of their comfort zone in his pursuit of helping you progress and develop your work.  His master classes are not for the faint hearted!” Emily Ball.

Each Master Class provide four days of energetic exploration into the nature of painting. John encourages and inspires artists to be courageous and confident with their work. Artists also benefit from the cooperation within a group of like-minded people - offering a diversity of approaches with no limits to the possibilities. Artists bring their own projects and themes and John helps them to develop the subject further. Each masterclass is also supported by Emily Ball, who provides technical assistance, painting demonstrations and supports John in the teaching and delivery of the course, taking an active role in the review of each artist’s work.

With fantastic inspiring lectures and brilliant individual tuition, you will go away from these workshops with lots of new work and a more in depth understanding of what the possibilities of paint have to offer. (Each Master Class is a stand alone course).

 

Online Course Experiments in Watercolour is a three day practical course led by Simon Carter. The course aims to have a fresh look at the medium of watercolour and how it might be used in an expressive, experimental and contemporary way. The course will not be about tech- nique, but will seek to use watercolour in a bold and painterly manner. Students will be working from drawings and will be required to make a series of drawings prior to the course starting.

Course dates: 26 - 28 October 2020  (Monday - Wednesday)

Differentiating tree species, finding order in complexity, spotting the tiger in the long grass or simply gaining optical delight from rhythmical repetition – recognising pattern and getting pleasure from that recognition is something we have, for good reason, evolved to do.

These two 3 day courses are suitable for both first time Painting and Pattern students and those that wish to deepen their engagement with this fascinating area of inquiry.

Students will be supported by a mixture of slide lectures, one to one tutorial support, practical demonstration  and group discussion.

The course description is only indicative as this is a developing area of inquiry and therefore subject to continuous change and revision. Which is of course what makes it exciting.