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Course details
Local artist, Victoria Gillow, shares new ways of working to inspire your creative process and help you paint the places you love. Discover techniques to create vibrant and expressive paintings.
Focusing on the beauty of the dunes and expansive three miles of shoreline within the bay of St Ives, create your own seascape with Victoria and learn processes to help you to paint the landscapes close to you. Explore the balance between realism and abstraction, infusing colour with imagination and emotion rather than simple representation.
The first part of this self-paced course leads you through several sketching and colour exercises on location. Tune into the auditory environment and translate sounds into visual forms; explore marks of the tide, rhythms of the ocean sounds, the feeling of objects combed from the beach and in your own time, capture the essence of a scene through small studies.
The second part of the course comprises a 2.5hr studio session working alongside Victoria. She will help us re-engage with our surroundings through warm-up exercises involving words and drawing. Using the various notes, sketches and colour studies made on location, work with graphite and acrylics, to create larger format paintings alongside a body of smaller work.
Scale up your studies and put the techniques to practice in this valuable session, to produce a vibrant and expressive seascape painting.
Don’t worry if you can’t get out into the landscape immediately, there are photographic and video resources included in the course that you can use as a starting point for your studies.
You will have 90 days access to the course so plenty of time, to re-watch and re-do the exercises should you wish to in your own familiar surroundings.
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for both absolute beginners and those with more experience, looking to build confidence in new ways of working en plein air and in the studio. It would suit those wishing to develop an art practice inspired by the land and sea. Aimed to help you step out of your comfort zone and loosen your approach to drawing and painting a sense of place.
What will I learn?
1. Learn how to evolve an immersive and liberating art practice.
2. Explore the relationship between nature and artistic expression.
3. Work with acrylics en plein air and learn colour mixing techniques.
4. Loosen your approach to capturing the landscape around you through focusing on memory and tactile experiences.
5. Develop your own colour palette for the landscape.
6. Learn how to find ways into painting when you have a creative block.
How does an online session work?
We record the sessions so you can watch on demand, as often as you like, for up to 60 days after purchase. This way you can pause a scene, rewind and finish your paintings.
What’s included:
Practical lessons, filmed on location. Observe and learn from Victoria, as she introduces Hayle beach and dunes and shares her techniques for working in the landscape. The idea is that you can work through these preparatory exercises over a few days or a week (depending on your time commitments).
Reference images of the unique Cornish landscape that our tutors will be visiting. You can revisit these time and time again, to practice the techniques learned in the session.
A 2.5 hour studio session. You can watch or work along with Victoria, who will be bringing together the preliminary ideas from the pre-recorded footage, in a practical session.
You will be invited to join our Facebook Alumni group so you can share your discoveries with fellow students from around the world. You can also share your work live with others on social media using the #schoolofpainting and tagging us @stives painting
You can watch on a PC, laptop or tablet and if you have chromecast or miracast you could even cast to your SmartTV from your phone.
Taught by
What to Bring
A list of materials will be available to see in your account upon purchase of the course.
You will need access to the internet and ideally a PC, laptop or a tablet with audio.
FAQs
Online Art Courses – All
How can I get help in choosing a course?
Our friendly expert staff are always happy to discuss your needs and our courses in more detail to help you with your decision. Please call us on 01736 797180
Do I need a webcam/any equipment?
For our webinar sessions which are broadcast on the internet and no webcam or microphone is needed as you just need to be able to see/hear hosts and you can communicate using the chat function. You can watch using a PC, Smart TV or tablet. A phone isn’t ideal as you will struggle to see enough unless you can miracast to a screen or smart TV.
For the longer online courses on Zoom you will need a laptop or tablet with audio and camera enabled so you can have a screen near where you are working. If you have a PC without camera or speakers, you can purchase a plug and play webcam for approx £25 which connects to a usb port. You will also need reasonable broadband connection and speed.
All the art materials and equipment needed to participate in the course will be listed in full on the online learning platform, for live webinars this will be a minimum of two weeks before the session starts.
I have registered for the webinar but I can't find my joining link
You can access all the resources and joining link for your webinar via our online learning platform. You will need to have set up an account on our online learning platform in advance. You can do this during the checkout process when purchasing your webinar. If you are having trouble accessing your online account, please contact [email protected]. You can use a PC or tablet or even cast from your phone to watch on your Smart TV.
I paid for the session but missed it, how can I watch?
Currently all our online sessions are recorded and you can access the recording on our online learning platform until it expires. Usually 60 days for a webinar, 90 – 180 days for multipart webinars or online courses.
Studio Courses
How can I get help in choosing a course?
Our friendly expert staff are always happy to discuss your needs and our courses in more detail to help you with your decision. Please call us on 01736 797180
How do I get my work home?
Tutors have special techniques for transporting oil paintings and the school has plastic folders available in our shop for £3.50 or do bring a portfolio.
For international students we are happy to arrange transportation of your work back home.
What do I need to bring?
Absolutely nothing! All materials and aprons are provided although some people do like to bring their own set of brushes.
What do I do for lunch?
Courses allow an hour’s break for lunch and there are numerous places nearby or you are welcome to bring a packed lunch into the studio.
What times do courses run?
Most of our courses start at 10am and end at 4.30pm on the first day. Subsequent days we start at 9.30am ending at 4pm.
Weekend Courses run 10am – 4pm on the first day but the final day starts at 9.30 and ends at 3.30 with a short lunch break to enable people to get home that evening.
Do you have to be experienced to come to the School?
The School is a very friendly and welcoming place for all ages and experience. Our drop-in life classes and August half-day workshops are ideal for those wanting to have a go for the first time. Most of our longer courses are also fine for novices.
If any of the courses do need a bit of experience we flag this up in the brochure and on the website.
Booking a Course
How can I reserve a place?
We will hold a provisional reservation for 24 hours if you give us a call whilst you find accommodation. Otherwise please book online or by telephone 01736 797180.
You can reserve a place with a £100 deposit; balance is due 12 weeks before course start date.
About St Ives
Where do I park?
The nearest long stay public car parks are the Island and Barnoon Long Stay Car Park, both a 5 minute walk away. In the peak summer months it may be easier to park at Trenwith Car Park by the leisure centre and walk down into town. If you don’t fancy the walk up the hill at the end of the day there is a shuttle bus which runs from outside the cinema.
How do I get there?
Public Transport: If you are coming from further afield the main train line runs into St Erth which is a 15 min taxi ride away or you can take the St Ives Bay Line which runs approx. every 30 minutes. The School is a 10 minute walk from St Ives station.
Driving: M5 will take you to Exeter where we recommend that you take the A30 across Bodmin Moor and into Cornwall. After passing Hayle, leave the A30 at St Erth roundabout for St Ives. Turn right at the second roundabout. This road will take you through Lelant and Carbis Bay into St Ives.
Where can I stay?
St Ives has a huge selection of hotels, guest houses and self catering accommodation to choose from. Please browse the art holidays St Ives section on our website and give us a call if you would like any help.