Camilla Dixon painting of figure in red

Figure - Colour Blocking for movement + pose (rec)

Drawing / Painting / Figure

Purchase

Course details

Practice your life drawing skills in this regular online Life Drawing class. With professional tutors, learn about form, proportion and composition by sketching the clothed figure in a variety of short and long poses.

Camilla Dixon painting of figure in red

Life Drawing, the practice of drawing from a live model, has been practised for hundreds of years as a way to hone one’s technical skills and encourage a deeper understanding of real life subjects. At The St Ives School of Art, we have a long history of running life drawing classes that attracted many young modern artists of the day, including Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Terry Frost and Peter Lanyon.

For this session Camilla Dixon will be focusing on colour blocking for movement and pose. Working in acrylic/gouache paint on short poses with a simplified figure, we will be focusing on what is happening within the structure of the pose and the direction of parts of the body, leaving surface detail till last, building rapidly in layers from the inside out.

Broadcast from our studio in St Ives with a clothed professional model, join us from the comfort of your home, for two hours of drawing and painting the figure with guided exercises from our expert tutor. Each session will be run slightly differently depending on the artist leading it and can be watched live or watched later.

These sessions are designed to inspire, instruct and surprise. Suitable for any level of experience, our life drawing sessions serve as a bridge between observation and creative expression, offering a space for both the development of individual skill and personal artistic exploration.

Figure painting by Camilla Dixon
Images from previous Life Drawing Sessions

Who is this course for?

Ideal if you are looking for a new ways to expand your drawing and painting practice. Beginners and those with more experience are both welcome to join. 

What will I learn?

1. Loosen your approach to capturing the human form.

2. Explore new mark-making techniques.

3. See how experimenting with different mediums can free-up your practice.

4. Explore working from both observation and intuition.

How does an online session work?

The recorded session can be watched 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 painting.

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.

Figure – Colour Blocking for movement and pose (rec)

Drawing / Painting / Figure

Purchase

Taught by

Camilla
Dixon

View Camilla’s Work

I find tutoring to be a constantly evolving project. It supports my creative work as it requires that I not only understand my processes but can apply them in a way that is useful to other people in their quest for creative flow. Harnessing a fluid and responsive working method, can address all sorts of practical or emotional obstacles that students face. It can be quite literally life-changing.

What to Bring

A list of materials will be available to see in your account upon booking.

You will need access to the internet and ideally a PC, laptop or a tablet with audio.

What our students say

I enjoyed this course, and will use it as a method to draw the figure and other things. It helped me to see pose and volume.

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.

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