Moody sky over harbour.

Winter Landscape in Oils

Drawing / Mixed Media / Oil / Landscape - Materials included

We haven’t scheduled this course yet. Please email us to register your interest for future availability.

Register Interest

Course details

Join us in the quiet, calm winter streets of St Ives and paint like an impressionist. Learn to build lusciously layered oil paintings in a single sitting.

Boats in the sea.
Andrew Barrowman
Grey and moody St Ives harbour

Make the most of the mild, sunny climate of St Ives this winter on this course led by artist Andrew Barrowman. Due to its southerly latitude and influence of the Gulf Stream, St Ives has a mild and sunny climate all year round. Enjoy exploring the quiet, calm cobbles and coastal paths of the town in wintertime, making the most of this peaceful time of year.

Working both outside and in our historic Porthmeor Studios, you’ll spend time building sketches, enhancing your focus on your subject and discovering the hidden glimpses that reveal themselves the longer you look. Experiment with alternative materials – watercolour, pastel and coloured pencil – to capture strong lines, subtle flickers of light and vibrant tone. You’ll find that unlike a photograph, these sketches become a piece of the place and process, helping you savour that inspiration from home or the studio.

Learn how the shades and tones of winter can be captured in oil and see how the cooler palettes of this season can create a particular atmosphere. You’ll gain insight into oil painting techniques that enable you to work faster, more instinctively and bring hidden depth to your paintings. One of these is working alla prima, or wet-on-wet. It can be a tricky technique to master, Andrew shows you how to approach it with confidence and control, teaching you strategies for how to create impasto layers without your colours becoming muddy.

Spend a revelatory few days working with landscape to bring vibrancy and focus into your practice, creating paintings that don’t just decorate, but captivate.

Day to day plan

Day 1

In the morning, you will spend some time outside. Back in the studios in the afternoon, we’ll develop some monochromatic oil studies using work from the sketches and create another alla prima painting honing in on subject and tone..

Day 2

In the morning, we’ll walk from the studios to the harbour, sketching with oil pastels, watercolour and coloured pencils in our sketchbooks.

In the afternoon, we will begin with some colour mixing exercises using a three colour palette. Utilising the location sketches, we will begin an alla prima painting in oils. This will be on a white panel in a very limited palette, to explore the impact of a few colours on the atmosphere of a painting.

Day 3

Working in the studio we will look at the paintings from the previous days and choose 1 or 2 to develop further. We will look at how ‘cooler’ colours for winter landscape painting and a limited palette work to unify a painting. There will be some colour mixing to explore complimentary colours and their use in a painting – helping bring it to life.

What you will learn

  • Techniques for working en plein air
  • How to work quickly in oils using the alla prima technique.
  • How and why to use ground colours in your painting.
  • How to make sketches using different materials to use as resources in the studio in place of photographs.
  • How to establish and capture a subject using observational skills.

Who would this course suit?

Whatever your skill or experience in oils, this course offers an instinctive and atmospheric way to engage with landscape. In particular the challenges of boats and water. We will be working outside so be prepared for changes in weather and wrap up warm!

Winter Landscape in Oils

Drawing / Mixed Media / Oil / Landscape – Materials included

We haven’t scheduled this course yet. Please email us to register your interest for future availability.

Register Interest

Taught by

Andrew
Barrowman

View Andrew’s Work

Landscape painting in Cornwall, Andrew Barrowman paints en plein air and in the studio using oils as his chosen medium. He tries to convey the feeling and atmosphere of a landscape onto canvas for the viewer to have an idea of what it was like to be there. His paintings often start with ideas found whilst walking his dog. He usually carries a small sketch book with him, making quick sketches and colour notes. These will sometimes be developed into paintings.

What to Bring

Our studios are fully equipped and we provide you with all the materials you need for your course. However, if you have a favourite set of brushes or any specialist materials that you would prefer to use, please bring them with you.

Timings and Breaks

The first day starts at 10am and finishes at 4.30pm, please aim to arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the start time.

All course days after that start at 9.30am and finish at 4pm and there will be an hour for lunch. There are plenty of nearby places to eat and we will serve tea and coffee at break times during the day.

What our students say

The course was well planned and exceptionally well delivered by the tutor. There was a clear sequential plan, and this was communicated to people throughout the course. Care and attention was given to varying abilities and expectations. The tutor explained media and techniques clearly and demonstrated them in a very accessible way. Learning and progress was continually reviewed and discussed. Everyone was made to feel welcome, and their contributions were valued. The studio was well equipped, and the studio technicians were very capable, engaging and supportive. Overall, the course was informative, appropriately challenging and hugely enjoyable.

Keith L

There was a very good mixture of theory and practice. A creative and warm working athmosphere and professional coaching.

Arndt

The course was managed very well for mixed abilities. The tutor was extremely patient and created a relaxed and informal environment, putting everyone at their ease. The whole group were lovely and it was both a creative and positive experience in which I re-kindled my love of painting after a few years’ gap. Thoroughly enjoyable!

Kirsty G

Andrew was able to cater for everyone and was most encouraging. He was able to see peoples strengths and also where they needed support, a sensitive tutor.

Gillian B

Andrew focused on the key factors that assist students to learn plein air brushstrokes, values, colour, and composition and how to enjoy the process of exploring nature and bringing that back to the studio. Brilliant teacher and curriculum.

Neva

FAQs

You might also like...