6 week Watercolour course - inspired by the White Cliffs, land & sea

Description

In this 6 week watercolour course at The Pines Calyx, a beautiful coastal venue, improve your painting skills with professional guidance and support in classes inspired by nature and the local area of outstanding natural beauty - the White Cliffs. This course is suitable for beginners as well as improvers and will be an opportunity to learn in a friendly and informal atmosphere and make creative friends who live locally. At the end of this course you will have a minimum of 6 beautiful watercolour paintings of the white cliffs, the local birds and plants and the incredible scenery of this area of outstanding natural beauty. The program also includes a session of live sketching in the Pines Garden, a six acre botanical garden full of native species that surrounds the Pines Calyx. Please contact me via the 'message the tutor' button for more information. The full programme is available below: Week 1: Cliffs and sea In this first session, after a painting demonstration and a lesson on fundamental watercolour techniques, students will be exploring the use of watercolour washes in paintings of the white cliffs and the sea. The photo references for this class will be of the beautiful St. Margaret’s bay and the sea views from the cliff tops. Improvers who do not feel the need for a refresher on watercolour painting techniques can get straight to work after the demonstration. Week 2: Forest and trees Students will be focusing on creating contrast with lights and darks, as well as painting in fine detail in this class, themed around the incredible variety of native trees growing in the beautiful Pines Garden, as well as the forest that form a part of the coastal environment. The photo references will be of beautiful fir, pine and yew trees, forest walks with dappled shade and moss, old trees and green leaves. Week 3: Local birds The white cliffs, as well as the shingle beaches and inland forests, offer a rich and considerable rare habitat for a variety of birds and insects, who will provide the inspiration for this weeks session. Practising composition, drawing and anatomy, the students will have many subjects to chose from, including the striking peregrine falcons, black throated divers and elegant swifts, without forgetting the inland birds, such as the colourful pheasants - and the notorious sea gulls! Week 4: Coastal botanicals The beautiful flora of this region is the focus of this class, where students with be practising their botanical illustration skills with a wide array of beautiful coastal flowers and plants to inspire them. Week 5: Pines Garden walk & sketch tour The students will be making full use of the beautiful gardens that surround the Pines Calyx, and will discover the art of ‘reportage drawing’, sketching and painting in situ. This is a very different approach to creating images, and they will be practising looser, faster styles, as well as interesting approach to mark making. Week 6: Fields and skies In this final lesson, the students will be applying all the skills they have learnt throughout the course to paint the breathtaking cliff top fields covered in colourful wild flowers. As in all the previous classes, there will be lots of images to choose from, from fields filled with oxeye daisies under blue skies, to red poppies and blue cornflowers. Week 7: Exhibition time As this course could not be concluded without a celebration of the students hard work and achievements, we will be hosting an exhibition in the Pines Calyx. Students will be able to display their mounted pieces, and invite family and friends to enjoy the assembled masterpieces. A walk around the gardens and a visit to The Pines Garden tearooms will make a lovely afternoon of it.

What's included in the price?

All materials are included. Hot drinks and nibbles will be provided as well. If you have to miss a session or two, you will receive a digital pack with references and a step by step guide, to make sure you don’t miss out.

Cancellation policy

Medium - Cancellation and a full refund can be obtained up to 4 weeks before the course starts

Maker

EcoCreatives

with Craft Courses since 2025

Message the tutor

Welcome to EcoCreatives, art workshops that seek to bring the joy of creating to all ages, help like-minded individuals meet and learn new creative skills, all the while using materials that are as environmentally-friendly as possible. Founded and run by Eloise Gibb, Illustrator, print maker and Artist. EcoCreatives was born from the desire to share with others the joy of creating along with it’s therapeutic values, as well as encouraging a more sustainable art practise, limiting single use plastics and taking inspiration from nature. As such, alongside more traditional media Eloise also experiments with pressed flower Art, Natural dying and crafts tied to natural and sustainable living. “Take a leap, join a workshop and become an EcoCreative in your own right. I think you’ll find that pushing past the barriers you have set yourself - or others have set before you - learning and creating alongside like-minded folk will give you more joy than you can imagine.”