West Dean Garden’s flower borders are the perfect place to indulge a sense of exuberance as high summer offers a rainbow of delight to capture in portable watercolour. This adventurous yet practical course takes you from observational drawing through to responsive mark-making, and from considered colour to flamboyant painting. Your tutor will guide you through a series of exercises that will enable you to create and develop a personal and intuitive response to your subject. Working in the studio and around the summer borders, you will be drawing and painting both architectural and softer plant forms, experimenting with shape, form and composition. Finally, you will develop your coloured sketches and ideas through to some finished paintings.

You will draw inspiration from both observational drawing and simple, demonstrated brush skills. You will be encouraged to explore brush size and usage, colour palette and pictorial composites. There will be plenty of demonstrations and one-to-one support from your tutor. You will also be encouraged to share ideas within the group to enable the progression and changeability of your ideas.

By trying out a variety of painting methods, you will be guided towards a truly personal rendering of your week’s experiences.

By the end of the course, you will have generated a considerable amount of drawings and painted sketches for further development. You will have explored watercolour’s technical and explorative capabilities and ventured beyond your comfort zone into more intuitive terrain. This course will broaden your knowledge of line, colour, form and composition whilst offering you plenty of practical tips to open up new pathways for self-expression. You will learn to evaluate the painting experience more confidently and objectively.

All working methods will be demonstrated by the tutor and repeated as required. The course structure is outlined below; the tutor may change the course structure as appropriate.

Course welcome and outline of the week ahead:

• Looking at selected artists and considering some dynamic approaches to our subject matter, including some drawing exercises to loosen-up
• Drawing from observation (simple forms) outside
• Playful mark-making
• Exploring form, light and shade in adventurous ways
• Painted sketching
• Considering personal interpretations of plant life and using colour to create mood
• Creative painting and poaching ideas
• Developing the subject forward using a range of strategies
• Considerations of the pictorial
• Swap over classes
• Incorporating additional ideas or motifs
• Discussion and troubleshooting
• Students directing the latter part of the course with guidance, as required
• Group review
• Discussion about how to keep up momentum after this course

You will need to be comfortable working in and moving equipment between both studio and gardens.

Please note: the course is situated in the Carrington Studio, which is a 10-minute walk away from the main house through the walled garden, or it can be accessed by road. You will have morning coffee and afternoon tea near the studio, and lunch and dinner will be taken in the main house.

Summer School highlights: The Summer School week is an immersive learning experience with more time to develop your creativity and embrace opportunities for creative development beyond your chosen course. A detailed timetable for your Summer School week will be given to you on arrival. This will include:

• Short inspirational talks by tutors and displays of their work
• A short creative experience session in another discipline/media or course
• An optional evening at the Chichester Festival Theatre (if pre-booked)
• An optional lunchtime tour of West Dean Gardens, the historic rooms at West Dean College, or West Dean Tapestry Studio
• A celebration dinner on the last evening themed on ‘going green’. Feel free to respond to the theme if you wish
• Informal end-of-course group reviews and displays of students' work in studios

As evening events are planned as part of the Summer School week, dinner is included in the course fee to enable all students, including non-residents, to participate fully.

Included

On this course the College will supply some paper to get you started and some additional watercolour paint to try and some pastels to share amongst the group.

What students need to bring

• HB pencil, 6B graphite stick
• Plastic eraser, knife/pencil sharpener, masking tape
• A4/5 sketchbook
• Daisy palette
• 2/3 sheets good quality hot pressed watercolour paper of choice (minimum 300gsm – Fabriano is good)
• Suggested range of brushes to include: a soft wash brush approximate size 30; nylon/synthetic round, sizes 16, 12 and 8; rigger size 2
• A range of good quality watercolours, including the following basics (or similar tints): Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Opera Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, French Ultramarine, Hookers Green and Ivory Black
• Fixative spray
• A spill-proof water pot, a compact watercolour paint set for working outside
• A4 glue-sided watercolour pad/block (approximately 300gsm) for working outside is useful but not essential
• A sports cap drinking bottle for the week is essential
• Sunhat and sun cream
• Please bring any other/similar materials you wish to use and any photos/sketches that you find inspirational

Available to buy

Available from shop: A good variety of watercolour paints (tubes and pans), drawing materials, sketchbooks, a good range of papers, brushes, palettes and fixative spray.

Additional information

Please wear appropriate clothing/aprons for the workshop or studio, this includes stout covered footwear (no sandals or open toes).

Timetable for Summer Schools

Several evening events are planned throughout the week, a detailed timetable for the summer schools will be given to you on arrival.

Arrival Day

Residential students to arrive from 4pm, non-residential students to arrive by 6.45pm.

6.45pm: Welcome, followed by dinner (included).

8 - 9pm: First teaching session, attendance is essential.

Daily timetable

Classes 9.15 - 5pm, lunch is included.

From 6.30pm: Dinner (included).

Evening working - students may have access to workshops until 9pm, but only with their tutor's permission and provided any health and safety guidelines are observed.

Last day

Classes 9.15am - 3pm, lunch is included.

Residential students should vacate their rooms by 10am please.

Terms & Conditions