Enjoy painting the Chichester Harbour coastline and the surrounding South Downs landscape through planned excursions to develop your skills by direct observation and studio practice. Learn a variety of responses to painting outdoors, experiment with painting media, inclusive of oil, acrylic and polymer (water-based) oils and reflect on your work as you develop and complete your paintings.

Your tutor will help you revise and personalise your responses to the subject, improving your skills and transforming your experience of painting ‘en plein air’. There will be practical demonstrations, group discussions and one-to-one support. You will discover working approaches to setting-up to paint outdoors and how to manage the changing visual elements of light, shadow and colour. Outdoor painting is subject to the changing light and weather.

Characteristics of land, coastline, sky and topographical features will be taught, as well as preparatory sketching. Once you have captured studies on the site visits, you will learn methods of evolving and experimenting with your work back in the studio, including experimenting with scale and mark-making.

By the end of the course, you will have completed a range of works, both in the landscape and studio, responding to at least two different locations. The tutor has expertise in all paint media, and you are encouraged to learn using your preferred paints.

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

A sufficient range of MDF boards in various sizes for painting upon with secure transportation method, acrylic gesso primer, cleaning medium, sugar paper and charcoal.

What students need to bring

• Paints – oils or/and acrylics, student quality is recommended/sufficient
  (A small sketching watercolour pan set or / and soft coloured pastels for quick working in challengeing weather scenarios)
• Colours - the essential seven: Titanium White (large tube), Pale Lemon Yellow or equivalent, Cadmium Red or Scarlet Red, Alizarin Crimson or Rose madder, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine Blue, Viridian Green or Emerald equivalent
• Optional additive colours (short cuts): Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Ivory Black
• Personal sketchbook A4 or equivalent and drawing media
• Oil/acrylic painting brushes; bring a range of flat, filberts and round pointers (there are a stock of brushes provided at the commencement of the course)
• Painting mediums: low odour studio safe solvent for oils such as purified linseed oil, Liquin and acrylic paint medium if you are using acrylics (there will be medium available at the course commencement with advice from your tutor)

Available to buy

Available from shop: A range of oil and acrylic paints in a good variety of colours, mediums, low odour solvent, brushes, pencils, painting palettes and a variety of painting surfaces such as canvases and boards are available to purchase.

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