Come and join me for an ongoing course of workshops here in my studio. We’ll work together to find inspiration, develop ideas and create a confident and personal collection of work.
What will we do?
Working in sketchbooks we’ll explore your own choice of subject matter. I’ll show you practical and creative ways to gather inspiration and record information and ideas. We might use collage, drawing, stamping and stencilling, monoprint and painting. Taking a broad and varied approach you’ll be able to find something that suits your way of working.
Along the way I’ll help you refine your ideas, find personal direction and resolve concepts that will underpin your work. It sounds fancy, but really its just about taking time to understand what draws you to a subject, how to tackle it with honesty and depth and then produce work that is of great quality and that says what you want it to say.
You might be working towards a quilt, stitched textile, mixed media panel, paper and stitch, collage, drawing or painting. I have experience with all of those and will be able to guide you with translating the work in your sketchbook into these formats. Maybe all of the students will be working towards a different outcome in the class, I think that’ll be fantastic! All of the ideas we’ll talk about: colour, composition, marks, surface, line etc, they all apply whatever you are making.
Think of this as a mentoring course. There are a number of sessions available and I will add more dates for 2024 as we go along. To get the most from this I think it’s best to come to several sessions so that we can get to know each other and work in depth with your ideas.
What do you need?
You’ll need enthusiasm and a willingness to do the work. Each studio session will be busy with lots of ideas, discussion and doing. There will also be homework suggestions. To get the most out of your time with me, I’d really recommend that you work between the sessions these homework ideas.
You’ll need basic materials which you probably already have. I will provide a list, and there will be some materials here in the studio that you can use. You will need to bring with you a sketchbook, an art kit to include pencils, pen, small set of acrylic paints or watercolours, acrylic matte gel medium, paintbrushes, scissors. You might also have extra kit such as oil or soft pastels, gelli plate, roller, stamps.
What level of experience do you need?
These sessions are aimed at people who have some experience and a keen to push their work on. That said, whenever we try a technique I’ll guide you through it completely so if something in particular is totally new don’t worry, it’ll all be explained and demonstrated. If you have never worked in a sketchbook before that’s fine too!
The price
To make this as affordable as possible I’m going to ask you to bring most of the materials that you’ll use (I think you’ll already have them so it’s good to use them up). I’ll also ask that you bring a packed lunch. Tea and coffee, cold drinks and snacks will be provided.
Each session, 10am-4pm will be £65.
Class size
This will be a small class with a maximum of 6 students at any one session. That will ensure we all have space to work in the studio and also so that I can give every student plenty of one-to-one time during the day.
How long are we doing this for?
These sessions are ongoing, and I want to keep it flexible and doable for all of us. I have released two dates for 2023, there will be no session in December. Sessions will resume in January. All sessions in the winter months will be weather permitting.
Book on as many as you wish. If you come more than once obviously we’ll have time to get to know each other and really work through the whole process together. I think that’s ideal, but if you can only commit to one or two sessions that’s also fine.