White Cliffs ‘land & sea’ Watercolour course

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 the local scenery, birds and botanicals of the White Cliffs.

This course is suitable for beginners as well as improvers and will be an opportunity to develop your painting skills in a friendly and informal atmosphere and make creative friends who live locally.

The varied and engaging program also includes a session of live sketching in the Garden, a six acre botanical garden full of native species that surrounds the Pines Calyx. An overview of the program is given below this summary.

The course runs over 6 weeks (excluding the student's voluntary exhibition and the end of the course), from the 31st of may to the 5th of July, on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

All materials are included in this course, refreshments are provided also. Please contact me at ecocreativesart@gmail.com for more informatio. `The venue is wheelchair accessible via lift, and there is free parking available.

Overview of the course program.

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.