EMILY BALL AT SEAWHITE |
CONTEMPORARY DRAWING AND PAINTING COURSES |
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Taking you Beyond the Studio
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studies on location, painting in the studio
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Image 1 & 3 - Highdown Gardens; image 2- study of Chichester Cathedral (Katie Sollohub)
Dear
Working on location is a rewarding and vital experience for many artists. Nothing really compares to being in a place to truly understand and capture the full sense of ‘being there.’ But it can also be a daunting prospect, especially if you are attempting it alone. This Spring and Summer we are offering several exciting courses that will help you overcome the challenges of painting on location and help you fully embrace the immersive experience it offers, as well as the huge benefits it brings to your painting:
- In May, Katie will be returning to CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL for a three day drawing course that takes inspiration from the immense interior space, spending one day in the cathedral, and two days back in the studio.
- In July, Katie and Emily will be delivering their face -to-face SUMMER SCHOOL: SUMMER IN THE GARDEN AT HIGHDOWN. This is a five-day course, incorporating two days on location at Highdown Gardens in West Sussex, followed by three days painting in the Seawhite Studio.
- Emily and Katie are also offering a LIVE ONLINE SUMMER SCHOOL: SUMMER IN THE GARDEN in June. This is a four-day course that will guide you through the process of making studies and paintings in your own garden via daily online teaching sessions.
“It is easy to be overwhelmed at the prospect of making drawings and paintings on location. When trying to gather information many decisions have to be made. What to take in the way of materials, what kind of drawings will be helpful for the paintings back in the studio; the logistics of having all that you need and being comfortable physically and mentally in that space. On these courses Katie and I take away that worry. We provide the materials all packed in a rucksack, that doubles up as a stool to sit on. We create exercises and processes that help each person become aware and focused about the experience of being in the place. Practical and clear instructions provide a structure to work within, and then use, as a starting point to explore what fully matters.” ~ Emily Ball
Read on to find out more about these three wonderful courses, all of which will equip you with the skills and confidence to make the most of working on location. Or if you can’t wait and are ready to book , click on the buttons below to head straight to each courses info page on our website:
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Images: Chichester Cathedral, Emily working in the woods, Katie painting during the online summer school (Katie Sollohub and Emily Ball)
“During each of these courses, Katie and I will be there to guide, support and share our experience and expertise with you. It is very exciting and rewarding to be helping artists from the very beginning of the creative process with their studies through to the development of making paintings.”
~ Emily Ball
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CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL
drawing, sound, space, light
with Katie Sollohub | 15-17 May 2024 (wed-fri)
15 May: Chichester Cathedral | 16-17 May: Seawhite Studio
£325
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“The Cathedral evokes a response, and its scale has a physical effect on the body. This course invites you to create drawings that become a meditation on sound, space and light.” ~ Katie Sollohub |
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Image: artist working large scale during the 2023 Chichester Cathedral course (Katie Sollohub)
Drawing with all your senses, using pencils and coloured pastels in the cathedral itself, you will be encouraged to make expressive and experimental studies on a small scale as you directly experience the immensity of the building. You will work small and fast in the cathedral, working directly into a A5 sketchbook. Warm up exercises and short meditations will be offered to get you started and help you when feeling overwhelmed. Your drawings may be filled with gesture, colour, sound, the cool air, the touch of stone, the echoes of footsteps and organ music…. Spending the whole day at the cathedral, Katie will offer 121 guidance, along with group discussions about how to tackle such an enormous subject.
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Image: studies from Chichester Cathedral (Katie Sollohub)
“How can we use the energy and atmosphere of our direct experience in the small drawings to reach out and
encompass the space you need to recreate it on a large scale?” ~Katie Sollohub
Back in the studio on days two and three you will be given paper on which to develop larger pieces of work, inspired by - but not limited to -the studies made in your sketchbook. Drawing and meditation exercises will be used to encourage the use of memory and writing to trigger new and remembered visual responses. Using large rolls of paper, you will scale up your marks and observations, letting the drawing grow and expand, as if you were the architect and builder constructing it in space.
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Image: students working large scale, Chichester Cathedral Course 2023 (Katie Sollohub)
“I don’t know that I can find the exact words to describe my admiration for your teaching and how you ran this course. You held us, prompted us, enabled and inspired. The group was talented, supportive and friendly. I learnt such a lot. Your occasional exercises were brilliant. Really moving me forward.” ~ Anna Cady, participant on Chichester Cathedral course 2023.
For more information and to book your place, please click on the button below:
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SUMMER SCHOOL 2024:
Summer in the Garden at Highdown
with Emily Ball & Katie Sollohub | 1-5 July 2024 (mon-fri)
1-2 July, Highdown Gardens | 3-5 July, Seawhite Studio
£550
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“The approach to take marks out in nature, to really FEEL the wind, the atmosphere…I really could dive deep into the sensory perception of the environment and felt able to transform my feelings into drawings! Thank you so much for showing me ways how to get into my paintings and for supporting me in trusting my feelings and intuition.”
~ Corrine Beutler, Summer School
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Image: Highdown Gardens (Katie Sollohub)
This five day painting course takes its inspiration from the beautiful Highdown Garden near Worthing, a unique chalk garden on the South Downs. This garden is both beautiful and remarkable. In the unlikely setting of a chalk pit the founders of the garden sourced plants from all over the world that would thrive in this habitat. To enjoy a virtual tour of the garden, please click on the button below:
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It is a garden full of delights; mature trees and plants, winding pathways that lead to open spaces where you can sit and be immersed in the location’s sights, sounds and smells: lush foliage; abundant flowers; pathways in shadow; the buzzing of insects; the trill and chirrup of birdsong. These long
summer days, following the summer solstice, are the perfect time to
celebrate the colour and abundance of nature.
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The first two days of the Summer School are spent in the garden making lots of studies capturing the experience of this peaceful and inspiring place. On day one, Katie will start with a meditation in the garden, which will then be followed by both Emily and Katie demonstrating different processes to make studies including, markmaking and collage. You will also be encouraged to write, to capture your immediate responses and observations in your own words as well as drawn studies.
“I have spent a large part of my career as an artist
gathering information whilst working outside. I love being immersed and surrounded by the landscape and elements. Through successes and failures in my work I have found methods of working that give me the right information to enable me to make paintings back in the studio.”
~ Emily Ball
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Image: Highdown Gardens (Katie Sollohub)
The rest of the week is spent at the Seawhite Studio where ambitious and expressive paintings will be created using these studies and our memories of the place. Throughout the course you will be guided as a group as well as having 121 time with both tutors, talking to each person individually about their work and providing ongoing feedback.
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“You and Katie are a dream team, you really complement one another. The combination of the demonstrations,
mindfulness and independent work [on location] was just right.Then back at the studio it was lovely the way you both encouraged each person and thoughtfully showed us all artists relevant to our work.” ~ Jane Parsons,
previous participant on the Summer School
Image: student working on location during the
summer School (Emily Ball)
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To find out more about the course and to book your place, please click on the button below: |
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Practicalities: access and amenities on location
Accessing the garden is easy. It is a short walk on flat ground from the carpark. All the paths in the garden are easy to navigate. There are benches dotted everywhere so that you can pause to sit and soak up the atmosphere and draw in comfort. Above the gardens is Highdown Hill; the gateway to the South Downs National Park.
Adjacent to the garden is a cafe, for light snacks, lunch and refreshments. As well as a pub, restaurant and hotel for those travelling from further afield, who might want to stay overnight or enjoy an evening meal and a sunset walk on the Downs. For more information on the Highdown Hotel, please click on the button below:
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SUMMER SCHOOL 2024
summer in the garden – live online
With Emily Ball & Katie Sollohub
24-27 June 224 (mon-thurs) | £250
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“Sitting in the garden at the height of summer is heaven. Whether you have a beautiful garden of your own or you love to visit a garden for your inspiration, this course is a celebration of the abundance of the summer garden.”
~ Emily Ball
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Image: Garden (Emily Ball)
In May and June the shoots and buds are urgently pushing forward, gathering pace. Spring melts into Summer and flowers become centre stage with their splashes of colour jostling for attention. Colours are luminous on the blousy petals of flowers, the bird song is shrill and excited, the shadows are deep, cool and inviting. To find a quiet, shady spot to sit, watch, listen, wonder and draw is the first part of this course. As you sit and make studies it gives you time to notice the foliage, the shapes of shadows and the dance of colour as your gaze meanders through the spaces.
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Image: Emily working in her garden studio (Noah Carter)
“The online summer school is an opportunity to share your own unique experience of place with common themes (of time, sound, light, rhythm, movement) without having to all be in the same landscape. I don’t know of a landscape course like it anywhere else. This is grown up painting with the support and playful encouragement we all need when otherwise working on our own!” ~ Katie Sollohub
A month before the date of the live online sessions you will be sent a collection of short films that give you demonstrations of ways of working. These will help you make lots of studies which you will need in preparation for the live classes. During the live online sessions Emily and Katie will show you how to unpack and select from your many studies and create expressive paintings that bring back the glorious riot of colours, patterns, mood and memories of being in the garden.
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Image: Garden (Emily Ball)
“What you did was unpack the whole process of working outside on studies, bringing them into the studio and then how to put together a painting."
~ Sophie Bartlett, online Summer School participant
For more information and to book your place, please click on the button below:
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