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Hot Hill: Portugal-Inspired Paintings and Courses

Hot Hill: Portugal-Inspired Paintings and Courses

EMILY BALL AT SEAWHITE‍

CONTEMPORARY DRAWING AND PAINTING COURSES‍


HOT HILL, PORTUGAL

An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by Emily Ball


Image: Blindingly Bleached, Emily Ball

Dear  ‍

 

An exciting new exhibition of Emily’s work is opening on Saturday 22 June  at Art:Oasis in Frinton-On Sea (Essex).  Curated by Simon Carter and featuring paintings and drawings inspired by the Algarve landscape, the show is an opportunity to see Emily’s work in person and explore the integral relationship between finished paintings and studies.

Image: the rugged Algarve landscape (Emily Ball)

Last October, Emily spent three weeks teaching, drawing and painting in Portugal.  The late summer sun, rugged landscape, rocky coastline and sandy coves offered inspiration that was in stark contrast to the onset of autumn missle and dampness back in England.  Each day, just before dawn, Emily would climb the hill and make studies of the Algarve landscape:

 

"The beaches, sea and Atlantic coast are beautiful but I find that my fascination and inspiration comes from being amongst the extraordinary plants growing out of the parched red earth.  There is a stark, bleak beauty and toughness that I love.  It is an alien landscape to me, one that demands a different physicality to the marks I make, and a palette that reflects the weather beaten, bleached and shimmering space." ~ Emily

 

On her return home, Emily used the armfuls of drawing and painting studies she had made as inspiration for a new body of work.  The subsequent paintings were developed and pushed during her autumn Paint Fit online course and Seawhite Studio residency in November.

Image: Hot Hill study (Emily Ball)‍

In this newsletter, we wanted to share not only the details of  Emily’s exhibition, but also how these Portugal-inspired works evolved through the courses Emily taught in the second half of 2023.  we're hoping that we can inspire you to follow a similar creative path by joining her for one of these experiences this autumn:

  • If you want to get away from the unpredictable English weather, you can be guaranteed warmth and sunshine in Portugal in September.  Emily and Katie have two wonderful Algarve-based courses to tempt you with.
  • If you want to really focus on your practice and push your paintings forward, transforming studies and ideas into a comprehensive body of work, then Emily’s online Paint Fit course in October/November  or her November Studio Residency could be just what you need.

 

Read on to find out more about the exhibition and courses – or click on the buttons below to head directly to each courses page on our website:

Venue

 

 Art:Oasis, 2 Connaught Avenue, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, CO13 9PW

 

Dates

 

22  June -26 July

 

Open afternoon

 

22nd June 2-4pm.  Emily will be at Oasis  for the opening – come along and say hi, and have a chat with her about her paintings.

 

 

Inspiration from Land and Sea

Courses in the Algarve with Emily Ball & Katie Sollohub

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 Walking, Drawing, Writing in the Algarve, Portugal

With Katie Sollohub

 

1 – 7 September 2024 (arrive on Sunday, taught course Monday – Friday, leave Saturday)

£1995 (includes teaching, materials, food and accommodation)

Images: the Algarve landscape‍

Katie’s Portugal course  is a fantastic opportunity to escape, breathe, walk, draw and write freely to see where your thoughts and observations take you.  Set in the beautiful coastal Nature Reserve at the Western end of the Algarve, you will be gently guided and supported in the space throughout by Katie with her unique combination of meditation and drawing exercises to tune you into working with all your senses.

 

At the start of the course you will be given a sketchbook, which will be your visual diary and by the end of the week will be bursting with drawings, writing, collaged work and other experimental studies – a lasting visual memory of an unforgettable experience discovering an alternative way of drawing.

 

How wonderful to be able to visit somewhere different, with purpose, and with like minded people, in an inspirational location, with nothing else to interrupt your creative flow.‍

Image: making studies on the beach (Katie Sollohub)

 As well as Katie leading the course, Emily will also be there as a student and practitioner, engaging in group discussions and sharing her practice alongside the other artists attending the course.

 

Image: making studies on the beach (Emily Ball)

  

 

“I love how Katie leads you into a state of awareness.  All fear and anxiety slip away.  Her guided meditation  helps you notice what is around you.  You’re ready to do some really interesting drawings.  Whenever I’ve worked with Katie using this method I’ve made work I’m really pleased with and that has surprised me and been useful for future work.” ~Emily

To find out more and to book your place, please click on the button below: 

You can also read more about this year’s Algarve courses by reading our ‘Residencies’ newsletter from earlier this year.  Click here to read the newsletter.

Expressive Painting in the Algarve Landscape

With Emily Ball

 

8 -13 September 2024 (Arrive on Sunday, taught course Monday – Friday, leave Saturday)

£1995 (includes accommodation, tuition, all food and materials)

Images: the Algrave Landscape (Emily Ball)

 

Colour is a key theme to explore through Emily’s five-day Algarve course:  seeking equivalents to the glowing red earth, rugged vistas to the sea, the wiry, bleached vegetation and beautiful light. Emily will provide practical demonstrations and exercises to enable you to unpack the painting process and help you translate the invisible and intangible sensations of heat, breeze, birdsong, space and your own mood  and show you how these can be translated into colour and marks.  By the end of the course you will have a valuable  collection of painted studies and experiments that are expressive and personal to you and your experience of being in the landscape.‍

Imgages: colour studies made by artists attending Emily's Algarve course last year

Emily’s Algarve course follows on from Katie course, and her experience of working with Katie will directly feed into the work she creates during her own course.  These courses make a magical combination as they feed beautifully into one another.  If you sign up for both you can enjoy a 10% discount.  There is only 1 place remaining on Emily’s course. So book soon to avoid disappointment.

 

To find out more about the course and to grab that final place, click on the button below:

Hot Hill Portugal: Developing a Body of Work

 

The journey from studies to finished paintings

Images: Drawing studies  made on the hill in Portugal‍

The process of moving from studies to landscape – from  working on location to painting in the studio - reveal much about Emily’s painting process and are testament to the fact that Emily teaches what she practices!  Here, in her own words, is the story of how this body of work evolved:

 

“There was so much material from the studies I made on the hill in Portugal.  The studies were mainly drawings, often using R&F pigment sticks.

 

“As well as drawing, I wrote about the studies and when I returned to my studio back home, I organised them: clustering them into themed groups.  In the end I settled on a  particular quality of what it felt like to be on that hot hill.  The touch-word for the paintings I made from my studies was ‘tough'."

Image: Emily's work station at the Seawhite studio, with groupings of studies on the walls

“It was an important and productive process – taking those studies and pushing them forward into a larger, more ambitious body of work.  I shared this process with students during the online PAINT FIT course as well as my STUDIO RESIDENCY.  The fact that I was able to push these paintings forward is thanks to the discipline, rigour and focus that these courses/residencies offer all artists attending (including myself!).”

Image: ‍Brittle Heat (Emily Ball)

If you would like to find out more about the PAINT FIT  online course or join Emily for her next STUDIO RESIDENCY, please click on the buttons below.: