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EMILY BALL AT SEAWHITE‍

CONTEMPORARY DRAWING AND PAINTING COURSES‍

PAINTING THE ABUNDANCE OF SUMMER

Summer in the Garden - online and in-person

with Emily Ball & Katie Sollohub

Images:  L&R‍ - Emily's drawing and paintings of her garden, made as part of her preparation for last year's summer school.  Centre - Katie Sollohub drawing at Highdown Gardens

Dear  ‍Visitor ‍

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“As we move from Spring into Summer I want to be outside; making the most of the longer days and being amongst nature, part of it. My own practise as an artist involves long stretches of time working outside, feeling connected and noticing the extraordinary qualities in plants, air, light, birdsong and what it feels like to be there breathing and moving through it. This feeds me and provides me with inspiration back in the studio to make paintings. I cannot think of a better way of spending my time. Katie and I love teaching the summer school. The opportunity to share with other artists our processes and enthusiasm for engaging in this way is always a joy.” ~ Emily‍

You are warmly invited to Join Emily and Katie for this year’s Summer Schools.  Entitled ‘In the Garden’  these courses  will guide you from quick studies to finished paintings, with Emily and Katie offering inventive approaches to encourage fresh ways of looking and creating images.

The two versions of this year’s Summer School take place in late June and early July, with places still available on each course:

Five Reasons to sign up for this year's Summer School‍

1.Celebrating summer through paint!  

Image: Emily Ball, painting in the garden

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 inspiration, the Summer Schools are a celebration of the abundance of the summer garden.   Looking at your own garden could tell you a lot about what you might desire in your paintings - full to the brim with vibrant colour, shaped with sharp edges, or layered and glazed with shimmering borders and golden grasses.  The garden is a symbol of abundance and a space for dreaming. Spending time in a garden is food for the soul.‍

Image: making studies at Highdown Gardens,  (Emily Ball/KatieSollohub)

2. The Garden:an inspirational setting‍

“Garden Tales was painted over a period of time from the doors of my garden studio, looking out. I was able to notice the flowers growing, the leaves changing colour, as well as the various birds and beasts visiting. It has transformed my tiny garden into a paradise - ah the magic of paint and colour and artistic license!" ~ Katie‍ Sollohub

Image: Garden Tales‍, 2020 Katie Sollohub

From Monet to Matisse, many artists have been inspired by the motifs of the garden, revelling in the colours and sensory delights that they offer.  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.  Whichever garden you choose as your subject, you are bound to found endless inspiration in this summer setting!‍

Images: Emily Ball - drawing and painting in the Garden, 2024

The in-person summer school takes its inspiration from the beautiful Highdown Garden near Worthing, a unique chalk garden on the Downs.  It is a garden full of delights; mature trees and plants, winding pathways that lead to open spaces where you can sit immersed in the sights, sounds and smells.  Accessing the garden is easy: all the paths are easy to navigate and there are benches dotted everywhere so that you can pause to sit and soak up the atmosphere and draw in comfort.  ‍

Image: Highdown Grardens,  (Emily Ball/KatieSollohub)

Click on the image below and let Emily take you on a  walk around Highdown Gardens, so that you can soak up the atmosphere and become inspired by the theme of this year’s summer school‍. 

3.Learn to make‘good’studies on location.‍

Image: Making studies in Highdown Gardens‍ (Emily Ball/KatieSollohub)

Drawing and painting from nature is a process of exploration and discovery, so to help you switch on all your senses, for each course Katie will lead mindfulness meditations to really ground you in your surroundings before making work.

If you choose to join Emily and Katie for the Online Summer School, you will be sent – a month prior to the start of the course  - 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.‍

Images: St‍udies and paintings (Emily Ball)

The first two days of the  In-Person Summer School take place at Highdown Gardens making lots of studies that capture the experience of this peaceful and inspiring place. Beginning with a guided meditation to ground you in the space, you will then be introduced and shown a variety of processes to make successful studies, including mark-making, collage and written tasks.‍

4. Tutors who really know their stuff!‍

The teaching double act of Emily and Katie - there’s nothing quite like it!  They’ve been team-teaching landscape-based courses for years and absolutely love it – as do the students. Their approach to  teaching these courses is calm, playful, practical and carefully brought together in bite size chunks of information and guidance to help you  become involved and courageous as you make your work.  Both artists are perceptive in responding to student’s painting needs and are generous with sharing  their painting knowledge and expertise – which  amounts to 50+ years of (collective) painting experience!‍

Images: Emily Ball & Katie Sollohub working together  in the Seawhite Studio‍

5.Create confident,personal paintings.‍

Image: painting, Emily Ball

The aim of the summer schools is to give students the tools and courage to transform on-location studies into successful painting back in the studio:

“Katie and I will be encouraging you to be painterly: to embrace and use the beautiful colours, textures and natural patterns that have inspired you from the gardens to make joyful and evocative paintings that bring the garden into the studio.” ~ Emily

They will how you how to unpack and select from your many studies.  They will expertly guide you through different approaches that will enable you to select, invent, and compose, creating ambitious and creative paintings‍ that bring back the glorious riot of colours, patterns, mood and memories of being in the garden.‍

Image: Student's work station with studies and paintings, Summer in the Garden 2024 (Emily Ball/KatieSollohub)‍

For more information or to book your place on either of our Summer Schools please click on the buttons below

"I am so grateful to have been part of the recent magic of the summer school. 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. You couldn’t have broken it down for us more or facilitated our creativity better." ~ Sophie Bartlett, course participant on previous Seawhite Studio Summer school.‍‍

Exhibition: Productive Land

Dig Deep, oil on canvas, 120 x 170 cm by Emily Ball‍

In keeping with the theme of Working from Nature, we have exciting news about a forthcoming exhibition featuring work by  Emily Ball and Nick Bodimeade.

‘Productive Land’ is an exhibition of contemporary art curated by Zimmer Stewart Gallery and  inspired by the unique location of a barn in a small farming hamlet nestling in the South Downs National Park.  The term 'Productive Land' refers to an area that can support agriculture, characterised by  fertile soil, access to water, accessibility and suitable climate conditions. These days agricultural activities are much broader than crops and livestock, and can encompass wild flower field margins and woodlands too.

The 22 artists featured in Productive Land all have a connection to Sussex and the exhibited works are “…inspired by memory of particular places, the interplay of human and natural forces, biodiversity and of course agriculture.” James Stewart, Zimmer Stewart gallery 

The exhibition will take place from 12 to 16 June 2025 at South Stoke Barn, South Stoke, near Arundel, BN18 9PF, and will be open everyday from 11am to 6pm.

For more information click on the button below to read the full press release:

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