EMILY BALL AT SEAWHITE | CONTEMPORARY DRAWING AND PAINTING COURSES |
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PAINT FIT STUDIO RETREAT | Two weeks to establish a daily painting practice and get to the heart of what matters to you creatively |
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| Image: Emily working in the studio during Paint Fit |
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“To have a conversation with your work is what really matters. The ideas come from the paintings as they grow.” ~ Emily
Dear Visitor
Hooray for Autumn! The crisp bite in the air and the back-to-school vibes can mean only one thing at the Seawhite Studio – it’s nearly time for Emily’s Paint Fit Studio Retreat. This two-week online course is all about getting into a daily painting routine; one that is set up during the course and then keeps going beyond it. Over the two weeks Emily will give you the tools, exercises and demonstrations that will help you find new ways of working - refreshing and reigniting your painting engine. This time of year is the perfect opportunity to get back into a painting routine after the summer break and by signing up for Paint Fit, you will be ensuring that your creative practice has pace and momentum that will see you through for months to come. As well as sharing ALL the reasons why you should sign up for Paint Fit, we also wanted to remind you of a gem of a course taking place next week at the Seawhite Studio. Katie Sollohub’s A Not So Still Life invites you to loosen up your approach to a traditional subject, working in a free and intuitive way using a variety of surfaces and mediums. It’s got Katie’s inventive approach all over it!
Read onto find out more about each of these courses, or if you can’t wait and are ready to sign yourself up for some guaranteed creative inspiration and energy, click on the buttons below to head straight to our website and book:
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PAINT FIT STUDIO RETREAT With Emily Ball 27 – 31 October & 3 – 7 November 2025 (Mon – Fri each week) £250 |
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| Image: Emily working in the studio during Paint Fit |
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Paint Fit is an online course that invites participants to make a two-week commitment to painting daily. It grew out of a realisation that many artists have the time, a studio space but sometimes lack the self-belief, and momentum to really push their work through the difficult stages. The emphasis of the course is on helping artists find and sustain space in their practice for their work to develop and progress.
“All too often artists can feel despondent and lost: We are hard on ourselves and our work. What we sometimes lose sight of is the fact that we are having a conversation with our work. The answers are in the paintings that we make; if only we would look, be generous and open. A big part of this is recognising the questions we should ask ourselves that will help us to see what matters within the work. Once we have identified this, our next painting decision becomes clearer, our language of paint becomes more articulate and courageous, the process of painting becomes easier and the paintings begin to flow.” ~ Emily |
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| Image: Emily working in the studio during Paint Fit |
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The course has a very simple yet effective structure. Each morning participating artists join Emily for a one-hour online tutorial in which she suggests exercises, gives demonstrations and shares painting tips that get everyone fired up and ready to spend time painting independently in their home studios.
“During the daily hour-long workshops, my aim is to share my painting process with you: the subtle decisions and trains-of-thought that motivate which brush I pick up; what colours I choose; where I place my marks. From the comfort and convenience of your own studios you can then “follow” me, completing the exercises but focusing in on your own subject matter; concentrating on your practise as an artist and reflecting on what helps you to engage with your work. Importantly I also address what happens when painting is not going well. What do you do to turn work round and go forward again? Getting unstuck and re-inventing are things that I relish in my work.” ~ Emily
To gain a sense of what you can expect from the online tutorial part of the course, click on the image below to watch a short film of Emily demonstrating ‘Air Painting’ during a previous Paint Fit course: |
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Having just returned from the Algarve, Emily will be working from the studies she made there during the Paint Fit sessions, As she teaches, she will share her challenges and breakthroughs; walking the path with you honestly and with authenticity. All of her learning and insight that she has acquired over 35 years of painting will be available to you during these two special weeks. |
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| Images: drawing studies made in the Algarve, September 2025, Emily Ball |
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The online tutorials and subsequent independent time in the studio are an invitation to immerse yourself in some serious play when painating: being playful and open to experiments whilst being serious and committed to developing your unique painting voice. By the by the end of the two weeks we find that everyone feels like they have made significant progress with their work, and have the motivation to keep going independently.
This sense of momentum is fuelled by the vibrant and supportive online community that is fostered both during and beyond the timeframe of the course (via a private Facebook group). It’s heartening to see artists share their wins, push each other on and banish that sense of isolation and lethargy all artists sometimes feel when painting alone. |
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| Image: Emily working in the studio |
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“These 2 weeks will be productive, supportive, instilling a calm, creative logic to help you make decisions and begin working each day with a real sense of purpose and confidence. It is my ambition is to help set everyone up to be able to work by themselves with more confidence going forward in the months to come." ~ Emily To find out more about the course and to book your place, please click on the button below: |
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Paint Fit – how was it for you? POV participating artists |
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Working with Emily is a guaranteed way of investing in your practice; digging deep and finding out what really matters to you creatively. It’s inspiring stuff and little wonder that artists enthuse about her teaching style. Paint Fit receives lots of positive feedback, so who better to describe the benefits of taking part than the participating artists themselves! |
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| Image: painting made during Paint Fit, Deborah Pugh |
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“I think that Paint Fit has helped me be more experimental in the studio and has given me multiple ways of moving my work on.” ~ Deborah Pugh “For me there were several little ‘Aha’ moments throughout the whole two weeks and then what feels like a fundamental shift over the last two or three days as we slowed down and zoomed in and I started to identify and appreciate my own language…and to recognise that my subject is already there and I can find it. Really I could describe the whole experience as a positive shift! ~ Dee Walker |
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| Image: painting studio during Paint Fit, Sallie Govett |
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“Paint fit is an amazing course, from receiving the notes onwards my art world became invigorated .Emily is so generous in her teaching and takes you through her own thought process as she paints which is so helpful . The exercises I found most helpful were from day 3 and day 9 and these have produced lots of little studies and so endless opportunities for a whole new body of work . It was also lovely to meet artists from all over the world and share ideas with them .” ~ Sallie Govett |
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| Image: painting made during Paint Fit, Carinthis Gibbins |
| “I found this Paint Fit course particularly valuable. By the final Thursday afternoon I was painting with a confidence in my own judgement that I've never had before. It was a revolution and a most amazing feeling.” ~ Carinthia Gibbins ] |
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“I really enjoyed the course. It provided lots of momentum and energy to kickstart my work. It was really good to work alongside you and the detailed preparation notes were really helpful in getting prepared for this. The catch up videos have been useful to watch again. I loved the way you expressed your thoughts whilst painting. I enjoyed the open and brave way in which you worked, even if things didn't work out! Thank you Emily. This was the best course for moving me forwards.” ~ Linda Rafferty “It’s extremely exciting to feel refreshed and energised about my work at this time of year.” ~ Liz Meier |
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| Image: painting made during Paint Fit, Liz Meier |
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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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A Not so Still Life With Katie Sollohub 29 – 30 September 2025 (Monday-Tuesday) | £200 |
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| Images: work station during Still LIfe course with Katie Sollohub |
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“If you want an exciting and refreshing take on the subject of Still Life, then grab a last minute spot on this liberating workshop, where I ivite you to join me taking over the Seawhite Studio with objects galore, and draw and paint in response to their characters, their purpose, their (invented) stories and histories, making up the rules as we go along. Learn to let go and trust in your innate creativity. From the humble umbrella to a pile of books, a stone from the beach to Henry the Hoover: what can you make with a ladder and a tea cup? what stories can you tell?" ~ Katie |
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| Images: students working during A Not so Still Life |
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"We will be bringing objects to life through drawing and painting as an interactive process - moving objects, making objects, freeing up our approach to a traditional subject so that your work might even come off the wall and become a moving installation, or a “the making of” film rather than the drawing itself." ~ Katie |
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| Images: work produced by artists attending A Not so Still LIfe |
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To find out more and to book your place on A Not So Still LIfe, please click on the button below: | | |
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