A Fistful of Flowers

Course Dates: 6^th- 9^th April  2027 (Tuesday - Friday)

Expressive paintings of flowers.

This course is an exploration into how to make expressive drawings and paintings of flowers that really embrace their extraordinary physicality and characters. As the title suggests the tactile and intense connection to the subject is key. As we gather and arrange the flowers the work and subject for our paintings has already begun. The flowers that will inspire your drawings and paintings could be gathered from your own garden or picked from the hedgerows. Memories of childhood or even present day associations with family and place may influence the work too. Flowers are given at poignant times of our lives to mark a moment, a new chapter and to remember. This intensive 3 day course will be an exploration into what it is like to make paintings of flowers that really embrace their extraordinary physicality and characters. As the title of the course suggests Nature can be touched; held, explored and brought close to us; rather than kept at a distance, idealised, pretty and conventional. Students will explore using the exciting qualities of paint: colour, surface, texture, layering and gesture to celebrate the wonder of flowers.

Everyone will have their own bunches of flowers in their space. These could be brought from your own garden, picked from the hegderows or a combination of bought and gathered. Over the 4 days Emily will demonstrate ways of handling paint that give the sculptural and tactile qualities of the subject, as well as breaking down the stages of building the image. Working in a series of 3 or 4 paintings, going and back and forth between the paintings, will help each artist to explore the development of an image and gain confidence in changing, layering and pushing into the paintings to find the flowers.

Artists to inspire: Miranda Bolton, Bonnard, Cy Twombly, Phoebe Unwin, Patrick Heron, Tal R, Matisse, Joan Eardley, Ivon Hitchens, Soutine, Winifred Nicholson.

 

See Course Details for further information