Another great course in Porthleven, held in the fabulous Old Lifeboat House studio at the head of the harbour. Porthleven never fails to inspire: all our artists - including one from Australia! - found their 'Freedom in Painting' in their inventive responses to the landscape, channelling their skills, intuition and curiosity into their work.
As always, the course began on Saturday with an inspirational visit to St.Ives - visiting the Tate, Anima Mundi, the Penwith Gallery, New Craftsman Gallery and Heather McAlplne at the Crypt Gallery - followed by a group mark-making exercise, back at the studio, looking at structure and movement with a palette of blue and yellow.
Group-exercise: structure and movement
On Sunday morning we had a drawing session around the harbour, seeing it from multiple viewpoints, a series of rapid sketches, looking for the essential and ideas for painting.
After lunch, I demonstrated the exciting journey of translating drawings and ideas intio paint and colur.. As part of my teaching, I work on a new 'Porthleven' painting for the exhibition. The demonstration was the beginning of 'Porthleven 79 (The Eyes)', a painting that was blue then yellow then back to blue!
Then the artists took the plunge and began to find their own personal visions of Porthleven. Over the next few days, there were further demonstrations and talks and an abundance of one-to-one tutorials. There was a great work-ethic and a generous atmosphere in the studio - a place for eavesdropping and sharing ideas, the group bonding further on our traditional Artists Dinner at Kota-Kai.
Unique to art courses in Cornwall, we finish the course with a 1-day exhinition. On Wednesday afternoon, we cleared the studio and hung the exhibition, always a thrilling moment. As you can see from the gallery below, the bravery and the hard work paid off, each artist with a distinctive voice. We welcomed over 80 visitors on Exhibition Day, curious to know what we had been up to over the week! It's always sad when a course ends, but friendships are made and I'm sure we'll keep in touch and meet again. Hats off to the artists!
Exhibition Day - the studio becomes a gallery!
ARTISTS GALLERY
ARTISTS COMMENTS
'Another amazing week! Thank-you for your endless patience and wonderful advice' CHRISTINA HARRISON
'Thank-you to you both for creating such a fun, informative and incredible painting space for me to evolve as a new painter!' ZOE SWAN
'Thank-you so much for a special week' JENNY LAW