We recently welcomed a group of artists (including a returning artist from Canada!) to our spring 'Freedom in Painting' course in Port Isaac. The ambition, as always, was to explore the possibilities of painting and find a personal vision, inspired by the stunning Cornish coastal landscape. As you can see from the gallery above, a collection of strong and innovative paintings emerged over the 5 days, with the artists taking away ideas, studies, methods to inspire new works on their return home.
Our first day was spent on location, meeting in Rock and catching the ferry to Padstow for a drawing session around the harbour. We made sketches from different heights, different viewpoints, moving around the landscape, looking for ideas for painting. After a fantastic lunch at the Harbour Hotel, we continued drawing, recording repetitions and change and movement in the landscape, with criss-crossing ferries and the sandbanks emerging with the receding tide.
'Ladder of Colour' exercise
On Thursday morning, after setting up the studio in Port Isaac Village Hall, I set a colour-exercise, asking the artists to remember and then mix five distinctive colours from Padstow and stack them, like a ladder, onto their canvas. Then they were asked to flood the rest of the canvas with one of those colours. Next they introduced a map-view of Padstow harbour from memory, followed by an image from a drawing, giving their paintings three distinct elements from the subject. The idea behind the exercise was that with a different beginning, you'll get a different painting and in all cases the artists went beyond the exercise to make paintings full of invention and personality.
This is the essence of 'Freedom in Painting', a fusion of information, imagination, intuition, emotion. Working from drawings, away from the subject, allows the freedom to invent...
The artists bonded further with a group dinner at the fabulous Tiny Thai in Wadebridge!
On Friday morning, the sun was shinining brightly as we headed out for a drawing session around Port Isaac, once again drawing from various viewpoints around the harbour and looking for ideas for painting. After lunch, I gave a talk about the translation of drawings into paintings, looking in particular at the work of Van Gogh, Nicolas de Stael, Pierre Bonnard and Frank Auerbach. This was followed by an interactive demonstration, before the artists began their own paintings.
The studio at Port Isaac Village Hall
The next few days were packed with individual tuition and further demonstrations, also referencing the great resource of art history and contemporary painting. As the artists pushed their paintings forwards, there was a wonderful creative spirit in the studio, the artists working hard and generously discussing each others paintings, including my own! (below). On Sunday afternoon, after clearing the studio, as always, we finished with an invaluable group critique, a fascinating discussion of the artists ideas and direction. Port Isaac (and Padstow) never fails to inspire - hats off to the artists!
ARTISTS COMMENTS:
'I have learned more than I thought, and lots to take away. Ashley is a fantastic teacher, help me explore the new world, abstract landscape painting. Very good atmosphere, very relaxing and friendly' WEN ZHANG
'My aim was to go more abstract and I achieved that. Yet another fabulous course. Ashley is so helpful and positive' HAZEL CRAWFORD
'The feedback from Ashley is so helpful and it is also great hearing the feedback on paintings of other people. It is so good to be on a course like this and not feel as if you are painting into a vacuum' ERICA SHIPLEY
'The open discussions are most useful. Very positive supportative environment' CLIVE WOODS