About Our Courses
Each workshop takes you through a series of exercises to provide you with enough knowledge and practical skill to enable you to also practice at home. If the one day workshops are completed as a set, whether attended close together or over a longer timescale, they can give you all the basic and in some areas, more advanced skills you need to get your ideas down on paper or canvas in a competent way.
Places are limited to between 2 and 4 people to ensure plenty of individual coaching, some courses will be limited to 6 depending on the topic and level of experience of the attendees. Any course notes and all materials are included, especially when you are changing mediums.
You can, of course, bring any of your own with you, but you will use the materials and equipment provided during the sessions. These include indoor and outdoor easels where needed, so you don’t have to bring all your equipment if you don’t want to.
Drawing and Perspective Essentials:
Basic Perspective Made Easy, Creative Drawing – capturing images with different techniques and mark making.
Drawing for Painters:
This course has proved popular with beginners and more experienced painters alike, who have little knowledge of, or skills in drawing. This is a useful workshop if you are not necessarily passionate about drawing but you want to have better drawing skill in getting your ideas onto canvas. A confidence building experience. Drawing basics are often neglected and deemed irrelevant to painting but nothing could be further from the truth. It is essential to understand form and underlying structure of the human form, buildings and still life objects.
More About Perspective:
A more in depth look at perspective in relation to architecture, human form and still life objects. We look at scale and distance in landscapes as well as optical illusion
Colour Mixing (includes Session on Materials):
The most sought after workshop of all we do. This will give you the how and why of choosing your palette, exploring shadows and the effect of light and shade on colour, and give you confidence when approaching your subject matter.
Painting for the Passionate Amateur:
A great way to start or improve your skills with this insightful workshop. If you are short on skills, confused about perspective, or simply stuck in any area of your work, but you have a passion for learning more this is the workshop for you. It doesn’t matter where you are now, its where you want to get to that is important and we can help you to take a leap in progress and enjoy the process
Painting for the Experienced Leisure Painter:
This course is perfect for anyone with medium to long term experience of painting, anyone who feels stuck in a formulaic method,, anyone who feels they are not progressing and anyone who just loves to paint. It can only enhance and improve your current style or methods, and we take you outside of your comfort zone to whatever degree you are happy to try. See our video clip on the website for some testimonials
Water Colour:
Exploding the myths and getting to grips with this beautiful but sometimes inherently difficult medium. Peter Massey’s regular and one off classes have inspired everyone from beginners to more experienced and his introduction to water colours is a must for anyone considering taking up painting in water colour
Introduction to Water Colour Painting with Peter Massey:
A half day workshop with Peter is relaxed, and confidence building, and allows you to experiment with the medium before investing in all the materials. A must for beginners.
2-Day Courses: Improvers and Those Returning to Art
Once you have some basic understanding of materials, together with some practice with composition and perspective, you may want to try a 2-day creative course that is more ambitious. These are great courses if you are picking up your brushes after a long absence, or wish to develop your existing skills. It also gives you confidence to tackle something more challenging or simply try painting with a different medium to the one you have been using.
3-Day Courses, Great for Building Confidence
The 3-day courses take you slightly out of your comfort zone on the first day, get to grips with challenges on the second day, and then on to an enjoyable exercise on the third day. This is where you may discover you can do much more than you thought you could.
4-Day Courses
Designed for more advanced painters or the more adventurous!
Fun and progressive, our 4-day courses are ideal when you are a regular painter who really wants to improve while enjoying the creative process. We tailor these courses to include any areas you may want to focus on, and at least one day is spent observing and sketching en plein air, or if the weather doesn’t permit, a visit to a major gallery to consider styles and techniques.
5-Day Art Courses in Cornwall (coming soon)
What We Cover
The mediums used depend on the method you prefer working with, so please contact us to discuss your preference. We cover:
- Drawing
- Perspective
- Composition
- Colour-Mixing
- Creative Approaches to Your Work
- Working Outdoors
- Studio Working
- Problem Solving
- A Range of Techniques
- Brushwork
- Tools and Materials
All these topics are blended into the week at appropriate times to support you in obtaining the effects you want to achieve.