Making the most of the morning light and the diverse local environment of Leith, this Saturday morning landscape course will enable students to work confidently outdoors, using a range of media through responding directly to our immediate community.
Taking advantage of much of the greenery of Leith, including Starbank Park, the Water of Leith and Leith Links, as well as the docks, quirky side streets and weekend markets, students will have the opportunity to work in varied settings, building on their representational drawing and painting skills out in situ. For those inevitable Saturdays which are simply too dreich to be working in, we’ll be keeping dry in the studio, working on transcriptions, developing imagery and synthesising our sketches into fully developed paintings. Students will have the opportunity to develop their own work with guidance by the tutor towards the end of the course.
The first third of the term will introduce students to the variety of locations in and around Leith, and will be encouraged to use a sketchbook as a visual diary for these outings to record their thoughts, perceptions and connections. Whilst gathering visual information, students will also be exposed to a wide range of media, such as water-based materials including gouache, watercolour, acrylics and mixed media, as well as low-fi printing methods such as trace monotype and cyanotype. Students will work through a series of projects, enabling them to get to grips with the formal elements of line, tone, form and colour.
Moving through the middle of the term, students will be encouraged to develop and strengthen their ideas, through continuous observation in their chosen location, and commencing sustained studies in the studio. The final third of the term will consist in more extensive one-to-one tutorials with students about their own interests and work, and we will be working towards resolving works of art at the end of term.
This class is suitable for beginners, through to advanced artists with their own practice.