Join Katy Papineau for an immersive week with a particular focus on using colour in figurative painting. Create your own totally original artwork and discover a beautiful area of South West France.
About this course:
Doing this painting holiday you will work from a life model, participating in exercises based in colour theory. You will try out techniques such as painting on a coloured ground and making colour paintings from black and white drawings. This foundational work will sharpen your observational skills and deepen your technical understanding of colour.
Beyond these technical elements, we will explore how to use colour to express something of our inner lives. Colour has the power to convey more than the purely visual, and this course will help students create atmospheric and expressive paintings. Taking inspiration from poetry, imagination, and memory, you will use colour to express something individual in the work you create.
We will take inspiration from art history by studying artists such as Gwen John, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Sargy Mann, Pierre Bonnard, and Milton Avery. Most mornings will be based around drawing and painting exercises, and we will discuss the role of drawing as a way of gathering information for paintings. The afternoons will be more open: you will work from the life model and try out new techniques under guidance from Katy. Throughout the course, you will benefit from personalized feedback and group discussions.
Figurative Painting Holiday – Outline Course Schedule:
Saturday
4.00 – Check-in time from 4pm onwards. Guests arrive, settle in and explore Clos Mirabel
6.00 – Welcome drinks and dinner
Sunday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 12.00 Introduction to the course, discussion of colour temperature. Experimenting with creating harmonious and contrasting colour palettes
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Making portraits of the life model using limited palettes, thinking about use of warm and cool colours
600 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Monday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 12.00 Discussion of colour and tonal values and the benefits of making colour paintings from monochrome drawings. Drawing from the life model
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Trying out different ways to making colour paintings from monochrome drawings, using the distance between the painting and the original subject to allow space for more expressive colour choices
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Tuesday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 12.00 Preparing coloured grounds to work on in the afternoon. Drawing/ painting en plein air to gather material to use in the afternoon
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Painting the life model on different coloured grounds. Using the morning’s drawings as prompts, colour choices will be influenced by imagination and memory
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Wednesday – day off
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
We suggest wine tasting in local vineyard, explore Pau or beyond
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Thursday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 12.00 Drawing exercises to start us off for the day. Group discussion, make plan for next 1.5 days with support from Katy and the rest of the group
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Begin final painting/ series of paintings, either working directly from the model or from previous drawings and paintings
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Friday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast of local and regional produce
10.00 – 12.00 Drawing exercises to start us off for the day. Open brief of working on final pieces with individual tuition throughout the morning
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Working on final pieces with individual tuition. Getting ready for the exhibition
5.00 – Evening exhibition in the art studio
6.00 – Aperitifs before 4 course dinner in the Manor House or on the terrace
Saturday – Buffet Breakfast and departure (Check-out 11am)
Non-painting guests: we are more than happy to welcome non-painting guests, accompanying partners, family or friends. There are plenty of activities to experience around Clos Mirabel, that will make your holiday unforgettable Click here for more information.
The Art Studio offers a spacious open plan layout of 75 m2. It is available at all times during your stay. Click here for more information.
