Join Nina Johansson for a fun week exploring the joys of sketching. Create your own totally original artwork and discover a beautiful area of South West France.
About this course:
Sketching from observation is a great way to experience a place! In this course we will bring our sketching tools outside to explore Clos Mirabel and its surroundings, capturing them on paper. We will be using lines and colours – pencils, pens and brushes – to capture the look and feel of everything from big scenes to tiny details around us. The subjects will cover whatever we encounter during the course, landscapes, architecture, villages, people, botanicals, food – everything becomes interesting to investigate when you sketch. We will start out on location and use the atelier for continued work and explorations.
During the course, you will pick up some key concepts for sketching, such as composition, perspective, colour theory/mixing, capturing volume and depth, light and shadow, and more. But you will also try out a relaxed attitude to all these. A sketch is suggestive and explorative, it doesn’t have to be finished or perfect. This gives us the freedom to experiment and choose a focus we like or leave things unfinished, at our will. Your sketches will become a unique tale of your experiences and the places you visit, told through your eyes and hands.
Painting Holiday Programme Outline:
Saturday
4.00 Check-in time
6.00 Welcome drinks & dinner
Sunday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Presentation and intro to urban sketching and visual storytelling. Start-up sketching, trying out tools.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Quick take on proportions and finding perspective with sketching exercises
6.00 – Apéritifs before 4-course dinner
Monday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Colour – simplified theory and colour mixing. Combining materials for line and colour.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Sketching around or nearby Clos Mirabel
6.00 – Apéritifs before 4-course dinner
Tuesday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Composition and depth with sketching exercises
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 4.00 Simplification – degrees of abstraction vs reality. Choosing a focus. Text as storytelling enhancement.
6.00 – Apéritifs before 4-course dinner
Wednesday day off (Lunch is not provided)
The tutor suggests you take sketchbook and sketch a little wherever you go during this free day
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
5.00 – 6.00 Optional joint sketching event around the grounds of Clos Mirabel
6.00 – Apéritifs before 4-course dinner
Thursday – Trip to Pau for urban sketching. Transportation provided. Lunch is not provided.
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Short startup lesson in Pau: sketching people – how and why? Sketching themes (optional, handout) or free sketching
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch in Pau on your own
2.00 – 4.00 Continue sketching in Pau
6.00 – Apéritifs before 4-course dinner
Friday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast
10.00 – 1.00 Sketching together around Clos Mirabel, implementing the concepts from the week. Individual tuition throughout.
1.00 – 2.00 Lunch at Clos Mirabel
2.00 – 5.00 Studio: Q&As, 1 to 1 tuition followed by preparation for the evening’s sketchbook exhibition.
6.00 – Feedback and Aperitifs in the Atelier before farewell dinner
Saturday
8.30 – 9.30 Buffet breakfast and check-out/departure (Check-out at 11 am)
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.
