Plein Air Painting Workshop

This 2-day summer workshop will outline and demonstrate the key steps to successful landscape painting en plein air (or ‘in the open air’). Mount Congreve Gardens comprise some 70 acres of intensively planted woodland garden as well as a charming four-acre walled garden. Internationally recognised for its rare species of plants, this 18^th-century Georgian estate offers an abundance of stunning scenes to inspire our plein air paintings. Using the alla prima method – completing each painting in just one session – you will be shown how to create strong and unified compositions and how to capture light, colour, form and texture with immediacy and speed. Some of the key learning outcomes include:

• Composition, picture plane dynamics and scene selection: identifying visual cues that will ensure a successful painting composition
• Simplifying and massing the many complex shapes, forms and textures in nature
• Emphasising the primary importance of value and tonal relationships
• Mastering light and colour: how to mix realistic as well as expressive colours, and organising and harmonising them on your palette and canvas
• Understanding different surfaces and the effects of light and atmosphere on them

You will also be shown many important oil, acrylic and watercolour painting skills and techniques, including brushwork, washes, blending, edges and transitions, and many other tips to help you avoid the most common pitfalls in painting. Lunch is available each day from 1 – 2pm at the Stables Café at Mount Congreve House. This is not included in the workshop price. Alternatively you can bring your own packed lunch.

For full description, learning outcomes, what’s included and what’s required, and other important information click here.