This Expressive Landscape course explores both rural and urban environments, expanding how landscape can be interpreted through expressive composition and surface development.

Students will work with natural scenery alongside elements of the urban landscape, considering how architecture, structure, and open space can sit within balanced and dynamic landscape compositions.

Mixed media processes will support this exploration. Flat collage will be used for painted landscapes, with students working over collaged surfaces to explore depth, balance, and structure. Gelli printing and collagraph techniques will also be introduced to build texture and layered interest within landscape painting.

Sessions combine demonstration and supported studio practice, encouraging confident experimentation while strengthening compositional understanding. Students will produce a series of mixed-media landscape studies alongside more resolved personal pieces.

Suitable for beginners to intermediate level students.

This evening painting course explores contemporary still life through expressive colour, light, and composition, drawing inspiration from the bold palettes and painterly approaches of the Scottish Colourists, Henri Matisse, and the decorative sensibility of the Bloomsbury Group.

We will be exploring wax and water resists, using inks, print, pastels and acrylics. Leading on to create wonderfully expressive representations of various still life studies with mixed media. Practical demonstrations will cover perspective, tonal development, texture through gel printing, and pattern and other studies.

The world of the interior will also be explored during this course, crossing over from still life to it’s surrounds within an interior. Inspiration will be drawn from the Scottish Colourists and the works of Henri Matisse.

Students will be shown step-by-step demonstrations to understand the processes used. Techniques studies will be followed by a personal piece chosen by each student.

This Expressive Landscape course explores both rural and urban environments, expanding how landscape can be interpreted through expressive composition and surface development.

Students will work with natural scenery alongside elements of the urban landscape, considering how architecture, structure, and open space can sit within balanced and dynamic landscape compositions.

Mixed media processes will support this exploration. Flat collage will be used for painted landscapes, with students working over collaged surfaces to explore depth, balance, and structure. Gelli printing and collagraph techniques will also be introduced to build texture and layered interest within landscape painting.

Sessions combine demonstration and supported studio practice, encouraging confident experimentation while strengthening compositional understanding. Students will produce a series of mixed-media landscape studies alongside more resolved personal pieces.

Suitable for beginners to intermediate level students.

An immersive exploration of expressive Scottish landscape painting, focusing on the drama, atmosphere, and shifting light of the Highlands and coastlines over 10 weeks.

Drawing inspiration from the bold colour of the Scottish Colourists and the spontaneity of Impressionism, students will examine how weather, light, and mood shape powerful landscape compositions. The course also references artists including: William McTaggart, Nael Hanna, Peter Doig, Joan Eardley, and Victoria Crowe, whose varied approaches to the Scottish landscape will inform weekly practical sessions.

Working primarily with acrylic and mixed media, students will explore expressive mark-making, dynamic colour, texture, and layering, including the use of gel printing. Sessions combine visual references, demonstrations, and guided studio practice to encourage personal interpretation and confident development.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a small body of landscape work that reflects both technical progress and an individual response to Scotland’s dramatic environment.

This course continues to develop the core principles of drawing and painting, building confidence across a range of subjects including still life, landscape, the figure, and elements of urban sketching. While it follows on from Drawing & Painting, new students are also welcome.

Each session is led by clear demonstrations and focuses on a different area of study, progressing from drawing into painting, mark-making, and colour development. Alongside observational work, students will spend two weeks exploring urban sketching approaches, two weeks developing mixed-media work through gelli printing, and two weeks working with oil pastels to expand surface and colour possibilities.

Essential techniques are reinforced before being applied through achievable stand-alone studies inspired by contemporary artists. The final stage of the course focuses on developing a more considered personal piece that brings together the skills explored throughout the term.

Suitable for beginners to intermediate level students.

This course explores the face and various forms through colour, texture, and observation. Drawing inspiration from a range of artists, students will learn different approaches to capturing the face, figure and other subjects while developing confidence in both drawing and painting.

Beginning with observational sketching in pencil and pen, students will explore both delicate and expressive ways of recording what they see. The course then progresses into richer colour work, moving from illustrative studies towards more painterly interpretations.

Materials will be introduced, including acrylic paint and oil pastels, allowing students to experiment with texture, mark-making, and colour. Emphasis is placed on moving from sensitive observational work towards bolder, more expressive outcomes. Sessions combine demonstration and supported studio practice in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. All materials are provided.

This course explores landscape painting through expressive mark-making, bold colour, and dynamic composition, progressing towards more abstract interpretations of form and space.

Drawing inspiration from artists ranging from David Hockney to Barbara Rae, students will examine how colour, texture, and structure can transform landscape into powerful and personal visual statements.

Using a variety of different techniques and materials each session will cover a different approach to the landscape. Students will learn how to master acrylics, oils and oil pastels. From simple washes and sketching to more complex layering including lessons in how to use colour effectively.

Sessions combine demonstration and guided studio practice, encouraging experimentation alongside technical development. Students will produce a series of landscape studies before developing more resolved personal pieces. Suitable for beginners to intermediate level students.

This course develops confidence and technical understanding in watercolour while introducing additional media to expand surface and compositional possibilities.

Working across a range of subjects, especially the landscape, students will build layered compositions using watercolour as a foundation. Projects are structured in one- and two-week studies, allowing time to explore depth, texture, and control within each piece.

Expressive mark-making is encouraged through the use of pastel and acrylic alongside watercolour. Texture will be created using materials such as salt, baking powder, and other surface techniques that can be built up and refined. Stencils and collage will also be incorporated as part of the process.

Students will produce a series of exploratory studies alongside two more resolved personal pieces. Suitable for intermediate level students.