East meets West: Life Drawing the Chinese Way6th Jun to 8th Jun 2025
Tutor: Lei Lei QuFriday to Sunday

This will be an intensive life drawing 'masterclass' course, with one of the UK's leading Chinese Brush Painters and tutor, based on Ancient Chinese Taoist philosophy blended with Western technoque and styles. With a professional model on hand all weekend we will be working from observation and building a deeper understanding of the figure, combined with uncovering artists' as yet unexplored expressive abilities. We will be combining both Chinese and Western instruments and techniques..... read more

"Lei Lei is an awesome tutor and the organisers very supportive." (June 2019)

Sketching Summer with Pen and Wash7th Jun to 8th Jun 2025
Tutor: Jonathan NeweySaturday to Sunday

"Sketching Summer with Pen and Watercolour" is a two-day course perfect for both beginners and experienced artists. Participants will explore the vibrant beauty of summer landscapes, capturing scenes with expressive pen lines and soft watercolour washes. Through guided exercises and live demonstrations, students will enhance their sketching techniques and learn to balance detail with fluidity. This creative journey offers a relaxing yet enriching way to celebrate the season's colours and atmosphere. Ideal for beginners and students with some knowledge..... read more

"Great course and excellent tutor." (Summer School 2019)

Drypoint & Collagraph Printmaking7th Jun to 8th Jun 2025
Tutor: Jessica RoseSaturday to Sunday

We will cover two very versatile printing methods where plates are created using methods including collage, carving, glueing and scratching..... read more

Excellent tutor. Generous and knowledgeable.

Woodcarving28th Jun to 29th Jun 2025
Tutor: Ernest RiallSaturday to Sunday

This course is for all levels. Complete beginners will be introduced to the basic skills of carving, chisel sharpening and wood behaviour. In further sessions you may follow a structured course of set projects or develop your own ideas.At every stage you will add to your skills and knowledge of all aspects of carving and develop design skills. Experienced carvers will be helped to develop their own projects and skills. This course will be held at the Wooburn Craft School in Wooburn Green..... read more

Excellent weekend, as ever. Resources and teaching very helpful. Thank you.

Drawing Ducks with Coloured Pencil4th Aug to 6th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jonathan NeweyMonday to Wednesday

"Drawing Ducks with Coloured Pencil" is a fun and creative course designed for artists of all levels. Explore techniques for capturing the beauty and charm of ducks using coloured pencils, focusing on lifelike textures, vibrant colours, and intricate feather details. Learn step-by-step methods for blending, layering, and shading to achieve realistic results. Perfect for nature enthusiasts and art lovers alike, this course helps you bring these delightful birds to life on paper..... read more

"Altogether excellent! Lovely place, tutor superb, hope to come again." (Summer School 2019)

SMALL DYNAMIC WATERCOLOURS with a hint of ink......... Course Full - Add me to Waiting List4th Aug to 6th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jackie Devereux Monday to Wednesday

Take a leap into brilliant watercolour painting, making small creative contemporary images whilst discovering the beauty of transparent pigments. Revel in the beauty of the medium and colour whilst discovering your inner creative self through experimenting with shape and composition, developing brush skills and dis overinflated how to be positive about negative space!.... read more

This was a brilliant, inspiring course with a tutor who was really helpful and full of ideas.

Woodcarving4th Aug to 8th Aug 2025
Tutor: Ernest RiallMonday to Friday

The course aims to introduce complete beginners to the basic skills of carving, chisel sharpening and wood behaviour. In further sessions you may follow a structured course of set projects or develop your own ideas.At every stage you will add to your skills and knowledge of all aspects of carving and develop design skills. Experienced carvers will be helped to develop their own projects and skills.PLEASE NOTE: This course is being held at Wooburn Craft School - see below...... read more

Excellent weekend, as ever. Resources and teaching very helpful. Thank you.

Egg Tempera Painting for All7th Aug to 8th Aug 2025
Tutor: Maz JacksonThursday to Friday

Enjoy receiving expert tuition from a respected professional artist and tutor, Maz Jackson, who will expertly guide and enthuse you to discover both subtle and vibrant qualities of egg tempera painting during this exciting course..... read more

Chinese Brush Painting: Freehand Flowers7th Aug to 8th Aug 2025
Tutor: William CaiThursday to Friday

Through face to face instruction and with demonstrations, this course will study the characteristics of Chinese painting around the subject of freehand flowers. Learning content will include: how to use the Chinese brush; how to draw beautiful brush strokes, and the requirements of drawing line. We will also look at how to use the brush with the special techniques required for painting Chinese colour..... read more

"Another great workshop with William.  There is a lot to learn and it's fun!  William is very skilful and knowledgeable." (Summer School 2019)

Painting the Sea - Seascapes and Coastlines with Acrylic11th Aug to 12th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jonathan NeweyMonday to Tuesday

"Painting the Sea: Seascapes and Coastlines with Acrylic" is an inspiring two-day course perfect for artists of all levels. Explore the beauty of the ocean, capturing dynamic waves, serene shorelines, and dramatic skies. Guided by expert instruction, you will learn essential techniques for mixing colours, creating texture, and achieving realistic water effects. Experiment with light and movement to bring your seascapes to life. By the end of the two days you will have your own stunning acrylic masterpieces..... read more

"An excellent tutor who took us on very small steps to cope with complicated sketches with much more confidence." (Summer School 2019)

Botanical Illustration - Seaside Teasures11th Aug to 13th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jackie Isard SBA Fellow CBM RHS GoldMonday to Wednesday

Drawing shells can be more complex than you would expect. All those spirals and curves can send you spinning! I will, of course, be on hand to help you with drawing and painting throughout the course. Painting any seaside treasure in watercolour is a great experience and I am certain you will enjoy this workshop. Bring along your own seaside treasures (shells, seaweed, mermaid purses, crabs etc) or select from my boxes full of goodies..... read more

Jackie Isard was really lovely and patient. Excellent tutor! Learnt so much during these two days! Thank you.

Batik - Beautiful trees on tissue and fabric11th Aug to 12th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jenny OLeary NEW TUTORMonday to Tuesday

Using Jenny's contemporary approach to this traditional technique of batik (hot wax resist) we will create pieces of work inspired by trees - the structure, leaves, shape, seasons. We will work on different surfaces - tissue, found papers and fabric. Working with wax, bleach and inks to create fabulous textures and effects, exploring markmaking with different tools. An exciting course allowing for exploration and discovery.The work will be suitable for further development such as adding stitch. .... read more

Tiny Silk and Calico Treasure BooksCourse Full - Add me to Waiting List13th Aug to 15th Aug 2025
Tutor: Paula WatkinsWednesday to Friday

Using Indian block printing with painting fabric, paper, mixed media, found objects, vintage haberdashery and stitch we will create sumptuous tiny books full of texture and surprises. We will be exploring lots of simple techniques which combine to produce beautiful unique art books to treasure. .... read more

Loved the course, Paula is such a good tutor. Lovely environment too.

Innnovative Use of Ink and Watercolour13th Aug to 14th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jackie Devereux Wednesday to Thursday

Relax into painting primarily in watercolour alongside JACKIE DEVEREUX who will encourage an alternative approach. Getting better acquainted with your own brushes and learning to wield them with confidence will form a major part of this course. Learning to identify and deal with those 'happy accidents' and developing good practice will enable you to find your own strengths and move forward..... read more

"Jackie was most helpful, especially as I am not an artist and a complete beginner; she was very patient." (Summer School 2019)

Create Bloomin' Wonderful Watercolours!14th Aug to 15th Aug 2025
Tutor: Nicky Hunter Thursday to Friday

Watercolour is the perfect medium to paint flowers and blooms. Enjoy creating loose and expressive artworks of bold beautiful blooms. We will capture clear transparent colours, luminous whites and achieve diffused edges using wet into wet techniques..... read more

Nikki was an excellent tutor and highly skilled. We covered a lot of ground in a dynamic way. (Summer School 2023)

A Watercolour Workout15 Aug 2025
Tutor: Jackie Devereux Friday

HOW TO SEE COLOUR.......and interpret what we see. A unique day in the company of professional artist Jackie Devereux, who will expertly guide you through colour with a relaxed approach, to enable you to actually see colour within colour and to capture more than you think!.... read more

" Great course as usual, always fantastic" (April 2022)

Linocut Printing - Reduction Technique18th Aug to 20th Aug 2025
Tutor: Jessica RoseMonday to Wednesday

In this three day course you will learn how to create linocuts using the reduction method, which allows you to incorporate lots of colours into your prints using just one block..... read more

Great course, very enjoyable.

Quick and Vibrant Sketching with the FUDE Bent Nib Pen18th Aug to 20th Aug 2025
Tutor: Barry HernimanMonday to Wednesday

Come and spend an exciting 3 days sketching out and about in the Missenden Abbey grounds and in Great Missenden village. Each student will be supplied with their own FUDE Bent nib pen and a reservoir full of Carbon Black ink that doesn't clog the pen. The emphasis will be on speed and efficiency and thoroughly enjoying the experience of producing sketches of your chosen subjects in sketchbooks or on flat sheets of watercolour paper.This wonderful sketching tool will allow you to capture complete tonal sketches which you can compliment with some simple watercolour washes if desired..... read more

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Missenden Abbey is a beautiful location and we made good use of the grounds for our sketching. (Summer School 2023)

An Introduction to Pastels and Pastel Pencils18th Aug to 19th Aug 2025
Tutor: Kevin ScullyMonday to Tuesday

Pastel is a versatile medium that can be used to create detailed drawings, as well as lively and spontaneous paintings. A variety of subjects will be covered and may include still life, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits. Colour harmony and composition will feature strongly in our approach to using this exciting medium..... read more