ART IN NATURE
21st - 23rd september 2025, booking for individual days available
ART COURSE AT KINKELL FARM, ST ANDREWS, please see details below
Art in Nature, residential art course at Kinkell Farm, St Andrews, 27th - 31st October 2024
PAINTING COURSE, USING ACRYLICS, 19th Feb-19th March 2025
with Milla Fyfe
Introduction to painting and colour theory on 5 week consecutive Wednesday mornings. Warm-up drawings in charcoal, graphite &/or chalk pastels each day leading into painting in acrylics. Working from still life in the studio exploring composition, rhythm, colour, brushwork, tonal variation, depth. Referencing relevant artists, including a short revisit of images from the van Gogh exhibition at the National Gallery in London Dec 24 and Matisse.
ART IN NATURE, 28th-31st Oct 2024
with Rebecca Watson & Milla Fyfe
Adults residential and single day art courses at Kinkell Studios with some participants staying onsite in the cabins. Focusing on still life in the studio, landscape with sketchbooks on the coast and figure drawing all using a variety of media from charcoal & chalk pastels to inks, collage & printing. The course included a visit to St Andrews & the natural history museum at the University. On offer was sunrise yoga, the wild sauna at Kingsbarns and daily delicious lunches by Five Acres St Andrews.
PRINTING WORKSHOP
with Milla Fyfe
Monday 1st July, 9.30-12.30 *half day, £20
Ages 7-11 years old
Looking at local imagery from the sea such as crabs, fish and other sea creatures, lobster nets, fishing boats, sail boats and the sea itself, children will have the opportunity to try out different designs and make their own set of prints in different colours. Equipment used will be drawing materials such as pencil and charcoal, as well as polyboards, lino, lino cutters and rollers for block printing onto coloured paper. This is a fun, experimental art session working in a small group with class sizes of about 8 children, please see the ‘About’ page for more information. Children will come away with drawings, colourful prints and experience with the lino printing / block printing technique.
PAINTING WORKSHOP
with Milla Fyfe
Tuesday 2nd July, 9.30-12.30 *half day, £20
Ages 8-11 years old
Looking at 19th and 20th Century painters who use bold colour and creative techniques, children can enjoy putting their own imaginative landscapes together. If the weather allows, we will head outside with drawing boards initially to take inspiration from the rocks, the fields and the beach. They will then create their own landcape compositions on medium or large canvases with some guidance. Children will be shown how to set out a paint palette using acrylic paint and how to use basic colour theory to mix their own colours. They will be shown different painting techniques as they build up their composition. Their imaginative landcapes can take inspiration from artists such as Joan Eardsley (Scottish), David Hockney (British, Yorkshire), Sargy Mann (British) and Richard Diebenkorn (American, semi-abstract) in an initial PPT and class discussion.
MYTHICAL CREATURES: CLAY WORKSHOP
With Milla Fyfe
Wednesday 3rd July, 9.00-3.00 *full day, £40
Ages 7-11 years old
This is a full day course on mythical creatures, a popular topic that children often ask for, so I am running it as a day course this time. No matter if you have done a similar course with me before. We will look at mythical creatures such as dragons from Persia and China and fantastical Ancient Greek creatures, then draw out ideas on large paper using oil pastels. Developing their ideas into three dimensions, children can consider making a wire armature to realise their ideas in clay, adding little pieces of wire and wood later on to embellish their imaginary creature. Harry Potter fans are welcome to contribute magical creatures to this mythical theme.
DRAWING & PAINTING WORKSHOP
Friday 5th July, 9.00-3.00 *full day, £40
Ages 8-12 years old
Drawing from nature: children will explore flowers, plants and trees outside on an initial ramble around the garden and field with a drawing board. They can then return to the studio with collected specimens to add to the still life. There will be experimental drawing excercises that will lead into drawing from observation, using different types of paper. Children will be encouraged to create a composition for a large painting, or alternatively a set of small paintings, using acrylic paint on canvas. Artists looked at will include the colour-filled expressive landscapes of van Gogh, the magical landscapes of Edvard Munch and other artists who take inspiration from nature. Children will be shown how to prepare the surface of the canvas before drawing out their composition. They will also be taught how to set out the palette and mix their own colours from limited primaries. This course would suit individuals with a natural interest in drawing and painting.
MYTHICAL CREATURES, CLAY WORKSHOP
Tuesday 28th May 9.30-12.30, £20
An exploration of different kinds of animals in combinations, looking back at mythical beasts in Ancient Greece. Images explored will include Grecian mythical creatures such as:
Pegasus, Medusa, the Minotaur, winged centaurs, cerastes (spineless serpents with ram like horns on their heads), Cetus (sea monsters), harpies (head and torso of a woman, talons, tail and wings of a bird), some examples of which can be found carved in stone in the Ancient Greek galleries of the British Museum.
Children are welcome to come with their own ideas too, including picture books or poems. I will read one or two of the Greek stories as they draw and create their own creatures in charcoal, chalk or pencil on paper. The group will go onto use clay and learn about different sculpting techniques, using wire armatures as necessary to strengthen the piece.
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FAMOUS CONSTRUCTIONS AND BUILDINGS NEW AND OLD. DRAWING & DESIGN, MODEL-BUILDING USING MIXED MEDIA
Wednesday 29th May 9am-3pm, £40
Taking inspiration from engineers and architects, some linking nature into their designs, others more concerned with pure geometry.
We will look at fascinating architectural constructions from around the world and from different eras such as The Shard in London, the Lotus Temple in India, the Eiffel Tower in France, The Colusseum in Italy, Beijing National Stadium in China and Sydney Opera House, briefly discussing the use and cultural significance of each example. Children are given ownership of their ideas and will be able to make up their creations in wire, wood, glue guns, tissue paper and glue solution with guidance from me. The day will start with drawing practice, PPT and design ideas in the morning, then the group will go to the beach with drawing boards and a packed lunch, before returning to the studio to realise 3D constructions in the afternoon.
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DRAWING & PAINTING, USING ACRYLICS
Thursday 30th May 9.30-12.30 £20
We will look at natural forms and drawing from observation in the studio, learning techniques in pencil, charcoal and chalk on mid-tone paper. There will then be a 15-20 minute walk to the beach and the rocks for inspiration, along with our drawing materials and a drawing board. Once back in the studio children will learn how to prepare a canvas and different painting techniques and then work in acrylics to produce a painting or two of their own.
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DRAWING & CONSTRUCTION
A follow-on course from ‘Aerodynamics in Nature’
Tuesday 9th April 2019, 9.00am -3.00pm, £35 per child.
Age range 8-12 years old. All materials and equipment included.
A drawing workshop using graphite sticks, charcoal and/or oil pastels followed by a 3-D workshop using clay, clay tools, wire, wooden cane and glue guns. The theme will be centred around Architecture Inspired by Nature, and children will be encouraged to work on constructions at model size around 30cm. Course structure: 9-10.30am, drawing; 10.30-12 noon, a trip to Rock & Spindle beach (just 20 mins walk from the studio) to view local birds and rocks, inspire artwork & eat packed lunch; 12-3pm, the 3-D workshop with breaks included. Last time we spotted a heron, an oyster catcher and a curlew additional to the usual gulls on the beach. We had seen some of these local birds and their features close up in the drawing workshop that morning as historical taxidermy birds had been kindly leant to Kinkell Studio by the University.
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DRAWING & PAINTING
Wednesday 10th April 2019, 9.00am-12.30pm, £20 per child.
Addtional optional extra: 12.30-1.15pm lunch break followed by 1.15-2.30pm painting workshop continued from the morning (£12 per child).
Age range 8 - 12 years old.
Open to all levels and abilities: come and enjoy a morning of expresssive drawing, learn drawing techniques in graphite, charcoal and/or oil pastel. This will follow into painting techniques using acrylic paints on canvas. Still life set ups will include a range of subject matter that each child can choose from. Course structure: 9-10.30am PPT to introduce ideas of line and tone, looking at artists drawing from observation such as da Vinci and Rembrandt, as well as contemporary examples; 10.30-11am break; 11-12.30 painting workshop introducing acrylics and working from different still life set ups in the studio; 12.30 pick up. Optional lunch 12.30-1.15pm, followed by optional extra workshop from 1.15-2.30pm to complete paintings in more depth and learn additional techniques.
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CLAYWORK - MYTHICAL CREATURES
Thursday 11th April 2019, 9.00am-11.00am, £10 per child.
Age range 7 - 11 years old, older or younger siblings also welcome, please ask.
Children can enjoy using clay to make fantastical creatures out of clay, with additional wire and wooden cane. We will look at mythical creatures, starting with a story book about dragons. The children will also find inspiration from a PPT looking at pictures of mythical creatures from Ancient Greece, China and Persia. Those who are interested in Harry Potter will be welcome to create something along those lines! We will look into texture and pattern and how to create it on a surface by making a small clay tile to start with. Techniques will be taught using clay tools, hands and fabrics to create their imaginative creature.
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DRAWING & CLAYWORK
Wednesday 17th April 2019, 9.00am-12.30pm, £20 per child.
Additional optional extra: 12.30-1.15pm lunch break followed by 1.15-2.30pm painting workshop continued from the morning (£12 per child).
Age range 8 - 12 years old.
Get messy with charcoal and textured paper, looking at pattern and organic forms, before trying your hand at clay. We will learn how to make a coil pot and decorate it. If you are happy to leave your work of art behind in the studio to dry, another session can be booked in (depending on what dates suit the group) so that you can paint the coil pot. It can be varnished once paint is dry. The afternoon session will involve drawing and then the use of clay to create an imaginative creature inspired by local animals, birds and fish.
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AERODYNAMICS IN NATURE
Looking at da Vinci’s flying machines, his notebooks, drawings and ideas. The course includes drawing skills and working with a range of different media in 2D and 3D from charcoal and clay to wire and wooden sticks, working individually and as a team when discussing ideas and problem solving. The outcome will be a set of working drawings and sketches, a maquette and a larger construction in wire.
February half term, Monday 11 & Tuesday 12th February, 9.00-4pm*
*Extension 4-5.30pm for late pick up £10/child
One full day or two consecutive days, £40 / day or £65 for two days, all materials and equipment included
Age range: 8-12 years old (siblings can also be considered at a reduced rate), small class sizes from 5-10 childre1
