UK and international award-winning artist
Teaching you techniques -
Art Holidays and short breaks
Robert is an experienced art tutor with an energetic style of teaching and encourages students to have as many first hand experiences as possible directly in the landscape. Connecting with and experiencing the landscape, really looking and engage with the this most compelling of subjects, students have an enriched learning experience.
Throughout all of Robert's art holidays and short breaks, students confidence grows to new heights. Exciting demonstrations, group and one to one tuition ensure students creative boundaries are extended through relaxed, patient, professional and informative tuition. Helping students move forward with their own artistic direction rather than dictating a particular style is what Robert's art holidays and short breaks are all about.
His wealth of creative experience and knowledge of different media in practice has been recognised by leading art brands. Robert is a highly acclaimed demonstrator and Associate Artist for ‘Derwent’ and ‘Nitram Charcoal’, a UK Ambassador for Canson and works closely with leading art brand Royal Talens from Holland. What is new, exciting and beneficial to creatively use, Robert’s students are the first to find out about and experience for themselves!
Future and current art holidays with renowned holiday and adult education organisations in The Lake District National Park, The Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire, Northumberland are featured below.
30 JANUARY 2025 - Bright colours in a dark month. Expressive Inktense painting at Higham Hall
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Higham Hall, Cumbria
This short break art holiday gives artists the ideal opportunity to explore the versatile Derwent's water-soluble Inktense blocks and pencils on watercolour paper (provided) using a bold approach with the media using glazing and layering together with an expressive use of colour. The emphasis of the course is a semi abstract approach to landscape subjects of your own choice (not necessarily Lake District views) to bring with you as photographs, sketches and so on to work from.
Sorry, now fully booked!
FEBRUARY 2025 - Expressive pastels at Higham Hall
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Higham Hall, Cumbria
This exciting 4 day pastel course Higham Hall is ideal for artists who want to take the next step along their creative journey and discover the true versatility of soft pastels and use them in a really expressive way.
For experienced artists wanting to become more expressive and also semi abstract when using soft and hard pastels (with fixative) on different surfaces. Weather permitting, Higham's grounds will provide direct inspiration for an outdoor pastel morning working directly from nature but the main emphasis is on studio based pastel direction creating pastel paintings of YOUR OWN landscape subjects with a semi abstract direction. Some of the taught techniques on this workshop are not for complete art beginners but artists with lots of previous experience with other media who may be new to pastel will gain the best from this art course.
Just 3 places left!
MAY 2025 - Seascape Semi abstract mixed media at Higham Hall
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Higham Hall, Cumbria
NEW FOR 2025, this short semi abstract mixed media seascape course at Higham Hall gives you the opportunity to explore lots of creative and expressive art techniques in a really exciting and contemporary way with SEASCAPES!
I will be teaching you how to engage with your subject with greater depth, meaning and feeling with a semi abstract approach both in the studio and along the Cumbrian Coast (weather permitting).
This art course is for art students who really are willing to let go of their painting inhibitions and are prepared to add more emotional expression in their paintings rather than try and create exactly what's in front of them.
Students who attend this course must be willing to push their own creative boundaries and willing to think differently about how they currently paint.
The emphasis on this course is on deeper understanding of composition values, colour relationships, mood and tone and when creating to balance controled mark making with creative expression.
You will also learn how to interchange between acrylic inks, watercolour, gouache, soft pastels and drawing media to develop paintings with real depth and exciting mark making.
On studio days students will work from their own photographic references and sketch books brought with them and physical references gained from painting on the coast. I will guide and teach you how to extract the eseential visual information within your reference to develop your paintings with greater depth and exciting mark making.
This course is not suitable for beginners as the techniques taught will be to advanced.
More than the basic level of drawing, colour understanding is needed to maximise your own personal creative direction out of this course.
Suitable for students with a good deal of painting practice who really want to loosen up, be more expressive and move on to the next stage in their own painting development.
Suitable for artists familiar with their materials, have plenty of them, have good colour mixing knowledge and practice and are above the basics in drawing and colour mixing - at the very least.
Sorry, now fully booked!
NEW FOR JULY 2025 - Art Retreat at ‘Well House Haven’, Stean, Nidderdale
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Well House Haven, Stean, Nidderdale
Are you an artist looking for real creative enrichment within your practice?
Do you want to be immersed in painting and be free from distractions and be really stimulating and inspired?
Are you the adventurous type who has a good level of painting and drawing experiences but wants to move up to the next level?
Do you welcome opportunities to be immersed in landscape (whatever the weather) painting and drawing and being enriched by it?
If this is you, read on!
New for 2025 is a fabulous 3 night ‘get away from it all’ art retreat at Well House Haven in the village of Stean deep in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire - a wonderful location in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty AONB. that will definitely inspire!
Suitable for artists with intermediate and above painting and drawing skills who want to develop their creative skills in a unique, exciting and enriching way, this brand new short course for Summer 2025 could be just what you are looking for!