Watercolour Studio – Urban and rural experiences with Gail @ Pitzhanger Manor Garden Room 

 Course Overview 6 x Tuesdays 10am- 12.30pm or 1pm-3.30pm 

November 11th - 16th December 2025    Full course - £125 or £25 per individually booked sessions   

In this 6-week term, we will be tracing landscape painting from contemporary painters back to classical 18th century vistas of town and country. Starting with the enigmatic Peter Doig, to Kerry James Marshall’s vision for the African American experience, then back to London’s underworld with Edward Burra, Walter Sickert and Whistler.  In December, we revisit Turner and Constable to understand how they became the founding fathers of British Painting. Despite Doig being born almost 200 years after Turner and Constable, all these painters reflect a profound desire to connect with the world around them, be it wholly natural or full of human interactions and inventions. 

Peter Doig ‘Night Playground’ 1997-98

Kerry James Marshall ‘Better Homes Better Garden’s  1994

Joseph William Mallard Turner Sketchbook

Wk. 1 & 2  Tuesday 11 & 18th November:
Peter Doig at the Serpentine House of Music show 

Wk. 1 From the 10th of October Peter Doig has a new show at the Serpentine gallery that explores the cultural influence that music and film has had on his career. I would like you to create an urban scene of a place that you know where unexpected cultural exchanges happen and flourish. This show is free to visit 

Wk. 2 Peter recently curated a group show in New York titled ‘The Street’ featuring some of his own works alongside those by peers he admires and former influences from the mid-century including Edward Burra’s enigmatic world views that you may recently have seen at the Tate. This collection of paintings shows his continued fascination for the surprising beauty and mystery of the urban setting.  

Wk. 3 Tuesday 25th November 

Wk. 3 Continuing with the urban theme we will explore a range of contemporary and mid-century artists who have been captivated by inner cities. I will introduce you to Kerry James Marshall who references Doig in his reimagined American cityscapes. You may also wish to research your own favourite artists from the the Euston Road School to Banksy and everything else in between who reflect our urban life.

Wk. 4, 5 & 6 Tuesday 2nd, 9th and 16th December 

Wk. 4 For the second half of this term we take to the road and head for the hills. Many artists of the 20th and 21st century represent their fascination along with anxiety about innovation and industry spreading over even the wildest part of the British Isles and beyond. Emma Stibbon RA is not alone in questioning man’s effect upon the natural world through her painting. Like Turner she is a voracious global traveller who seeks to documents her trips through watercolour.  I’d like you to start painting your visions of the wider environment. 

Wks. 5 & 6 We will explore the legacies of two titans of British art, following Tate’s new exhibition about their rivalry and originality. We start with Turner from his roots in the metropolis; commercially minded and fiercely ambitious. He thirsts for travel ultimately led him to developing original ways to apply paint and depict light to capture the raw power of nature he was immersing himself in. Constable on the other hand contented himself with the landscape of his childhood to revolutionise the role that skies 

played in his sweeping landscapes.  Turner v Constable show