Previous Classes
A new 6-week art course with artist Gail Astbury on Colour and Form
starting on September 9th at Pitzhanger Manor Garden Room, Ealing
Course Overview 6 x Tuesday mornings or afternoons from Tuesday 9th of September 2025 until 14th October , 10am - 12.30pm or 1pm - 3.30pm
9th of September 2025
Wk. 1 How to create a composition inspired by a garden
In honour of our new location in the Soanes Garden Room, I wanted to start with the theme of the garden. This topic also follows on well from our exploration into the Japanese printing techniques of last term. We will go outside to make some compositional and colour sketches .
16th of September 2025
Wk. 2 Continuing to take inspiration from the National Galleries collection. You can choose one painting to focus on from any period or subject currently on display at the new rehang.
I love this portrait by Henri Rousseau now on show in room 45 or a gorgeous painting titled ‘Summers Day’ by Berthe Morisot currently in Room 41.
There will be lots of example for you to choose from or search their extensive online collection if you don’t get chance to have a visit.
23rd of September 2025
RA - Kiefer / Van Gogh 28th June – 29th Oct
Tues- sun 10am- 6pm Ticketed exhibition
Wk. 3 This exhibition explores how both artists have approached common themes – nature, literature, transience, and the universe through visual means. Whilst Vincent used only tradition art materials, Kiefer has included unusual elements to his paintings such as seed, straw and metals. We will compare their colour uses in terms of symbolism versus naturalism. You may also like to consider incorporating collaged elements.
30th of September 2025
Wk. 4 Looking at and comparing their use of perspective, viewpoint, and scale and what different effects those create.
7th of October 2025
Howard Hodgkin: In a Public Garden opens on the 1st October and I will lead a guided tour on the 5th October from 10.30am – you can book a ticket with Ealing residents discounts or get 50% reduction with an Art pass.
Wk. 5 This landmark show will feature around 60 vibrant, prints that span five decades of Hodgkin’s career, from 1966 to 2016. All works are on paper, and many have been hand finished so great examples for us as watercolourists.
Working from memory and imagination, Hodgkin created images of transience, in which ambiguous, dissolving forms are the pictorial equivalent of an autobiographical sensation or perception. We will use the garden for colour and formal keys to inspire us to create some experimental washes and glazes
14th of October 2025
Wk. 6 Thinking about his themes such as water or places like Venice and investigating how he translates visual sensations and memories into paint.
‘Introduction to the work of Alison Watt and Hiroshige’
A 4-week art course with artist Gail Astbury
at Pitzhanger Manor Garden Room, Ealing
Course Overview 4 x Tuesdays from Tuesday 10th of June 2025 until July 1st, 10am - 12.30pm
or 4 x Wednesday mornings from Wed 11th of June 2025 until July 2nd, 10am - 12.30pm
Gail Astbury is launching a new, 4-week watercolour art class in Ealing beginning in June 2025.
In weeks 1 and 2 we will be taking our ideas and inspiration from The Pitzhanger Manor Gallery’s current exhibition by painter Alison Watt which you can visit until June 15th. Check their website for opening hours and prices as they have some scheduled closures as well as discounts for residents. https://www.pitzhanger.org.uk/whatson/alison-watt/
In weeks 3 and 4 we will take a lyrical journey through the open roads of Edo Japan, with master printmaker Hiroshige. Here we will uncover some of the hidden meanings behind the symbolism, and explore new watercolour techniques to describe the natural beauty of nature, landscape, and urban living. https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/introduction-hiroshige-artist-open-road
Pitzhanger address at bottom of the page.
Alison Watt (born 1965 - ) Into the Light
Alison’s paintings are an act of intense looking to extract an essence or reveal a thing’s uniqueness and history. Her still lives become as inquiring as her portraits
Week 1: How to position natural forms for still life painting
Week 2: How to create harmony through unified values. We will explore the higher “key” that Alison employs with her use of light tones.
If the weather is kind, we will be able to work ‘en plein air’ in the garden or gather cuttings.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858) Artist of the open road
Utagawa is one of Japan’s most celebrated artists and a technically gifted woodblock painter.
Week 3: Exploring the symbolism and storytelling in Hiroshige’s dynamic compositions. We will also examine the use high vantage points and the omitting of unnecessary detail in his editing process.
Starting with some pencil sketches and colour studies
Week 4: Revising how to make graded washes in watercolour to imitate Hiroshige’s bokashi style - subtle colour shifts. These will be applied to the previous week’s sketches.