Art Retreat with Lewis M Mackenzie & Ewan McClure

More on the event

The Solway Firth: ‘Painting En Plein Air’

Immerse yourself in the beauty of nature for this plein air landscape painting retreat with award-winning Scottish impressionist, Lewis MacKenzie and assistant Ewan McClure. Your days will be spent painting in the open air at locations along the stunning Solway Firth coastline as well as in the grounds of Auchencairn House.

This course welcomes students of all levels of experience and ability to expand and develop their landscape painting skill set in a relaxed and supportive learning environment. We aim to arm students with a key ideas and techniques that will allow them to approach landscape painting with purpose.

Each afternoon will be spent painting in a new location allowing students to develop their skills in a variety of settings and with a diverse range of subjects. The mornings prior to these sessions will consist of a series of exercises, short presentations and demos.

These include:

• Common compositional motifs in landscape painting.
• Understanding value masses in pictorial composition.
• Carlsen’s “Theory of Angles” – how the planar structure of the landscape can help you to simplify and organise what you see in nature.
• How to create depth in your paintings using geometric and aerial perspective.
• Colour and harmony – primary and secondary light sources in the landscape, and how the relationship between light and shadow colours varies in different lighting conditions • How to apply paint in different ways to create variety, texture and the impression of complexity.
• Trees, bushes and buildings – populate your paintings with convincing objects that serve your pictorial purpose.
• How to paint dramatic skies that lend emotional weight to your compositions.

Full pricing and booking details below: