28/08/2021
3, 4, 5 September - sharpen your pencils!!
Join us for three days of sketching and learning on the River Deben at Woodbridge!
Suffolk SketchFest Programme 2021
https://artsafari.co.uk/uk-workshop/suffolk-sketching-festival/
We’re here to share our knowledge, experience and skills of drawing and painting outdoors – and to celebrate the River Deben.
Suffolk SketchFest’s inspiring artist tutors are:-
Mary-Anne Bartlett, Claudia Myatt, Mark Boyd, Karen PearsonArt , Lorna Hamilton, Paul Green, Vicki Norman Studio, Hilary Geelan
Workshops last 50mins, demos 30mins, sketching walks last 50mins! New half day workshops last 2.5-3hrs.
Please note that there may be more than one group per workshop and time slot and that tutors may change.
Friday 3 September
09.00-10.00 – Welcome, meet the tutors and registration
Included in your registration fee is one free Sketchwalk with one of our tutors. It’s going to be a fun few days of sketching outdoors!
09.30 – Demo: Intro to Drawing £10
Lack of drawing skills can hold you back from making the most of outdoor sketching. Learn a few practical techniques to get you started and boost your confidence.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Karen Pearson
10.00 – Workshop: Intensive exercises for observation £15
Every time you look you take in more information – concentrating on ways of seeing, your tutor will show you eye-opening techniques to make your observation faster and will also make you faster at putting what you see down on the page. The river will never look the same again!
Led by Mark Boyd and Mary-Anne Bartlett
10.00 – Workshop: Sketching boats and harbours £15
Boats aren’t as difficult as you think! Our river is full of activity and this workshop is all about telling the stories of the boats and the harbour of Woodbridge. You’ll also learn great sketchbooking techniques.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Vicki Norman
10.00 – Half Day Workshop: Making a Coptic bound Sketchbook £40
Learn how to make your own beautiful sketchbooks. These book-binding techniques will allow you to choose your own paper, personalise your sketchbook and save you a pretty penny in the future.
Led by Hilary Geelan
10.30 – Demo: An expanse of Sky in watercolour £10
We’re famous for our skies! Flat landscapes make for huge skies – and make dramatic paintings! Watch how artists paint skies – using different techniques to create clouds and a dynamic background to any watercolour. Learn the watercolour techniques used by outdoor artists.
Led by: Karen Pearson
11.00 – Guided sketching walk FREE
Bring a sketchbook and join us for a walk! This is a way of opening your eyes to this area of natural beauty and we hope you’ll learn sketching techniques that you’ll use forever. On this 50 minute stop/start walk, you’ll be surprised at how many images you will come back with. Your tutor will guide you and help you if you’re stuck. (Distance covered less than one mile along the river wall)
Led by Mark Boyd / Claudia Myatt
11.00 – Demo: Drawing with coloured pencils £10
Coloured pencils are not just for children – they’re perfect for using on location to add colour to a scene. Learn about the different types, the many ways to use them and how to blend the colours you need.
Led by Lorna Hamilton
11.00 – Demo: Cafe Culture £10
Join our artists at one of the riverfront cafes as they demonstrate how they use their cafe time – for new observation, or for completing half-drawn sketches, for catching moments when other’s aren’t looking – and learn some of the tips of the trade. To make the most of the demo, please buy your coffee beforehand.
Led by Art Safari artists / Vicki Norman
12.00 – Workshop: Vibrant Inks and Negative Spaces £15
Work with intense colour inks in an exciting workshop to explore the strong shapes of the riverfront, using details of the barges and houseboats for your sketches.
Led by Karen Pearson
12.00 – Workshop: Moods of the River – exploring colour £15
From bustling harbourside to quiet creeks where only the curlew call – landscape sketching is all about capturing the feeling of a place using all the artistic tools available.
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett / Claudia Myatt
12.30 – Demo: Drawing with Scissors, birds in flight £10
Cut and create collage while you’re outside. This direct method is exciting and makes you simplify your shapes and observations, creating fantastic results.
Led by Mark Boyd
12.30 – Demo: Unlocking abstraction in acrylic £10
Moving away from detail and celebrating the scale, tones and colours of our landscape, this is an exciting way of seeing our familiar views and will help you unlock a new way of working.
Led by Lorna Hamilton
13.00 – LUNCH TIME
14.00 – Demo: Landscape & the Tide Mill (sketching with watercolour) £10
The iconic Tide Mill features in thousands of paintings – and it’s always worth painting again – it’s bright white and beautiful and we’ll show you how to tackle this much-loved building.
Led by Karen Pearson / Mary-Anne Bartlett
14.00 – Under 16s Workshop: Paint and sketch outdoors £15
Intro to outdoor sketching for youngsters – learn the techniques of a professional artist
Led by Lorna Hamilton
14.30 – Workshop: Be wild, be creative £15
Take an exciting approach to looking at the river and its nature – being bold with your marks and your painting style. Using innovative approaches to make your sketches contemporary, fun and full of character, you will come back with a series of ideas and sketches.
Led by Mark Boyd / Mary-Anne Bartlett
15.00 – Guided sketching walk FREE
Bring a sketchbook and join us for a walk! This is a way of opening your eyes to this area of natural beauty and we hope you’ll learn sketching techniques that you’ll use forever. On this 50 minute stop/start walk, you’ll be surprised at how many images you will come back with. Your tutor will guide you and help you if you’re stuck. (Distance covered less than one mile along the river wall).
Led by Karen Pearson / Hilary Geelan
15.30 – Workshop: Exploring curiosity and wonder in nature £15
Create playful and inquisitive sketchbook diary pages of the river, with guidance on what to look for, how to make nature notes and how to store the sense of wonder on paper. The Deben’s area of outstanding natural beauty gives inspiring subjects for nature sketching.
Led by Lorna Hamilton / Mark Boyd
15.30 – Workshop: Maritime Details £15
Knots, chains, anchors, rudders, halyards, portholes, buoys, baggywrinkles, so oh much more – make pages of nautical details from the boats on the quays
Led by Claudia Myatt / Vicki Norman
17.00 – Workshop: Tide Mill – Sketching inside the mill £15
Woodbridge is fortunate to have a fully working tide mill on the quayside and we have arranged a private opening for SketchFest participants in small groups. You will be able see and sketch the workings of the mill as well as the mill wheel and the views from the deck. You can also buy some freshly milled flour!
Led by Claudia Myatt / Karen Pearson
18.00 – Al fresco Supper £18
Only 30 tickets available for our al fresco supper – join us for bubbles + a yummy vegetarian or meat choice.
Saturday 4 September
08.00 – Early Birds £15
Join us for a birding walk with your sketchbook before the day really begins. It’s a great time of day to listen, observe and sketch.
Led by Art Safari Artists
09.30 – Demo: Intro to Drawing £10
Learn some exciting new techniques for improving your drawing skills, gain your own artistic voice in unique mark-making in outdoor sketching.
Led by Mark Boyd / Lorna Hamilton
09.30 – Demo: the colours of mud (watercolour) £10
The muted colours of nature can be challenging to paint without your palette turning to the wrong kind of mud. Learn a few tips on how to capture the subtle and ever changing colours of the tideline and salt marsh.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Karen Pearson
10.00 – Workshop: A Conversation with your painting £15
Allowing ourselves to have a conversation with a painting permits us to move into our feelings and towards abstraction. You will find yourself expressing yourself more, moving away from painting solely what you see so that your artwork comes from inside you. So satisfying!
Led by Claudia Myatt / Vicki Norman
10.00 – Workshop: Intensive exercises for observation £15
Every time you look you take in more information – concentrating on ways of seeing, your tutor will show you eye-opening techniques to make your observation faster and will also make you faster at putting what you see down on the page. The river will never look the same again!
Led by Mark Boyd / Mary-Anne Bartlett
10.00 – Half Day Workshop: Wire Sculpture bird drawings £40
Learn the art of making birds from coloured wire to create delightful sculptures. Sketching in three dimensions with wire is a great way of stretching your mind and your observational skills.
Led by Paul Green
10.30 – Workshop: Finding colour and expression in acrylic £15
Acrylic is a great outdoor medium and it’s fun to play with! Experiment and enjoy the way it can help flow and composition.
Led by Lorna Hamilton / Karen Pearson
11.00 – Workshop: Drawing with Scissors, collage on the go £15
Cut and create collage while you’re outside. This direct method is exciting and makes you simplify your shapes and observations, creating fantastic results.
Led by Mark Boyd
11.00 – Demo: Cafe Culture £10
Join our artists at one of the riverfront cafes as they demonstrate how they use their cafe time – for new observation, or for completing half-drawn sketches, for catching moments when other’s aren’t looking – and learn some of the tips of the trade. To make the most of the demo, please buy your coffee beforehand.
Led by Art Safari artists / Vicki Norman
11.00 – Guided sketching walk FREE
Bring a sketchbook and join us for a walk! This is a way of opening your eyes to this area of natural beauty and we hope you’ll learn sketching techniques that you’ll use forever. On this 50 minute stop/start walk, you’ll be surprised at how many images you will come back with. Your tutor will guide you and help you if you’re stuck. (Distance covered less than one mile along the river wall).
Led by Claudia Myatt
11.30 – Demo: Composition and Colour mapping £10
Learn a few tips on how to select a scene, where to place the horizon and how to create good compositions from the views around you. Also learn the wonderful tricks of colour mapping.
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett / Vicki Norman
12.30 – Workshop: Line and wash £15
Combining pen lines and watercolour washes is a traditional technique that enables you to create lively and effective sketches. Sketching pens will be available to borrow and to buy as you learn a few tricks of the trade.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Mark Boyd
12.30 – Demo: The language of lines and drawing £10
Learn how to explore the quality of line, the strength of tone and that wonderful feeling of release as a pencil finds its mark.
Led by Vicki Norman/ Mary-Anne Bartlett
13.00 – LUNCH TIME
14.00 – Demo: Colour pencils on the go £10
Coloured pencils are not just for children – they’re perfect for using on location to add colour to a scene. Learn about the different types, the many ways to use them and how to blend the colours you need.
Led by Lorna Hamilton / Karen Pearson
14.00 – Half Day workshop: An Artist’s Compass £40
Spend an afternoon concentrating on views from the points of the compass, noticing changing light and shadows. Settle into your painting and relax into composition, colour-mixing and layering your observations. With 360 degree views from the river wall, you can choose to look inland or out to the river.
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett / Vicki Norman
14.30 – Workshop: Water and Reflections £15
The most appealing subjects can be the most challenging. An introduction to how light and water work together and the ways you can capture these ever changing illusions in lines, tones and shades.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Karen Pearson
15.00 – Guided sketching walk FREE
Bring a sketchbook and join us for a walk! This is a way of opening your eyes to this area of natural beauty and we hope you’ll learn sketching techniques that you’ll use forever. On this 50 minute stop/start walk, you’ll be surprised at how many images you will come back with. Your tutor will guide you and help you if you’re stuck. (Distance covered less than one mile along the river wall).
Led by Mark Boyd
16.00 – Under 16s Workshop: Paint and sketch outdoors £15
Intro to outdoor sketching for youngsters – learn the techniques of a professional artist!
Led by Lorna Hamilton
16.00 – Demo: How to draw boats £10
Woodbridge harbour and the river is full of all sorts of boats, but you don’t to be a sailor to draw convincingly; it’s all down to observation. Learn a few tips to help tackle a subject that can seem daunting.
Led by Claudia Myatt / Karen Pearson
17.00 – Workshop: Tide Mill – Sketching inside the mill £15
Woodbridge is fortunate to have a fully working tide mill on the quayside and we have arranged a private opening for SketchFest participants in small groups. You will be able see and sketch the workings of the mill as well as the mill wheel and the views from the deck. You can also buy some freshly milled flour!
Led by Claudia Myatt and Karen Pearson
18.00 – Al Fresco Supper
Join us for fish and chips on the River Wall – all welcome!
Sunday 5 September
09.00 – Early Birds £15
Join us for a birding walk with your sketchbook before the day really begins. It’s a great time of day to listen, observe and sketch. The River Deben is home to many species of wading bird including curlews, lapwings, egrets and godwits. Learn how to draw birds from life with this demo from an artist who specialises in all things feathered.
Led by Mark Boyd / Art Safari Artists
09.30 – Demo: Placing people in landscape £10
Learn how to put people in landscape. Our river is a place for walking, sailing, swimming and kayaking – and so let’s put people in our paintings!
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett/ Karen Pearson
10.00 – Demo: The language of lines and drawing £10
Learn how to explore the quality of line, the strength of tone and that wonderful feeling of release as a pencil finds its mark.
Led by Lorna Hamilton
10.00 – Half Day workshop: Sketching Walk £40
Explore the riverine landscapes and estuarine wildlife of the area of outstanding natural beauty by walking along the river wall to find quiet painting spots where you can paint for longer.
Led by Mark Boyd
10.00 – Half Day workshop: Elements of Botanical art outdoors tbc
Delve into the wonderful world of botanical artwork so your sketchbook has even more fascination – from reeds to sea lavender, seaweed and salt plants, seedheads to grasses, the landscape here has plenty for us to focus on. Learn the skill of botanical observation and illustrative technique.
Led by Art Safari Artists
10.30 – Demo: the colours of mud (watercolour) £10
The muted colours of nature can be challenging to paint without your palette turning to the wrong kind of mud. Learn a few tips on how to capture the subtle and ever changing colours of the tideline and salt marsh.
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett / Karen Pearson
10.30 – Workshop: Journey towards the abstract £15
Abstract art begins in the real world – playing with shapes, adding your own personal twist to your observations. Learn a few tips about how to move from representational to more abstract and individual artwork.
Led by Lorna Hamilton
11.00 – Workshop: Life on the wall £15
Take time to explore the landscape of the area of outstanding natural beauty, concentrating on the river wall and how to place your wildlife or people realistically into your paintings to make spaces breath.
Led by Karen Pearson /Mary-Anne Bartlett
11.00 – Demo: Cafe Culture £10
Join our artists at one of the riverfront cafes as they demonstrate how they use their cafe time – for new observation, or for completing half-drawn sketches, for catching moments when others aren’t looking – and learn some of the tips of the trade. To make the most of the demo, please buy your coffee beforehand.
Led by Art Safari artists
12.00 – Workshop: Kingston Water meadows £15
Inhabited by cows and birdlife, full of interesting plants, flanked by willows on one side and the drainage ditches below the river wall, the Kingston watermeadows could be scenes from Constable. Spend time sketching them with us.
Led by Mary-Anne Bartlett
12.00 – Guided sketching walk FREE
Bring a sketchbook and join us for a walk! This is a way of opening your eyes to this area of natural beauty and we hope you’ll learn sketching techniques that you’ll use forever. On this 50 stop/start walk, you’ll be surprised at how many images you will come back with. Your tutor will guide you and help you if you’re stuck. (Distance covered less than one mile along the river wall)
Led by / Lorna Hamilton
13.00 – Demo: Expanses of Sky – big brush watercolour
We’re famous for our Suffolk skies! Flat landscapes make for huge skies – and make dramatic paintings! Watch how artists paint skies – using different techniques to create clouds and a dynamic background to any watercolour. Learn the watercolour techniques used by outdoor artists.
Led by: Mary-Anne Bartlett & Karen Pearson
13.00 – LUNCHTIME
14.00 – FINAL GATHERING & PRIZE GIVING
Final gathering and exhibition submissions FREE. There’s a prize giving too!
All participants and all SketchFest tutors
Prices
Demos & warm up exercises – 30mins – £10 per person
Workshops – 50mins £15 per person
Half-day workshops – £40
One-to-one tuition – 40mins per session – £30
There are many tempting places for coffees and treats, breakfasts and lunches along the river wall – we will let you choose where to go while you take your breaks.
Please register and book your events in advance.
Bring your own sketching materials – we’ll send you a list of the essentials in advance
A festival of sketching for you to explore your artistic mind - watch professional artists demo their styles, join a workshop to develop your art, learn observational skills, paint in the company of others, join sketching walks along the river and enjoy the beauty of this area of outstanding natural...
