I really hope you enjoy the course and it gives you a structure and some ideas to help you along your painting journey.

During the course I spend a fair amount of time talking about how to create space in your work. We discuss how to deal with horizons at some length too! Remember that open landscapes are all about space, not about things. Hills, trees, pathways, animals & people even, all exist in the space. So foremost in your mind should be the idea of creating a space. Once you have a sense of space, everything else can sit within it.

Video 1.1

In this first video, I’m wandering about looking for ideas by taking some photos. These can be incredibly useful as a creative tool as long as you think carefully about how you use them. Snapshots of ‘views’ are not generally that helpful as source material because there’s too much temptation to copy the photo.

Look instead for shapes, textures and colours. Things that help to remind you of what it’s like to be there. Later in the course you’ll see me painting from some of these photos and how I use them to create visual ideas that can be carried forward into more involved studio work in Part 2.

TASK

Have fun with it! Grab your phone or camera and go for a walk. Using the camera is a great way of looking. You’re not trying to make any artwork. Let the camera be your eyes and record anything that takes your interest. We can decide what to do with it later on. For now just look and take it in.