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Painting - A bold approach with Tessa Pearson.

Sunday 11 May 2025 17:00
Friday 16 May 2025 14:00

Coombe Farm Studios (map)

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Develop and expand a bold approach to painting from the landscape to your sketchbook and into full scale paintings.

This is a fresh and vibrant course with accomplished painter and printmaker Tessa Pearson. You will spend time drawing the surrounding gardens and hedgerows near Coombe using a variety of mixed media including resists, pastels, watercolour, inks and crayons to create lively spontaneous sketchbook studies. You will then translate those sketches into more considered paintings in the studio, capturing the energy and characteristics of the direct observation.

Tessa studied Printed Textile design at UCA Farnham and the Royal College of Art, where she won the Courtaulds Prize and was commissioned by Liberty of London to produce a collection of printed silks. As Tessa Lambert she opened her own print studio and gallery in London and successfully sold her distinctive handpainted silks around the world. Since 2000 Tessa’s professional practise has centred on her continuing passion for colour. Her work is an intuitive response to recollections of moments in time and special places, inspired by pattern and rhythms in space, currently is focusing on watercolour painting, mixed media and printmaking,working in series to explore and revisit a theme many times.

Tessa regularly exhibits and sells her work and teaches in the UK and internationally and has always been in love with colour. She has spent her life seeing the world as a myriad of pattern and captivating images. Marvelling at patches of brilliant yellow in a dramatic patchwork green landscape, the glimpse of a violet pot against a cobalt blue wall will thrill her. Her influences have been many, from Matisse to Hodgkin and the bold colourists of mid twenty first century painters Patrick Heron and Albert Irvin.

Tessa sees gardens as living paintings and they have been the inspiration she has returned to many times. Creating her own garden has been an influential process informing her current work. As the garden emerges each year she repeatedly immerses herself in the planting, responding to the colour, rhythms and characteristics that excite. The time spent drawing and painting these moments build a rich recollection of imagery to create large scale paintings and monoprints. Working with unpredictable water media and experimental printmaking processes, mixing direct spontaneous mark making and considered digital imagery ensures the liveliness and energy captured from direct observation.

**EXPERIENCE LEVEL**: This course is designed for all abilities from beginners to more advanced painters - essentially Tessa will work with you at your level during the week so you can progress your work and develop new techniques.
**OUTLINE SCHEDULE:** Sunday // 5-7pm Residents arrive 7pm non residents arrive followed by welcome drinks 8pm dinner Monday-Thursday // Breakfast for residents 8.30am, tuition starts at 9,30am for all. 1pm Lunch, tuition resumes 2-5pm.
Friday // Breakfast for residents 8.30am, final tuition session runs 9.30am-1pm followed by final lunch 1-2pm
**ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS:** Residential and non-residential spaces available. NB residents are not required to share bedrooms, see accommodation for more info.

**COST**: £821 + VAT for residential which covers all your tuition, accommodation and food from arrival on Sunday through to departure after lunch on Friday. Non-residential fees are £593 + VAT include all tuition, welcome drinks on Sunday and lunch from Mon-Friday.
**MATERIALS LIST:** There’s a full materials list for this course listed below, which you need to organise, buy and bring with you.

**HOW TO GET HERE:** Our address is TQ6 0JA [What3words: What3words: fulfilled.exploring.branching] and we have plenty of free onsite parking. Trains > nearest station is Totnes then we can arrange lift shares or send taxi details. We are about 20 minutes from the station.
**HOW MANY PEOPLE ON THE COURSE?** Min 6 max 12 to allow the tutor to give everyone enough attention and time on the press.

SEASON

Spring at Coombe, particularly April and May is a gorgeous time of year. Starting to get warm, flowers and greenery coming out. We will be in the studio and going out sketching down the lanes weather permitting. If it’s cooler weather the fires will be on in the studios and accommodation. If it’s sunnier and warmer we may even get to eat outside. Whatever the weather, the combination of studio and great location mean we have options each day

MATERIALS LIST

Bring what you have in the way of watercolour paints, inks, brushes, crayons etc. but this should include at least the following:

Sketchbooks – A3 or A4 size, watercolour paper and heavy cartridge- I like Moleskin hardback watercolour, and Seawhite are also good. You will need two or more.

Loose watercolour paper, at least 300g weight. Bockingford or Saunders Waterford NOT. Minimum 5 sheets (if you don’t want to travel with paper we have Saunders Waterford at Coombe for sale at £5/sheet)

Watercolour paints (tubes are best, or squeeze tubes into your pans) including the following colours:

Lemon yellow, Green Gold, Cadmium orange, Opera rose, Vermillion, Cerulean, Cobalt blue, indigo, Burnt sienna, Sepia
Large tube Permanent White Designers Gouache – Winsor and Newton
Koh -i-Noor Anilinky watercolour ink 12 disc palette (not the round 24 set)

Brushes

Should include at least a flat, a rigger, a large soft mop and an Isabey size 1 squirrel mop.

Pencils – 2B 4B 8B

Derwent sketching pencil Dark Wash

Watercolour crayons

Derwent Inktense are excellent.

Oil pastels

Inscribe are good.

Acrylic inks

Daler Rowney Black, white,yellow, magenta, cyan

Other items

Berol Handwriting pens (Black) and a permanent black ink pen
Large pan palette/ 2 plastic water pots ( square deep takeaway boxes work well)plus large water carrier- empty milk container? Collection of small plastic pots( ex yogurt or humous pots for inks)
Kitchen roll, bull dog clips /rubber bands to hold sketchbooks, glue stick, masking fluid
Selection of interesting textured papers for collage, Scalpel or craft knife.
Small folding stool (you can borrow one from Coombe if you don’t have one or are travelling by train) for working outside, and a rucksack/suitable bag to carry painting gear and sketchbooks around.