Three-Day Course: Atmospheric Landscape Painting on Clay Surface

£350.00

Open to all levels

£350

Friday 24 – Sunday 26 April 2026

Workshop timings: Friday 9–5, Saturday 9–5 and Sunday 9–3 with breaks for coffee and lunch.

Join me in the Brecon Beacons for an immersive three-day course exploring a specialist clay ground developed over many years of studio practice. Designed as an innovative alternative to traditional Gesso, this unique surface preparation technique opens up exciting possibilities for artists working across watercolour, oil and mixed media.

A ground is the foundation of any painting surface. In traditional oil painting, gesso is commonly used to prepare canvas or panel. On this course, you will learn how to create and apply a carefully formulated clay ground onto wood panels—developed to behave like high-quality cotton watercolour paper, yet robust enough to support oil paint. The result is a beautifully responsive surface that allows both media to coexist within a single artwork.

During the first half of the course, you will prepare your own panels from start to finish. You’ll learn the clay recipe, application methods and surface preparation techniques. The clay ground offers a textured, forgiving alternative to paper, enabling you to lift watercolour back to white while retaining the delicate bleed and luminosity associated with traditional watercolour. Unlike paper, however, this surface also accepts oil paint directly—allowing for expressive layering and dynamic mixed media results.

In the second half, we’ll explore the creative potential of the clay panel through landscape studies inspired by the surrounding environment. You’ll develop observational sketches, colour notes and compositional ideas before translating them into layered paintings that combine watercolour and oil. Through demonstrations and guided practice, you’ll gain confidence in blending media, manipulating paint surfaces and expanding your visual language.

By the end of the weekend, you will leave with completed works,  a  wealth of inspiration for future projects, and the technical knowledge to continue working independently with this distinctive surface.


Date:

Open to all levels

£350

Friday 24 – Sunday 26 April 2026

Workshop timings: Friday 9–5, Saturday 9–5 and Sunday 9–3 with breaks for coffee and lunch.

Join me in the Brecon Beacons for an immersive three-day course exploring a specialist clay ground developed over many years of studio practice. Designed as an innovative alternative to traditional Gesso, this unique surface preparation technique opens up exciting possibilities for artists working across watercolour, oil and mixed media.

A ground is the foundation of any painting surface. In traditional oil painting, gesso is commonly used to prepare canvas or panel. On this course, you will learn how to create and apply a carefully formulated clay ground onto wood panels—developed to behave like high-quality cotton watercolour paper, yet robust enough to support oil paint. The result is a beautifully responsive surface that allows both media to coexist within a single artwork.

During the first half of the course, you will prepare your own panels from start to finish. You’ll learn the clay recipe, application methods and surface preparation techniques. The clay ground offers a textured, forgiving alternative to paper, enabling you to lift watercolour back to white while retaining the delicate bleed and luminosity associated with traditional watercolour. Unlike paper, however, this surface also accepts oil paint directly—allowing for expressive layering and dynamic mixed media results.

In the second half, we’ll explore the creative potential of the clay panel through landscape studies inspired by the surrounding environment. You’ll develop observational sketches, colour notes and compositional ideas before translating them into layered paintings that combine watercolour and oil. Through demonstrations and guided practice, you’ll gain confidence in blending media, manipulating paint surfaces and expanding your visual language.

By the end of the weekend, you will leave with completed works,  a  wealth of inspiration for future projects, and the technical knowledge to continue working independently with this distinctive surface.


You will be provided with everything you need to create your clay panels for this course and have access to studio materials to create your artworks and studies.

Materials and equipment supplied on the course.

  • Raw materials to create your clay ground 

  • Two wooden panels to create a painting surface

  • Palette

  • Use of studio materials including oil paint; watercolours and painting mediums

  • Drawing board and sketching paper

  • Charcoal; pencils; putty rubber

Recommended materials to bring with you

You’ll be provided with everything you need to create your clay panels during the course, you’ll also have access to studio materials to create artworks across the weekend. Please note that studio supplies are limited and shared amongst the group, for that reason also recommend you bring additional materials  to the weekend. If you’ve any questions about the materials and equipment list then please do get in touch.  


  • Water miscible oil paint/ traditional oil paint

  • Watercolours

  • Portable Easel 

  • Drawing materials for sketching e.g pastels; charcoal; pencils; 

  • Sketchbook for studies and note taking

  • Charcoal; pencils; rubbers

  • Watercolour brushes (flat and round)

  • Oil paint brushes  


Suggested Colour Palete

 Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin/Crimson, Violet, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Paynes Grey/Neutral Tint, Sap Green, Titanium White.

This is a recommended list of colours please note however that you do not have to go out and purchase every single colour; as long as you have a mixture of primary colours and a couple of earth colours i.e burnt umber and burnt Sienna, then can guide you on colour mixing during the weekend


Clothing and accessories

We’ll be preparing colour notes and sketches outdoors for this reason please do bring along suitable clothing for the temperamental Welsh weather.  For studio time please do bring an apron or clothing suitable for painting.