Freedom in Painting in Polruan with Ashley Hanson

7th -10th September 2016

The view of Polruan -  just above the Village Hall

 4 Day Course £250, 10 Places Only

We are delighted to introduce this new Freedom in Painting course set in the magical coastal village of Polruan, on the south coast of Cornwall. Your tutor Ashley Hanson is an acclaimed colourist and landscape artist and a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists. Our studio and base for the 4 days is the Village Hall ideally situated, overlooking the Fowey River, with an outside terrace providing a wonderful option to paint outside. There are also glorious panoramic views to the open sea behind. 

The Village Hall Studio

Course Information

The first morning will be spent getting to know Polruan. Ashley will take the group to a number of favourite viewpoints where artists will be encouraged to make studies, collecting information and ideas for paintings back in the studio. Over the 4 days there will be further drawing/painting sessions in Polruan and it's surrounds, including visits to Fowey across the river,(weather permitting).

View from sea level

Elizabeth sketching Polruan

With a combination of group exercises, demonstrations and discussions, Ashley will help artists develop and build on their paintings, finding their own personal interpretation of Polruan. Colour, mark-making, space and composition are all areas that will be explored and by working in a small group, Ashley will be able to offer plenty of one to one tuition. 

Ashley with Hazel Crawford

Cathy's Jeppesen's Polruan painting in progress

Kate Watkins painting - Private Collection of Bridget Hills

Juliet Neill Hall's painting of Polruan

As with some of our other courses, Ashley will also be working on his own painting and using this as a teaching tool to demonstrate many of his tips and techniques. At the end of the 4 days the group will get the chance to discuss all the work made in a group critique. 

Fowey River 1 - Ashley Hanson

This course is suitable for painters of all abilities who wish to enhance their creativity.

Ashley looks forward to sharing his wide knowledge and passion for colour and oils/acrylics with the group.

Polruan

Your Tutor

Ashley has over 30 years experience as a professional artist. This combined with his teaching as a Visiting Lecturer at Canterbury Christchurch University and the National Academy of Art, Bergen , Norway ensures the teaching you will receive throughout the course will be of the highest standard. In addition he has run many popular and successful workshops of his own around the UK.

Ashley's paintings have been shown nationally and internationally. His work has been selected for thr Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Discerning Eye and the National Open art Exhibition. Last year he was short listed for the Connect2Colour Art Prize at Lacey Contemporary Galley in London and he has been a recipient of the Boise Travel Scholarship form the Slade School of Art and is a former prizewinner of the Hunting Art Prizes.

Accommodation

You can find a variety of accommodation options, including bed and breakfast, self-catering and camping in Polruan, see the village website here for further details. Alternatively Coldharbour Farm, in Bodmin (approx 40 minute drive) offers comfortable, affordable accommodation.

To Book

Email denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk or call 01208 77656. A £70 deposit is required at time of booking and the balance is due 8 weeks prior  to the start of the course.

You can view a write up of some of our previous painting holidays and courses here:

September 2015, May 2015

For a further insight into Ashley's art see www.ashleyhanson.co.uk and the blog http://ashleyhansonart.blogspot.co.uk

Our Freedom in Painting courses continue to challenge artists of all abilities with many artists returning year after year. Participants often finding they continue to benefit from the tuition and experience long after the course.

Testimonials

Read here for Nicola McLean's write up of our September 2014 Painting Holiday in Discover Art Magazine

A big thank you to Ashley and Denise for a brilliant expereince. Painting with a group of lovely people and guided by someone with so much passion - who could ask for more? Looking forward to doing it again next year.
Hazel Crawford May 2015

I was quite anxious about whether I would be out of my depth but despite the very different experience levels Ashley made us all feel positive.
Philippa Langton May 2015

Thanks to you both for a wonderful painting holiday. It was so well organised and we were made very welcome. It was wonderful to see parts of the beautiful Cornish area and try to combine the feeling of what we saw in our work. I feel inspired by the course and what Ashley has imparted. 
Philippa Hutton May 2015

I arrived with no experience of abstraction. I leave with a new aspect and tool for my painting. It works!
Margarita Hanlon September 2015

October 'Freedom in Painting' Course in Porthleven

Porthleven - The Old Lifeboat House on the left

The Old Lifeboat House in Porthleven, Cornwall once again became the perfect studio for our 7 experienced artists from all over the UK. Porthleven delivered - wild weather and big seas followed by beautiful sunny days, giving our artists plenty of inspiration for their paintings. Under Ashley's guidance the artists worked extremely hard resulting in a very strong and eclectic exhibition by the end of the week.

On Sunday afternoon the artists had their first experience of the studio's stunning location, with the sound of the sea through the open door. After setting up their space, Ashley gave a brief talk about the aims of the course and an insight into the week ahead before hosting an 'unofficial'  meeting at The Ship Inn next door - a great way for everyone to get to know each other.

Hils Sketchbook

Stormy Weather Photo - Courtesy of Hils

The dramatic weather on Monday morning didn't deter our group -  they were excited! Many wonderful weather-charged drawings were produced during that first session around the harbour. Back in the studio, Ashley then set a series of challenging group exercises throughout the afternoon, exploring different ways to start a painting.

During the next few days there was a mixture of outside drawing exercises (weather permitting) and demonstrations from Ashley. As part of the course, Ashley worked on his own Porthleven painting, giving an insight into his ideas, methods and techniques- which the group seemed to love. Most importantly, each artist pushed their paintings forwards,  finding their own personal vision of Porthleven.

Ashley and Jane in the studio

Ashley entered into a dialogue with each artist, offering advice about where their painting might go and introducing them to the work of other artists including Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon and Alfred Wallis amongst others. A great camaraderie was formed and everyone was happy to share ideas and discuss each others work.

Diane painting

Antonia sketching

Ashley instructing for a drawing exercise

After the clear up!

Friday was Private View day - but not yet! All the artists worked right up until the 12 noon deadline  - before the big clean up. The afternoon was spent transforming the studio into a gallery, ready for the exhibition opening in the evening - it was now that the artists could see their work properly for the first time .

Friday night Preview

Speaking about the exhibition, Ashley said ' The work is very inspiring, I know Porthleven very well but the artists' paintings are making me see it in a different light. It 's fascinating to see how, during the week, some artists have moved from abstraction into figuration and others from figuration into abstraction. I would like to congratulate them all.'

Diane Bedser

Antonia Glynne Jones 

Hils Tranter'

Jane McClement'

Erica Shipley

Jo Rollnick

Mitzi Delnevo

Ashley Hanson- Porthleven 21

The Preview was a great success and one of the strongest paintings from Jane McClement was quickly snapped up. Following tradition the artists and guests (including the younger Hansons) celebrated with a delicious dinner at Amelies. After dinner I made a special presentation of one of Ashley's Porthleven prints to Jane, who has been on one of our courses every year, since our very first Painting Holiday, five years ago.

Celebrating at Amelies

Making my presentation to Jane

The exhibition continued all day on Saturday and the artists enjoyed chatting to the many visitors about the work. Ashley particularly enjoyed the conversation with Stephen Rod about the history of Porthleven and its' harbour.

Dramatic Porthleven

Freedom in Painting does what it says on the tin! The concept acknowledges that artists cannot stand still and all our workshops/holidays are designed to encourage artists to explore the possibilities in painting and to move their practice forwards - well done to our latest Porthleven group for your hard work, for taking the principles on board, and producing such amazing paintings. We hope to see you again soon!

Denise & Ashley

If you are interested in joining one of our Porthleven courses next year. The dates are:
Sat 21st - Fri 27th May & Sun 2nd - Sat 8th October but hurry as the courses are filling up fast! Contact denise@ashleyhanson.co.uk for more details. 

www.ashleyhanson.co.uk 

Merry Christmas from Ashley & Denise

We would like to take this opportunity to say a BIG thank-you to everyone who has come along to our workshops, painting holidays and exhibitions and to those of you who have followed Ashley's Art, either via the Blog, Facebook or Twitter over the past year. We would also like to say a big thank-you to all of our partners and supporters who play an important part in helping to make our Painting Holidays and Workshops such a great success!

'City of Glass 8' - The Red Notebook

We wish you and your families all a very Merry Christmas and a creative, inspirational year ahead. With very best wishes

Ashley & Denise