Online & In-Person Workshops
Movement, Marks and Meditation online workshop
Thursdays June 18th, 2026
5 pm - 7:30 pm
Online
Price: £30
A series of monthly experimental taster workshops led by Marina Tsartsara (Somatic Arts Practice) and myself (Drawing and Meditation) bringing together our combined experiences and love for drawing with, and through, awareness of the body.
Marina’s approach to drawing is very close to mine, which is why we want to work together. While she comes from a dance and performance background, and I am from a visual art drawing background, we both approach drawing in the same way - as a sensory, physical, tactile and emotional experience - which can be further explored through movement, meditation, and the gestural mark. For example, if making drawings about the breath, Marina might start with more bodily references, to the anatomy and the physical structure of the lungs, while I might lead a meditation focusing on the breath itself, and as a mark - both of us would encourage expressive, emotional as well as physical drawings to emerge.
Marina leads from her own Somatic Art Practice® - “an embodied artmaking practice that explores the relationship between the psychophysical experience of corporeal structures & artistic gesture.” I too focus very much on the body and the senses as a vital part of the drawing process, using meditation as the starting point, to come into presence. Drawing from full awareness, whether from inside the body or from what is in the space around us.
Together our teachings mirror and weave, offering similar approaches with our own personal differences of touch, of voice, of everyday life and creative life experiences. Together we aim to bring you a drawing workshop that offers an inspirational and meaningful way to engage with the body, art and creativity.
“NESTING” Series of 3 Monthly Workshops
Wednesdays on 24 June, 29 July, August 19th or August 26th (to be confirmed)
3 pm - 6 pm
Online
Nesting - weaving together, bringing things in, gathering around, making a space for comfort and safety. It can also be a space for the emergence of something new. What do we bring into our nest? What do we need around us, for comfort, for protection, for beauty or adornment? This might be something we wear, or something we build around ourselves. A nest can be a home, a skin, a cocoon. Whether a Spring nest for new life or an Autumn nest for rest and hibernation, each gives a sense of creating a space to be held.
Wed 24 June - wrapping and cocooning, unwrapping and emerging - building a structure which we will then draw from
Wed 29 July - weaving and stitching, binding together, ways of joining - drawing and redrawing, undoing, redoing, making a woven drawing
August 19th or 26th - drawing from home and memory - using movement and meditation to tap into our body’s memory of home, whether recent or from long ago - allowing the materials (charcoal) and the memory to create a personal expression of place
Drawing will be fundamental to all 3 sessions, with mixed media and 3D making as part of sessions 1 and 2.
Price: £40/session or £100/all three (you can choose to do one or more)
DRAWING AND MEDITATION - Creative Nourishment Weeks
Various dates throughout the year
9.30am - 10.30am for a guided session (followed by studio/free time)
4.30pm - 5.30pm for an optional group share/discussion
Online
Cost £120 for 5 days (£80 for 3 days)
An online week of Drawing and Meditation is a precious a time to recommit to your practice and devote as much time as you can during this week. Each morning we will meet for a guided meditation session with a prompt to give you focus for that hour, or indeed the whole day. Each afternoon we work in our own spaces, with cameras on, audio off, in a quiet, focused co-working space. At the end of each day we meet for an hour to talk about our day, and what we might need for the following day. The discussions, connections, and shared inspirations are as much a part of the week as any individual projects you might have going on. The space becomes more than the sum of its parts. All you need do is show up, twice a day if you can. The rest will unfold.
Colour and Light on the Downs
DATES: Friday 8 May - Saturday 9 May;
29 May - 30 May;
25 Sept - 26 Sept
9.30 am - 4.30 pm
In-Person in Emily Ball at Seawhite
Price: £280 (all materials are included)
This is a 2 day structured course led by Emily and Katie. They will offer an exciting collection of processes to help each artist feel immersed in the experience and able to produce drawings that go beyond copying the view and give the artist an injection of courage and creativity to make expressive new work.
Following last year’s success, Emily and Katie are offering 3 different workshops from early summer through autumn for this amazing course, so you can take your pick, or come to all three. And don’t miss out on the follow on course in June when we take all the studies back to the studio to make paintings from this exciting subject.
We will use the Truleigh Centre as our base while we are in the landscape. It is a fabulous recently converted barn space. We have access to it throughout each day to shelter from the elements, if needed, look at the work created and take breaks. It is spacious and light with all the facilities we need for our comfort. It is situated at the top of the Downs, nestled in the surrounding landscape.
All your materials for the 2 days will be provided for you.
Colour and Light on the Downs - Development into Painting
DATES: Monday, 8 June - Wednesday, 10 June
9.30 am - 4.30 pm
In-Person in Emily Ball at Seawhite
Price: £380
This 3 day course is suitable for any students who have attended the two day Colour and Light courses that Emily and Katie have run from the Truleigh Centre on the South Downs either in 2025 or 2026.
The freshness, freedom and immediacy of the studies made in situ are qualities that are often wished for in sustained and finished paintings. The studies are not there to be copied but to be used as inspiration and triggers for new work. This course is all about unpacking and using the content in these studies to make new painted studies and work towards finished paintings. The colours, marks, layers and memories are material to play and invent with. They have become your landscape for you to walk through and explore. They are reminders of the sensations, the light, the weather and the feelings of being out on the hill.
Students will bring the many beautiful studies that they have made in the landscape and the tutors will demonstrate and provide processes that will enable you to explore the possibilities in them to make new work using either acrylics or oils on canvas, board or paper. Experimentation with paint, tools and mark making will help everyone find the nececssary language to make powerful and exciting paintings.
Summer in the Garden
Monday 22 June - Thursday 25 June
10 am - 12.30 pm
Online
Price: £250
Sitting in the garden at the height of summer is heaven. Whether you have a beautiful garden of your own or you love to visit a garden for your inspiration, this course is a celebration of the abun-dance of the summer garden. In May and June the shoots and buds are urgently pushing forward, gathering pace.
Spring melts into Summer and flowers become centre stage with their splashes of colour jostling for attention. Colours are luminous on the blousy petals of flowers, the bird song is shrill and excited, the shadows are deep, cool and inviting. To find a quiet, shady spot to sit, watch, listen, wonder and draw is the first part of this course. As you sit and make studies it gives you time to notice the foliage, the shapes of shadows and the dance of colour as your gaze meanders through the spaces.
A month before the date of the live online sessions you will be sent a collection of short films that give you demonstrations of ways of working. These that will help you make lots of stud-ies which you will need in preparation for the live classes. During the live online sessions Emily and Katie will show you how to unpack and select from your many studies and create expressive paintings that bring back the glorious riot of colours, patterns, mood and memories of being in the garden.
Artists to refer to for inspiration: Pierre Bonnard, Patrick Heron, Geoffroy Pithon, Anne Griffiths, Hurvin Anderson, Joan Snyder, Joan Mitchell, Joe Packer, Miranda Bolton, Adrian Berg, Tricia Gillman, Emma Biggs, Ivon Hitchens, Elisabeth Cummings, Claude Monet to name but a few.
Summer in the Garden (Seawhite Studio Summer School)
Monday 29 June - Friday 3 July
9.30 am - 4.30 pm
In-Person in Emily Ball at Seawhite
Price: £550
This 5 day painting course takes its inspiration from Highdown Garden near Worthing, a unique chalk garden on the Downs. This garden is beautiful and remarkable. In the unlikely setting of a chalk pit the founders of the garden sourced plants from all over the world that would thrive in this habitat. It is a garden full of delights; mature trees and plants, winding pathways that lead to open spaces where you can sit and drink in the sites, sounds and smells. Long summer days are the time to celebrate the colour and abundance of nature. The first 2 days of the course are spent in the garden making lots of studies capturing the experience of this peaceful and inspiring place. The rest of the week is spent at the Seawhite studio where ambitious and expressive paintings will be created using these studies and our memories of the place. Click here to have a virtual tour of the garden.
Accessing the garden is easy. It is a short walk on flat ground from the carpark. All the paths in the garden are easy to navigate. There are benches dotted everywhere so that you can pause to sit and soak up the atmosphere and draw in comfort. Above the gardens is Highdown Hill; the gateway to the South Downs National Park.
Garden Light - A Mindful Art Workshop
Monday 17th August
10.00 am - 16.00 pm
In-Person in West Horsley Place
Price: £100
Celebrate the height of summer with a relaxed, sensory art workshop in the beautiful walled garden at West Horsley Place.
Through gentle meditation and mindful observation, you’ll be guided to slow down, tune into your surroundings, and respond creatively to colour, light and atmosphere.
Working with a range of mixed media—including pastels, inks, watercolour and natural materials—you’ll experiment freely to create a series of vibrant, expressive studies inspired by the shapes, textures and shifting light of the garden. These small works can stand alone or act as starting points for future pieces.
This workshop is suitable for all, whether you’re new to drawing or looking to refresh your practice.
We’ll be working outdoors where possible, so please dress for the weather. All materials will be provided. (subject to confirmation). Suitable for ages 16+ (under 18s must be accompanied). Tea/Coffee provided.
While we aim to make our workshops as accessible as possible, some activities may not be suitable for all access needs. Please get in touch before booking so we can advise and support you. For more information about access, visit our access page.
Abstracting Nature - Charcoal Drawing
Thursday 20 - Sunday 23 August
9.30 am - 4.30 pm
In-Person in West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0QZ
Price: £615
This charcoal drawing workshop takes inspiration from the natural patterns in the garden and surrounding woodland. Using abstraction and gestural, expressive marks in response to the woodland forms and structures, to create exciting, sensitive compositions.
Drawing inspiration from the beautiful surroundings of West Dean College and Gardens, this course will encourage a confident and expressive approach to your drawings. Working at a large and small scale, you will be in the studio each day following a short walk into the garden and arboretum. The act of walking itself is a way of connecting to the subject, and coming into your body. Mindful movement (Qigong) and meditation exercises will also be offered to reinforce the relationship between body and breath, the process of drawing, and the natural world.
Out in the landscape, you will make study notes as research - written and drawn (in a tiny home made field diary) - observing with all of your senses - flickers of light, textures in tree trunks, plant forms, sounds - looking for repetition and organic patterns. You will also be gathering fragments of things you find fascinating to bring back to inspire you in the studio - flints from the path, fronds of fern, pieces of bark, leaves and twigs.
Back in the studio, you will be guided through warm up drawing exercises each day, using gesture, rhythm and repetition to get the drawings started in a more abstract way. From here the drawings can develop as you allow your memory, and your research notes, to inform the drawing.
