Paint like Turner: 2 day Watercolour workshop with Tim Wright

About this event

Join us for an incredible 2 day workshop with Tim Wright, the artist who taught Mr. Turner how to paint!

In the beautiful setting of JMW Turner’s country retreat in Twickenham, join award-winning artist Tim Wright in a 2-session summer watercolour painting retreat. Immerse yourself in 2 full day sessions and learn, or refresh, different watercolour skills inspired by nature and JMW Turner’s watercolour technique and his responses to the landscape.

The course will cover the following:

• A series of exercises to familiarise the student with materials and handling.
• Discover what brushes and paints to use.
• Learn how to mix colour and tone, the importance of water as a medium and how to apply watercolour with a brush or other tool.
• Setting out your palette: the colours you need.
• How to use paper and exploit its properties.
• Experiment with the effects of watercolour, particularly how to express qualities of light, climate, and atmosphere.
• Look at composition and how to structure a painting: how to edit, what to leave in, what to omit, what detail is essential and what isn’t.
• We will make short studies of samples of landscape, the house, and its setting.

This will lead to some longer, more substantial, pieces. By unpicking and analysing Turner’s method and exploring the nature of the medium, the student will acquire a stock of techniques and the confidence to paint their own watercolours.

What’s Included

All the materials are included alongside access to Turner’s House and garden, teas, coffees and biscuits. We are situated by several lovely local cafes and restaurants for lunch, or you are welcome to picnic in the grounds.

What previous participants have enjoyed about the course:

“I enjoyed the mix of theory, practical sessions and general discussion.”

“Painting in the garden at Turner’s House was wonderful.”

“The course was well structured and there was a good balance between the instructions and the free application. The tutor was very knowledgeable and able to impart his knowledge.”

“Gaining knowledge from Tim’s expertise and the opportunity to have a go, with his oversight.”

About Tim Wright

Tim Wright was born and educated in London, where he continues to live and work. He has exhibited extensively, and his paintings feature in many collections, both in the UK and internationally. He is represented by Pontone Gallery, in London and New York and has had many solo and group exhibitions. He has long experience of teaching, having worked as a fine art lecturer at most of the principal London art colleges, particularly Chelsea School of Art. He has also worked at many other art institutions, notably Turner’s House Museum.

He was engaged as painting consultant to the Mike Leigh directed film ‘Mr Turner’. He taught the actor Timothy Spall to paint, in order for him to prepare for the role, and, when filming began, advised him and other actors on set. Over the years he has given lectures and talks about Turner and his work on the film, notably, at the Cheltenham Literary Festival, The Salisbury Museum, The Turner Contemporary Museum, The Rye Festival and Birkbeck College, University of London. He has made numerous media appearances, including BBC news and radio, French, Dutch and German arts programmes, Sky Arts and the BBC arts programme ‘Imagine’.

Tim Wright is a painter who works primarily in oil and watercolour. Drawing is also an important part of his practise. His early paintings displayed an interest in the figure and explored its fragmentation through a vigorous painting process. In the last few years, he has explored a contemporary interpretation of classical and baroque themes in paintings which combine turbulent, gestural handling with passages of carefully-observed representation.