We are delighted to be welcoming Tom Shephard to the studio in 2025 for his debut course, taking us on a wonderful journey into the world of watercolours.
Tom Shepherd and I met when we exhibited together at the Wild Beasts Exhibition in 2019. Since then, a pandemic and life have got in the way, and I am embarrassed to say it has taken me this long to get him to the Studio. I am delighted to say that Tom will finally be making his Phoenix debut and will be teaching his students how to boldly capture wildlife in watercolours!
Tom’s approach to painting is vibrant, explosive and fearless! He throws everything at the paper, and it is this expressiveness that brings life and energy.
Over this two-day course, Tom will explain the science behind his creative madness. A series of demonstrations and structured exercises will show you how to capture the essence of your wild subjects on paper, using the power of water to create flow and energy. Vibrancy in colour is also a key component to Tom’s work, and he show his students how to get the best from their palettes.
So sign up now for what will undoubtedly be a popular course!
COURSE DETAILS
DAY 1:
Laying the foundations
Through warmup exercises, sketching, demos and plenty of painting we will get to grips with how to observe our subject in a way which is conducive to creating exciting paintings full of life.
This includes looking for shapes and tones, some basic anatomy (a little goes along way!), as well has basic techniques of watercolour.
DAY 2:
Loosening up, creating movement and having fun with the paint
The foundations alone will be great fun and get us creating exciting paintings, but day 2 will see us pushing ideas a little further, getting even more creative and really aiming for movement and expressive use of the medium.
Woven into day 2 will also be a closer look at colour mixing and creating different types of edges (fuzzy and sharp areas), as well as scaling up in size a little.
This 2 day course includes:
- Two full days of tuition (10am-4.30pm)
- Materials, including watercolours, paper, palettes and brushes
- Informal, relaxed & attentive guidance for every student, provided by Tom Shepherd
- Artists and painters to share the learning experience with
- Step-by-step talks and demonstrations
You will learn:
- What to look for in our subject to create an exciting painting
- Breaking the subject up into simple, easy to understand shapes
- A little anatomy, helping to really understand our subject (nothing too heavy going!)
- Looking for light and shadow (Tonal Values)
- A variety of watercolour techniques & approaches including wet in wet
- Colour mixing
- Soft and hard edges (what, why and how)
- Injecting life, character and energy into our wildlife paintings
- Using the brushwork and washes to create movement and expression
- What to do with backgrounds
- Finishing touches
In this professional artists’ studio
- Informal, relaxed & attentive guidance for every student, provided by Tom Shepherd
- Artists and painters to share the learning experience with
- Step-by-step talks and demonstrations
- Frequent refreshments – tea, coffee & biscuits included
- Beautiful countryside setting
Suitable for?
Anyone. We generally advise that students be 14 years old+ though exceptions can be made where appropriate.
Pre course prep:
- Students will need to think about what birds they would like to paint and gather reference material
- With that in mind, we ask that you collect images that inspire or mean something to you
- You could also bring a sketchbook to make notes on and maybe sketch ideas down on
- Tom will provide the reference images of his demonstrations and for warmup exercises. You are welcome to follow all of these or bring your own reference, or a mixture of both
- You will be sent an automated email on booking which prompts you towards documents that help you prepare for your time here. If this does not happen then please email James before the course.
This course is for you if:
- You love wildlife
- You want to learn how to create expressive animal portraits
- You want to develop the confidence to ‘loosen up’ in your creative approach
- You want to explore your creativity but lack the confidence to do so on your own
- You want to get away from it all and immerse yourself in a fun, creative environment
- You want to try a different medium to explore your creativity or artistic practice
Beyond The Course
Having completed a Phoenix Studio course many of our students choose to explore the medium further. They may come on another weekend course here at the Phoenix Studio, Tom also has an array of tutorial videos and other brilliant content on his website which you can delve into. We are more than happy to help and advise you in taking those first creative steps!
Need accommodation?
If you are travelling from further afield and would like to stay in the area for your visit then have a look at our recommended list of local B&Bs and hotels.
ABOUT THE TUTOR
Tom Shephard
Tom loves painting watercolours, acrylics and oils. He paints a wide variety of subjects, especially if the light is doing something interesting and he is always drawn back to where his first two passions met; painting wildlife.
Tom’s work has become widely collected in the UK and more recently, internationally. He has been a highly commended finalist in the world-renowned Wildlife Artist of the Year, on several occasions.
Where possible he likes to combine his artwork with conservation efforts close to his heart. As well as involvement with various group exhibitions geared towards raising funds for wildlife and conservation; he also contributes a portion of sales each year to UK based Organisations such as WWT (Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust); and to date has raised multiple thousands of pounds for these causes.
“The free flowing and immediate nature of watercolour seems to lend itself so well to capturing the fleeting moments of wildlife; along with their movement, character and colours”
Tom Shephard – Course Tutor
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