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Of all colours, black was one of the earliest pigments to be used by artists, evident in cave paintings over 60,000 years old. Symbolically black is the mother of colour, absorbing all other colours and light. Black signifies the receptive, existing beyond time and space, and embodies primordial feminine wisdom—the source of the universe. It is the hidden darkness from which all light emerges.

We will focus on the particular significance of black in traditional Chinese ink making, a craft that dates back to the 12th century. This process involves creating black ink through the burning of resinous pine, resulting in a unique black that is regarded as the finest of all blacks. Additionally, we will examine other historical black pigments, such as ivory, bone, lampblack, and vine black, and discuss how an understanding of ink-making processes is essential to its creative expression.

This short course provides an immersive exploration of floral painting techniques inspired by the rich traditions of the Ottoman Empire. Focusing on the style of the painter Ali Uskudari, students will master detailed brushwork, vibrant color layering, and delicate shading to bring floral subjects to life. They will learn to capture the essence of Ottoman floral motifs using traditional painting methods, gaining hands-on experience with these unique techniques along the way.

This course is designed to provide an introduction to all aspects of Byzantine icon painting and to teach students how to create their own patterns for halos.

Students will learn various gilding techniques and how to paint with traditional egg tempera, which is made with natural and semi-precious pigments, on gessoed wooden boards.

The tutor will paint alongside the class to demonstrate each process and stage of this traditional art form, serving as a guide for students to follow. Additionally, the course will include a brief introduction to the history of icon painting, exploring their significance and discussing why icons are still painted today from the perspective of a practicing artist.

Porcelain is a unique medium: the plasticity of its particles lends itself to fine detail, its whiteness, uncontaminated by other earth oxides, reflects light and gives a particular luminosity to glazes, and its high-vitrification point makes it incredibly durable and translucent when illuminated.   

During this five-day workshop, the participants will be introduced to porcelain’s enchanting history: used in China as early as 7th century A.D., attempts to recreate true porcelain in Europe seemed like an act of alchemy and magic. Taking it out of its utilitarian and industrial context, we will engage in the drawing and making process using plaster moulds to impress design details onto the clay surface. We will consider a range of making techniques, there will be an opportunity to experiment with matte and transparent glazes, and we will also consider the effects of kiln firing processes.

By the end of the course, each participant will have completed a small panel or a series of repeating design elements, where the designs are incised or in relief on the surface of porcelain, and will be equipped with skills for further experimentation and exploration into the beauty and functionality of this medium.    

Participants are encouraged to bring their own circular or square design composed of geometric and/or biomorphic motifs or may choose from a range of designs supplied by the tutor.

The practice of metal point drawing dates back to antiquity. In Europe from the 14th century to 16th century metalpoint was the popular medium for drawing. Each of the metals or alloys possess different physical characteristics, each metal giving a different type of stroke with subtle difference in hue also. In order for the metalpoint to create an clear flowing line, the paper or parchment requires to be carefully prepared. Ceninno Ceninno in the late 14th century describes preparing the surface with crushed chicken bones, chalk or white lead. As the metal is drawn across the surface, tiny particles of metal are left behind, creating a mark. Often the paper would also be given a pale tint created by mixing earth pigments with a little animal glue, this also gave the possibility of creating highlights with the addition of white. By the 15th century silver became the most popular metal to use for this technique, artists made use of the natural tarnishing qualities of the metal, resulting in the line becoming slightly darker with age. Other metals used were tin, bismuth, lead, gold and copper.

During this workshop students will be taken through a range of exercises using silverpoint. Students will learn how to prepare their own traditional grounds for silverpoint drawing as described by Cennino Cennini using ground bones and chalk. Students will prepare a range of different coloured surfaces onto which they will make studies from old master drawings as well as creating their own subjects, exploring the possibilities of this beautiful technique and their use on coloured grounds.

Discover how to make your own blackest of inks from nature, using Britain's oldest ink recipe from oak galls found in the forests of Sussex.

Oak gall ink was commonly used for drawing by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Rembrandt. Much of Britain's most famous literature was written using oak gall ink including works by William Shakespeare, John Milton, William Wordsworth and Jane Austen; it was common practice for these writers to prepare their own oak gall ink using their own personal recipes.

Having spent the morning making a most exquisite ink, students will then be taught how to cut and prepare their own quills for drawing and writing.

This one day workshop will conclude with students making their own sketches using ink and quill on watercolour paper.

Every sentient being is born with the seed of Buddhahood within. To truly realize this potential, one must nurture this seed. The lotus flower, a key motif in Buddhist art, symbolizes this profound state.

Floral patterns reflect heavenly beauty and ambiance, conveying a deep interconnection between nature and the divine. The artistic vision in Buddhist paintings flourishes alongside a rich variety of flowers and vegetation.

During this online course, students will not only learn how to draw different kinds of lotuses, but they will also learn to paint and shade them based on the traditional Newar Buddhist painting tradition, Paubha, and understand the symbolism and philosophy behind it.

Students will have an opportunity to work in tandem with the tutor in creating many different kinds of lotuses and enjoy the process of painting and shading.

Trade routes provide more than just exchanges of textiles and spices. They enrich understanding, broaden horizons, and spread knowledge and possibility across the lands. Languages, stories, beliefs, technological innovations, and also ornamental designs all travelled along established trade routes. 

In this six-part course, we begin in eastern China: the fountainhead of the Silk Road, where we will study and draw geometric wooden lattice designs. We then follow the historic trade route through India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Turkiye, Malta, and Sicily, exploring architectural ornamentation as a manifestation of connectivity. We will learn to draw a range of patterns based on rotated interlocking shapes, exploring design terrain outside of the star and rosette patterns which often dominate our Islamic geometric curricula. 

Students will learn how to construct square and triangular grids with ruler and compass, and learn how to develop these grids into a wide variety of diverse yet interconnected patterns. We will observe certain common features used to structure and organise our designs, including revolving symmetry motifs and chirality (“left and right handedness”) and discover connections across regions through shared motifs and shared geometric methodologies.  

This course provides an introduction to all aspects of traditional mosaic. By making two small mosaics, students will learn the principles with which Byzantine mosaics were designed and the techniques employed to realise them.

Students will use traditional materials, including glass tesserae from Murano in Venice and hand tools that have been in use since Roman times.

Rather than laying the mosaic tesserae in reverse, students will learn a ‘direct’ form of mosaic developed in Ravenna. In the ‘Ravenna method’ tesserae are laid into a temporary lime putty base before being transferred to a permanent mortar.

Over the five days, there will be opportunity to create two small mosaic studies based on a choice of Byzantine and Early Christian models.

Drawing inspiration from Persian, Indian and Medieval miniature painting, participants shall compose a painting on a gessoed ground, working with the traditional technique of egg tempera and pigments made from earths and minerals. Initially, mark-making will be explored leading into the painting of flower petals and leaves. Colour harmony studies follow to choose the palette for the painting. Sacred geometry studies will inform the composition, becoming the underlying structure upon which flowers, trees, mountains, valleys and water are placed creating a harmonious Garden of Paradise.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a powerful symbol of faith and hope for many Catholics and is seen as a message of God’s love and mercy for all people. This icon is rich with symbolism. Her tunic is adorned with the “yolloxochitl” or heart flower, whose four tips point in the cardinal directions. Her blue mantle is adorned with stars positioned as could have been seen in the Winter Solstice when she first appeared to Juan Diego, a Chichimec peasant, in Mexico.

In this course, we will begin painting by grinding our own pigment to create a very thin and translucent paint, allowing us to achieve a soft, refined finish. This technique honors and conveys the essence of Mother Mary.

Additionally, we will learn how to gild the halo using clay. It is important to note that this process requires a sensitivity to embody the delicate nature of Mary. We will employ the Russian dry brush technique, which involves applying thin layers of paint to create an ethereal luminosity.

The aim is for each student to paint their own copy of this icon and to make significant progress, if not complete, the painting.

The epic poem of Zal and the Simurgh is one of the most famous parts of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. Rejected by his father, Zal is brought up by the Simurgh (phoenix) and grows up to be one of the most important characters of the Shahnameh, and in turn his son, the legendary Rustam, becomes one of the main heroes of the epic. The myth of Zal is therefore of great importance as it sets the scene for things to come.

In this course, we will be working from the famous Zal and the Simurgh painting by Sadiqi with its beautiful crystalline rocks and jewel-like colours.

The pleasure of concentrating on a single miniature for a period of time involves us deeply. We are immersed in it; we live with it; we live in it. Inhabiting and internalising a painting in this way is a wonderful and traditional way to learn. In today’s fast-paced world we need to sit, focus on and contemplate our single piece and grow to love and understand it. We will understand the subtle art of colour, composition and blending by our action of making and doing, connecting with the work. The aim is not to rush, but to dwell. Thus painting is a form of meditation in itself. Students are invited to recreate this alongside the tutor, incorporate elements into existing work or be inspired to create their own compositions.

This course will take inspiration from the botanical paintings created by Indian artists in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. These flower paintings were produced with the miniature painting technique of applying opaque paint in a thick layer and then adding the finer detail. This is a process different to and distinct from European botanical drawings.

On this course, students will learn how to prepare paper, apply paint, and use the brush techniques of miniature painting. Looking closely at a selection of leaf forms and flower shapes, we shall create a lovely selection of small paintings.

This course explores watercolour as a contemplative and expressive medium for landscape painting. With a focus on light, atmosphere, and mood, students will learn to capture the essence of a place through tonal washes, spontaneous brushwork, and sensitive observation.

Practical sessions will be complemented by short talks on the history of watercolour, tracing its development through key figures in the English tradition — from Turner and Cotman to Seago and beyond. The aim is not only to build technical confidence but to cultivate a deeper attentiveness to the natural world and the watercolour medium.

Rather than enforcing a single way of working, the tutor will encourage curiosity, attentiveness, and personal interpretation — helping students to discover their own visual language within the discipline of watercolour.

In this class, we will create a book using traditional Islamic bookbinding techniques, featuring the iconic envelope flap that is characteristic of Islamic book design. You will learn how to bind a model book from scratch, including making endbands, and you will have the opportunity to create a fine leather cover. To make the cover, we will use techniques such as stamping, onlay, gold painting on leather, and leather tooling. The end result will be a book that you can hold in your hands and cherish. You can use it as a notebook, sketchbook, journal, or to showcase your miniature manuscript paintings.

Calligraphy was always prized in the Ottoman Court and thus inscriptions of remarkable strength emerged from this period. The manuscripts of 18th Century Calligrapher Mehmed Shawqi Effendi from the Ottoman School will be used as examples for the workshop.

The fluid style of thuluth ranks as one of the most popular scripts of choice for aesthetic expression due to its versatility and endless creativity. Thuluth is a proportioned script based on the principles of past masters. A rhomboid dot is used to measure each letter shape. The oblique angle of the pen (qalam) lends itself to the aesthetics of producing thick and thin angles. To control the flowing line whilst maintaining balance, elegance and harmony is a great achievement of artistic expression. Thuluth’s popularity is expressed in text, poems and aphorisms and  inscriptions are found in various mediums; architecture, manuscripts, metalwork, glass, wood, textiles and ceramics .

The workshop is a practical introduction to the script and provides participants a step-by-step guide to writing the Arabic letters according to the thuluth proportion system. Students will be shown how to construct each letter through basic strokes and learn the traditional practice, tools and materials used for thuluth.

Learn about the rich history and artistic traditions of Chinese polychrome paintings. These paintings decorating wooden palace buildings, are reflections of Chinese traditional culture and aesthetic concepts.

In this hands-on course, students will learn about the design principles of these paintings, key colour configurations, and painting techniques. Any returning students can try their hand at more complex designs.

Attention will be paid to the connection between these paintings and the architectural structures they are designed for. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about and appreciate the unique cultural heritage of China.

Learn to paint an icon of Christ in the style of Andrei Rublev, one of the greatest medieval Orthodox icon painters. Students will master the dry brush technique, which involves layering thin strokes of paint to create a luminous effect. Egg tempera paint will be combined with hand-crushed natural pigments and applied to a plaster panel. Additionally, students will learn gilding techniques using clay and real gold leaf.