About Hugo Grenville

Studio Hugo Grenville

Welcome to the 2008 programme

Our Philosophy

The point of painting is to express what you feel, but it cannot be done effectively without the acquisiton of knowledge and the recognition of a visual language. Neither can it be a tentative exercise, but rather a committed attempt to evoke all that is felt and experienced in the subject. Matisse said: “ I am a romantic painter, but half of me is a scientist”, and it is this dual approach to painting that lies at the heart of the teaching philosophy at Studio Hugo Grenville. Our tuition is intense, challenging and unsqueamish about providing the technical and practical knowledge required to stimulate every student’s development as a painter.

We emphasise the importance of understanding the process, methods and ideas that have formed the traditions of European painting, and draw inspiration from looking at the work of the Masters, as a means of enabling students to broaden their powers of interpretation and visual expression. All our courses are designed to give students the confidence to experiment, to move their work forward into new territory. And although we may be direct about the methods used to achieve progress, we are never prescriptive about the end results, since our main objective is to encourage each student to develop an individual painterly language.

Our Students

During the last 7 years of our summer school programme at the Red House in Suffolk, and during the past 2 years in London, we have taught a remarkably wide range of students representing most age groups from teenagers to octogenerians, and covering every imaginable level of ability. Some of our students have demonstrated unusual talent, but almost all of our students have moved forward as painters, with a sizeable number being regularly exhitibited in London galleries. Experience shows that students who advance their work the furthest are, not surprisingly, the most committed. They also share an understanding that good painting is born from a desire to communicate inner feeling and a determined curiosity about how to dig out the truth of the subject. An open mind and the courage to embrace change count for much in the quest to paint well. What matters to us is attracting people that are committed to wanting to express themselves through paint, irrespective of their current level of ability.

Our Courses

Our courses are constructed in such a way that they build on one another. They are individually designed for different levels of understanding and experience. Each course is graded to indicate the suggested level of experience required, and they can be taken individually or in groups. Taken together, the courses can be viewed as key stepping stones on a continuous journey into the world of painting.

The courses are devised by Hugo Grenville who is regarded by his students as one of the best teachers of painting in the country, and who remains the lead tutor on most courses. Guest tutors lead some of the more specialist subjects, including portrait painting and printmaking. All the tutors are first and foremost well-respected painters who happen to share a great enthusiasm for teaching. Although they will all commnicate different methods of producing paintings they are drawn together by a coherent underlying philosophy and a solid understandign of the historical context in which they paint. They are able to describe the techniques and philosophies of the painters of the past to help explain the process of painting. Importantly they all enjoy teaching and are sympathetic but challenging in their approach.

Please click to see details of Hugo's 2008 courses:

A few of the comments people have made on their feedback forms...

"What I personally took out of the course was the knowledge that I was not alone in my artistic hopes and ideals. I have studied at some very well respected art colleges, one of which has an international reputation, so I do have something to compare against, and on that basis I am of the opinion that Hugo as a tutor is utterly inspirational, a very considered motivator and critic, just great."

"I loved the overall atmosphere of being in an environment where an artist actually works, being immersed, the beautiful surroundings, being taught by someone who you can admire for his work, who enables you to come away, without perfect paintings, but with a new starting point and way of looking at the whole structure of painting"

"Your courses have helped me as a painter in so many ways: in developing skills- I have never heard of sight size drawing or used oils, but especially in boosting my confidence in existing abilities and personal vision."

“This is obviously not a “painting holiday” type of course of which there are now so many being aimed at aspiring painters. This is something beyond that, striving to set the mind on the more fundamental and creative ways of personal expression. Every aspect of the four days was delightful”

"I said at the beginning of the week I seem to have hit a brick wall which I couldn’t get beyond. I’ve knocked it down”

"I found it all most stimulating and as a painter who has struggled to get away from a precise engineering and design discipline I found the short pose, left hand drawing and large brush painting approach exciting and freeing. The teaching was excellent and imparted with the right balance of stick and carrot."

“I sang most of the way home and when not singing had a huge beam of a smile”

"The teaching and advice is drawn from a body of Art History and then is related to what one was actually struggling with on the easel. I think Hugo’s teaching covers a gap that is missing in arts schools today."