2024 World of Colour Masterclass

What a fabulous class we had this year! The day trip to Charmouth Beach with perfect Summer weather was definitely a highlight. The class went ahead in leaps and bounds mastering the colour techniques that Hugo explained with a number of exercises. Holly’s fantastic lunches were a real daily treat. Hugo’s colour charts and swatches really helped demonstrate the teaching. On the last day it was incredible to see everyone’s work.

2023 World of Colour Masterclass

The last Masterclass of 2023 World of Colour was such a great success most of the students have vowed to return next year.

The format of lectures in the morning and afternoon exercises building up to a few days of free painting has been decided and all agree that a few extra days at the end to complete work and enjoy the beautiful landscape is ideal.

Hugo’s Masterclass returned to some of the key elements in picture making, including the vital issues of color mixing and tonal values, and the best ways to approach the crucial matter of how to design a strong composition.

Hugo discussed the role of colour in communicating emotional contents, and the importance of subject selection and simplification in endeavouring to achieve an overall sense of unity and design. Students were encouraged to develop a personal response to the landscape, and to find their own voice in expressing their ideas. The variety of output was amazing and students were able to learn off each other as well as Hugo.

The non-residential course included lunch and snacks every day from the amazing cook Holly who kept everyones energy levels up with her tasty and healthy cuisine. For more details abon our 2024 courses and to book online, please go here.

ODALISQUE: Painting the female figure in an interior end of October 2021

The 5 day course was held next to Hugo’s studio in Bridport. The yellow room was a light-filled space where students focused on painting figures in the interesting interior.

Comments from students

”the first lecture was mind blowing”

“seeing Hugo’s studio was the icing on the cake“

“opened my eyes to all the possibilities of paint”

“amazing studio space”

“Hugo’s absolute professionalism, his total mastery of the subject and of teaching“

“having two models was fantastic “

World of Colour, West Milton, Dorset, End of June 2021

The 5 day course was held at Hugo’s home in West Milton. The studio was a spacious marquee where we further developed you initial sketches and paintings. Focusing on painting out of doors in the Dorset landscape the course was non-residential, but included delicious homemade lunches and refreshments every day which were always a highlight.

Taking the work of both the Impressionists and Post Impressionists as inspiration in our morning slide shows, we ventured into the landscape and into Hugo’s garden to find our subjects, where students were introduced to the a world of colour and the way colour works. Experimenting with the nuts and bolts of painting, this was a perfect course for both beginners and the less experienced oil painters who wished to further build their confidence in the processes of painting.

Seeing Things Differently: Light, colour and mood in the Dorset landscape, July 2021

Painting can summon mysteries, be spiritual or earthy, intimate or expansive, triumphant or wistful. There are many ways to respond to landscape, and this course investigated a number of vividly different paths in the quest to evoke mood, and to determine an individual voice. Considering ideas about light and colour, shape and design, students were encouraged to embrace the astonishing versatility of the medium of oil paint as they seek new ways to express themselves. This course was also held at Hugo’s home in West Milton.

Painting the model in the context of an interior at Stoke Lodge, Bristol February 2019

Working directly with a model in both clothed and nude poses, students explored how a painting must first and foremost be a design, before it becomes a story.  Beginning with a discussion of the key elements in picture making, including the importance of locating the Artist’s idea or vision, Hugo helped the students discover how these thoughts are expressed in the shape of a design.

Each day began with Hugo giving a talk about the paintings of the Masters, encouraging the students to relate to the images in new ways, discussing the ways different artist’s placed the model within their environment

This course was held at the beautiful Stoke Lodge in Bristol, Hugo is now looking forward to giving more Masterclasses in life painting in Dorset where he recently made his new home.

Landscape and Color – Exploring colour, light and shape in the Dorset countryside – July 2018

This course was held at Milton Mill, a beautiful house belonging to Hugo’s stepmother with an array of gardens, a river and pond. The students enjoyed painting en plein air in the varied landscapes of the gardens, and at the seaside in West Bay.

Each day began with Hugo giving a talk about the paintings of the Masters, encouraging the students to relate to the images in new ways. Outside the group experimented with using colour as a way to express their response to the landscape, distilling the morning’s talks into their experience.

The supportive and collaborative nature of the environment provided a fertile ground for the students to explore Hugo’s teaching, and the wonderfully fresh lunches provided sustenance!

Hugo is looking forward to teaching another course here in the summer of 2019.

Colour and Landscape – Exploring colour, light and shape in the Suffolk countryside – June 2017

This course was held at Berghersh Place, a delightful country house with beautiful gardens and a newly built art studio. The students enjoyed painting en plein air in the surrounding Suffolk countryside, in and around the gardens and by the sea at Felixstowe Ferry.

“In the hands of a good painter, a landscape can evoke many mysteries, can be spiritual or earthy, intimate or expansive, triumphant or melancholic.”

During this course, Hugo encouraged the students to explore the role of colour in expressing their different feelings and responses to the landscape surrounding them, and to evolve their relationship to the medium of paint.

The huge skies and inimitable light of Suffolk provided plenty of inspiration for their sojourns into the worlds of colour, light and form.

Colour and Landscape – Exploring colour, light and shape in the Dorset countryside – September 2016

As the “Gardens” exhibition at the RA demonstrated, a painting is concerned only superficially with its subject, but much more profoundly with ideas about light, colour, space, shape and design. This is not to say that the artist is unmoved by, or disengaged with, the subject, but simply that through exploring the abstract qualities mentioned above a much deeper resonance is revealed. In the hands of a good painter, a landscape painting can evoke many mysteries, be they spiritual or earthy, intimate or expansive, triumphant or melancholic.

During this course students considered the competing claims of sensibility for the subject (the extent to which we need to be representational), and had the opportunity to embrace the excitement of self expression, to consider and explore different feelings and moods. They discussed the role of colour in expressing these themes, and the importance of subject selection and simplification in endeavouring to achieve an overall sense of unity and design. Students were encouraged to develop a personal response to the landscape, and
found their own voice in expressing their ideas.

Situated on the Symondsbury estate in Bridport, Dorset, students painted en plein air in the surrounding countryside, as well as in the beautiful 15th Century Tithe Barn.

Making Your Mark – A Dynamic Workshop That Helps You Find Your Painterly Voice – May 2016

In this course at Hugo’s Bristol studio, students concentrated on finding ways to connect with our imagination, so that their work may become more intense, more personal, more liberated, and that the marks they made on the canvas begin to express what they feel.

In order to achieve they deconstructed the process of painting, by pulling apart its individual components, engaging with their subconscious, and stepping out of their normal working practice and setting aside preconceptions.

During the week students looked at a number of inspirational artists whose work was the fruit of a rich inner life and who expressed both their thoughts and their feelings in the language of paint.

Rhythm and Colour: Animating and Distilling the Still Life – April 2016

On this course students explored the different approaches of some of Modernism’s Greatest Masters, considering how the shape of a still life, interior or landscape can act as an anchor for a passage of visual poetry. ‘Making Your Mark’ re-energised and focused their painting practice and helped them to evolve as a painter with a distinctive voice.