Expressive Seascapes - Advanced - Mansfield Woodhouse Library - Adult Learning

Moving beyond traditional realism, this course focuses on capturing the mood, movement, and atmosphere of the sea through bold brushwork, dynamic composition, and experimental techniques. Using a range of reference materials—including photographs, sketches, and imagination—you'll explore how to convey the energy of crashing waves, the calm of open water, and the drama of coastal light. The course will encourage abstraction and personal interpretation, combining acrylics with tools like palette knives, sponges, and even mixed media to push your practice further.

Each week will introduce a new theme or challenge, such as painting changing skies, creating depth in water, or using colour to suggest emotion. Through group discussion, one-to-one feedback, and tutor-led demonstrations, you'll be supported in developing a confident and individual seascape painting style.

By the end of the course, you will:

- Produce a series of 2–3 expressive seascape paintings that demonstrate a confident and personal interpretation of the sea using acrylics.

- Apply at least four painting techniques, such as layering, impasto, glazing, and alternative mark-making, to create texture and depth in water and sky.

- Use a minimum of six colour mixes to convey different sea and sky conditions, showing control over temperature, tone, and harmony.

- Incorporate abstraction or expressive distortion in at least one painting to move beyond realism and explore mood

- Design and complete one final large-scale seascape, using sketches or preparatory studies to inform the composition.

- Develop and implement a marketing plan using at least 3 different channels (e.g., social media, email marketing, and local events to promote their products.)

What you will need to bring to the course:

Acrylic or watercolour paper A3 pad

white acrylic gesso

40x 50cm or A4 canvas

acrylic paint: (Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Magenta, Cadmium Red, Titanium White)

synthetic brushes

baby wipes

photo references (of a seascape).