Painting the Sky in Acrylics - Next Steps - Southwell Library - Adult Learning

Southwell Library, Southwell

Key details

Date -
Sessions Tuesdays: 1:30pm - 4pm
No. sessions 6
Venue Southwell Library, Southwell
For ages 19+
Group size 5 - 8
Cost FREE - £60

About this course

Discover how to capture the beauty, drama, and atmosphere of the sky in this relaxed, follow up friendly painting course. Whether you're inspired by soft morning light, glowing sunsets, or expressive storm clouds, this 6 weeks course will guide you through the process of painting skies using acrylics. This course offers a supportive space for you to explore painting skies while developing your skills and personal style with acrylics. Through step-by-step demonstrations and hands-on exercises, you’ll learn how to work with colour blending, layering, and brush techniques to create realistic and expressive skies. Y

ou’ll explore how light, weather, and time of day affect mood and composition—and how to translate that onto the canvas in your own way. Perfect for those new to acrylics or landscape painting, this course is a great opportunity to build skills, gain confidence, and go home with a beautiful sky painting of your own.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

- Sketch and plan compositions, simplifying subject matter for expressive interpretation of the sky

- Mix at least five colour palettes showing awareness of warm/cool contrast and colour harmony

- Apply a minimum of three painting techniques, such as broken colour, visible brushstrokes, and limited detail, in their work.

- Use brushwork to represent movement or changing light, in at least two different compositions

- Create at least three acrylic paintings, demonstrating an understanding of light, colour, and expressive brushwork

- 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 sketching pad

white acrylic gesso

30x 40cm stretched canvas

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

a range of synthetic brushes,

Booking your place and fee information

If you receive certain benefits you will be offered the course for free, however if you have a financial barrier which may prevent you from enrolling on the course, please visit our funding page for further information.

Residency in England

To book and enrol on one of our courses, you must be living in England permanently and live outside of the devolved areas listed below or live within the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) devolved area (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire).

  • Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield 

  • Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

  • Greater London

  • Greater Manchester

  • Liverpool City Region

  • Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland

  • Tees Valley

  • West of England

  • West Midlands

  • West Yorkshire

Residency Eligibility – other criteria

If you are living in the UK on a visa we will require evidence of this in order to be funded for the course, you can upload this evidence when you apply for the course. (completion of a questionnaire will be required).

Some exceptions may apply for example

  • Your visa expiry date must be beyond the end of your course

  • Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is being considered by the Home Office

  • You are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014

Any learner who is not funded full cost fees would apply to these courses.

Any questions?

Check the FAQs page, or get in touch:

Book now on Learner Hub

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