An opportunity to practice plein air painting in oils or acrylics with acclaimed artist Haidee-Jo Summers, in one of the most exclusive private gardens in Broadway.

Learn about capturing the essence while plein air painting in the incredible garden setting of Court Farm on the famous Upper High Street in Broadway.

Haidee-Jo is an internationally renowned plein air painter and member of the Royal Institute of Oil painters and the Royal Society of Marine Artists. She is the author of two books published by Search Press: ‘Vibrant Oils’ and ‘Plein air painting in oils’

This two day workshop is best suited to those with some experience of painting outdoors. Haidee-Jo will be working with oil paints but acrylics can be used if preferred.

To find out more about Haidee-Jo visit: www.haideejo.co

Tickets £220  (15 available)

Haidee-Jo will also be doing a demonstration on the afternoon of Saturday 10th June from 2-4pm at the Lifford Hall in Broadway (150 tickets available)

Tickets go on sale through the website at 10am on 11th March, and 1 week earlier (4th March) for Benefactors of the festival who qualify for Priority Booking. Note: this event in 2021 sold out in the first hour!

You can become a Benefactor for as little as £50 and support our Outreach Projects in doing so, applications are now open.

If you are not a 2023 Benefactor, please do not purchase a Benefactor ticket as this ticket will be cancelled and an admin fee of £10 charged.

Please note: Due to the intense interest in this workshop (and to make it fair for all) we are limiting the number of tickets any person can buy to 2. This applies to benefactors of the festival and members of the general public. If you buy more than 2 they will be refunded and put back up for sale.

Materials

Clothing wise think layers and waterproofs with sturdy and comfortable footwear because even on a warm day you can soon feel chilly when sitting or standing still for long periods. Bring a sunhat or cap, and sunscreen too.

A small lightweight sketchbook and black or grey marker pen or soft pencil for quick ‘planning’ sketches is a good idea.
A viewfinder if you have one.

An umbrella is useful for sun or rain.

A lightweight easel, or an all-in-one system such as an Open Box M, New Wave u.go or similar pochade box, together with a sturdy camera tripod to mount it on. Most importantly make sure you 

have practiced using it before the workshop, know how to assemble it and have a method for comfortably carrying it. 

A stool if you prefer to sit.

Basic colour palette I use on location; 

Titanium white
Cadmium lemon yellow or bright yellow lake

Cadmium yellow deep or Indian yellow

Cadmium red
Alizarin crimson

Kings blue deep
Phthalo blue lake

Ultramarine blue

Phthalo green lake or viridian
Transparent red oxide or burnt sienna
Raw sienna/raw umber

Brushes. A range of sizes but mostly flat and filbert shapes, plus a small round or two in nylon or sable. I particularly like to use Rosemary brushes’ Ivory or Eclipse ranges.

I have a ten brush long handled set available from Rosemary & Co, just search Haidee-Jo Summers on their website.

Painting panels – any well primed boards are fine, such as MDF panels with several coats of acrylic ‘gesso’ primer. The Michael Harding non absorbent acrylic primer works well.

My preference is for an oil primed linen canvas mounted to board, or you can make similar with a muslin cloth and acrylic primer (see my Instagram story highlight on panel prep)

Size wise think small and fast, recommended sizes such as 8” x 10”, 9” x 12”, 10” x 10”, 11” x 14”.

I suggest pre-tinting the boards beforehand so that they are not stark white, but more of a light to mid-tone warm grey. A tiny amount of burnt sienna and ultramarine mixed in with plenty of turps and rubbed all over will give you a pleasant light grey which will have a warm or cool bias depending on your mix.

Or for a faster drying alternative mix acrylic paint colours with your acrylic primer to a suitable tint (you can’t do this if your surface is oil primed of course).

My essential equipment list – which all fits in a medium sized rucksack

Pochade box
Lightweight camera tripod
2 or 4 panels in a small panel carrier
Small tubes of oil colour in a zip bag
Paper towels
Painting apron
Leakproof container of low odour solvent and small jar of oil or painting medium
Palette knife
Brushes in tube or brush roll

The famous private gardens at Court Farm: