Sketchbook and Landscape 5 week Course

Using watercolour and mixed media, we will create colourful, expressive sketchbook pages and develop skills you can use to capture your own day trip or travel memories.

Weather permitting, we can work in the landscape surrounding the Mill. We will explore a range of topics including Greenery and Nature, Mixed Media, Creating Depth Through Mark-making and The Urban Landscape. We will also use the indoor workshop space when needed.

Amy works predominantly in sketchbooks and recommends bringing your own if you have a favourite one to use. Alternatively, there are sketchbooks available to purchase in the gallery store and paper will be provided as part of the class.

Watercolour will be provided on the day, but please feel free to bring your own or any other media you like to use, such as: graphite, coloured pencils, ink or pastels. The class is a time to be experimental with your favourite tools and media, and to become more familiar with how you like to use it.

This course will run from Thursday 6th February for 5 weeks. Starting at 10am - 1pm.

Course Level: Suitable for beginners or experienced artists who want to explore sketchbook work and landscapes in a relaxed and experimental way

Week 1: Greenery and Nature

We’ll learn colour mixing with watercolour, focusing on capturing the rich natural hues of the woodland behind Sunny Bank Mills. Through playful experimentation, you’ll learn to mix a wide range of nature’s greens, browns, and neutral tones. Working in the landscape, we will utilise our colour mixing skills to develop our observational technique on location.

Week 2: Mixed Media Exploration

Expand your creative toolbox by combining watercolour with mixed media techniques to create layered, textured effects. You’ll experiment with materials such as charcoal, pastels, or collage elements to bring new dimensions to your artwork.

Week 3: Creating Depth Through Mark-Making

This week, we’ll explore mark-making as a versatile tool for adding depth and atmosphere to your work. Learn how to create layers that suggest distance and bring energy to your composition. You’ll also focus on using marks to guide the viewer's eye toward key focal points, creating dynamic and engaging pieces.

Week 4: The Urban Landscape

The historic Mill will take centre stage as we focus on incorporating elements of the urban environment into your landscapes. In this session, you’ll study techniques like perspective, contrasting marks, texture, and the use of negative space to depict architectural forms alongside natural elements.

Week 5: Telling a Story Through Landscapes

In the final session, we’ll bring together everything we’ve learned to create a personal narrative or emotional connection within your landscape work.

There will be opportunities for optional, informal, group critique to receive feedback and suggestions for further self-development and exploration.

Artist bio:

Amy is a Leeds based travel and nature illustrator documenting her travels throughout her detailed and colourful sketchbooks. Painting while travelling, using watercolour and mixed media, she creates lasting impressions of the places she visits. With a particular focus on the nuances of local wildlife and nature, she uses reference photographs from her hikes through unfamiliar landscapes. As well as being inspired by nature, she also aims to capture and illustrate an array of cultural experiences and landscapes.

Whilst travelling (or in Leeds!), she often has limited time at each stop and only a small amount of art supplies. By limiting the amount of time, the materials, and stepping out of her comfort zone, she can create some interesting textures, marks, and composition ideas that reflect the uniqueness of each place. These scribbly, messy, imperfect pages become beautiful memories or can be developed into finished paintings when she returns home.

Amy has taught workshops and classes across Leeds and online and is an exhibiting artist.

When attending a workshop you can receive 10% off within the Gallery Shop on the day of your session.

About the venue

Sunny Bank Mills is an inspirational cultural destination in the heart of the local community of Farsley, Leeds. Founded in 1829, these glorious Mills are being regenerated by the sixth generation of the family owners, creating a wonderful blend of work, leisure and culture.

Course terms and booking conditions

Workshop and course bookings can be cancelled and refunded up until 7 days before the scheduled start date. As materials and equipment are ordered in advance, we regret that refunds cannot be offered less than 7 days before the workshop date. Please note that Eventbrite’s booking fee is non-refundable.

If we need to cancel the course for any reason your ticket will be fully refunded.

Host or Publisher Sunny Bank Mills Gallery