New COVID-Safe Art Classes from dot-art

It’s time to reignite your creativity! After months of staying at home and trying to remain inspired and productive from our living rooms, we are finally able to announce our new program of art classes and creative workshops for the Autumn! We’ve been working hard with our venue partners to ensure these are as safe as possible, with reduced participant numbers, extra cleaning and mandatory face coverings in place.

Because fewer of you will be working in the city centre every day, we have fewer evening courses and more weekend workshops on offer, but there’s still a wide range of days, times and durations to choose from. If for any reason we are unable to deliver the course (for example a local lockdown) you will automatically receive a full refund, so you can book with full confidence. All our courses are suitable for beginners, but hurry, with reduced numbers, tickets are very limited! So come and join us to get creative at one of our inspiring venues; Bluecoat, The Reader, FACT and the Anglican Cathedral.

At Bluecoat in November, we have 3 day weekend courses in Abstract Painting, where you can delve into the imaginative world of abstract painting, learning about layering, materials, composition and texture, Watercolour, where the emphasis of the course will be to give you confidence so that you can take chances with the medium and experiment to create exciting work and Portrait Drawing where you will learn the fundamentals of drawing characterful portraits, capturing a true likeness. These are joined by a single Sunday workshop in Introduction to Cartooning, where you will learn the fundamentals you will need to create your own illustrated characters or depict others in cartoon form.

Over at FACT we are delighted to have the use of the BOX for our classes, giving us lots of space for socially distanced learning! On Monday evenings we will be holding our popular course in Drawing Techniques; as tutor Sarah-Jane says, no matter what medium you enjoy using, be it paint, pastel or clay, learning the essential drawing techniques will magnify your creative ability. On Tuesday evenings, FACT will host our very popular Life Drawing course, temporarily relocated from the Bluecoat. This course is for those who want to work directly from both the nude and clothed model and will develop your skills in life drawing, including accurate measuring, shading and drawing techniques.

We are also returning to Liverpool Cathedral on Sundays 10^th October and 21^st November for Sketching in the Anglican, a unique opportunity for both beginners and experienced artists to spend a Sunday morning drawing and learning new skills in this fascinating location.

Our ever-popular dot-art Club for creative children has also relocated to the Cathedral, to ensure we have lots of space for our young artists! These sessions for 8-12 year olds run in six week blocks, starting 12^th September and 7^th November and will now take place from 9.30-11am on Saturday mornings. Every week our young artists will be encouraged to develop their drawing skills and build a lifelong love of art under the expert guidance of artist Brigitte Watkinson.

Over in South Liverpool, The Reader at Calderstones Mansion is hosting the popular 10 week Monday afternoon course in Textile Arts, creating a range of nature based items using felting, stitching, sewing and printing. Tutor Catherine will also be running a 3 day course in Lino Cut for Beginners on Saturdays in November which will introduce you to the materials and tools of lino cutting before moving onto creating, cutting and printing your own design. A further 3 day course, following on from sell out outdoor sessions in August, is Landscape Painting with aware winning artist Jacob Gourley.

Finally we have a set of single day workshops; Sketching in the Park - the perfect way to de-stress is through being creative in nature, Introduction to Chinese Painting, where you can explore the history and techniques of this fascinating subject with artist Madeleine Pires and a Cyanotype Sunprint Workshop which will introduce you to the use of a traditional Victorian photographic technique as a way of creating unique artistic images.

For photographers, we have a new hybrid course, Transform your Photography, which will consist of 7 live online lessons and one full day practical group workshop in Liverpool city centre. Over the 8 sessions, tutor Mark Reeves will teach you how to transform your pictures from snapshots to works of art!

Full details, prices and booking information can be found here: dot-art.co.uk/art-classes. These courses often sell out, so don't delay!