Landscape Painting
- Level(s) of Study: Short course
- Course Fee:
£695
- Start Date(s): 14 July 2025, 18 April 2026
- Duration: Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm, one week and Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm, five weeks
- Study Mode(s): Part-time
- Campus: City Campus
- Entry Requirements: More information
Introduction:
Course dates:
14 - 18 July 2025, Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm
18 April - 16 May 2026, Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm
Step into the natural world and capture its beauty on this immersive landscape painting course.
With an inspiring mix of en plein air sessions and studio-based work, you’ll develop essential techniques to create stunning and atmospheric landscapes. Under the guidance of a professional landscape artist, you’ll explore composition, tone, colour, and mark-making.
You’ll paint in locations within Nottingham experiencing the light, movement, and grandeur of the natural landscape firsthand. When the weather takes a turn, you’ll return to the studio to hone your skills further using photographs you’ve taken. Designed for those with basic painting experience, this course will push your artistic practice to new heights as you learn to paint landscapes that are expressive, evocative, and uniquely yours.
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You’ll be part of a design community in our creative studio culture; one that promotes discussion and collaboration, and encourages experimentation and the constant swapping of ideas. -
With a limited class size you'll have the one-to-one attention you need to ensure you leave with the skills to continue developing your painting at home. -
Benefit from learning with an experienced tutor who has established links to the profession and significant experience working in varied practices en plein and in the studio. -
On successful completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance.
What you’ll study
You’ll learn the essential compositional rules, colour and painting techniques to achieve panoramic skies and beautiful landscapes. There will also be some exercises in line and tone using charcoal, ink and pencil. Whilst the course will focus on oil painting, you can bring whatever other mediums you prefer to work with.
During this course, you will:
- enjoy the unique experience of working in the rural landscape , in a variety of settings in and around Nottinghamshire
- work from a range of source material; from photographs and sketches to direct observation of the landscape (weather permitting)
- loosen up with line drawings and gain the confidence to put colours straight onto the canvas without a guide line
- learn how to maintain a level of expressive freedom in mark-making when working from photograph in the studio
- learn how to choose your palette to achieve distance and panorama
- apply and appropriately use tone, warm and cold colours in both skies and landscape
- study the rules of landscape composition such as point of focus and depth of field in order to create a beautiful artwork that flows.
By the end of the course, you will have created a series of landscape artworks, painted both outdoors and in the studio. These pieces will demonstrate your understanding of composition, tone, and colour, as well as your ability to convey the beauty and energy of the natural world.
Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll study during the course. A flexible approach to the schedule will be used according to the weather:
- Composition and Point of Focus
- Achieving Depth and Distance
- Painting the Sky
- Expressive Mark-Making
- Colour and Panorama
Discover how to design a balanced and captivating landscape by identifying key focal points and creating a natural flow within your composition.
Using tonal contrasts, you’ll learn to create the illusion of space and perspective, allowing your landscapes to feel immersive and alive.
Skies set the mood of a landscape. You’ll experiment with techniques to capture the ever-changing movement of clouds, light, and weather in your work.
Learn to let go and work intuitively, using energetic brush strokes, palette knives, or pastel gestures to add texture and life to your scenes.
Explore the emotional and visual impact of colour, using warm and cool tones to create balance, distance, and vibrancy in your final landscape painting.
How you’re taught
This is a practical course and the subject is underpinned by theory and demonstrations.
You’ll complete group exercises and receive one to one tuition, group discussion and feedback.
This course will be delivered in person on Nottingham Trent University city campus and outside in the natural landscape.
Contact hours
You will receive 25 contact hours of quality tuition with an experienced tutor.
Careers and employability
The course is designed to give you the compositional tools and techniques in your chosen medium, to have the confidence to go out on your own and paint in the landscape, one of the most meditative and awe-inspiring ways to create art, within and responding to the natural landscape.
On successful completion of the course you will receive a certificate of attendance, which will further enhance your CV.
This course is part of the Summer Painting Studio; after this course you could progress onto the Abstract, Portraiture and Oil Painting courses.
Campus and facilities
You will be based in the Nottingham School of Art and Design on the City Campus.
You'll find bright painting studios in which to develop your ideas.
You will receive an email one week before the course starts with joining instructions on where to go for the first day.
You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.
Entry requirements
Level: Open to all
Entry requirement: To make the most of this course, some familiarity with basic painting techniques would be beneficial.
If you’re completely new to oil painting, we’d recommend completing the Oil Painting course at NTU or a similar introductory course elsewhere before attending.
If you are bringing mediums aside from oil paints, you should already have some basic experience and be ready to push your artistic practice further.
Good outdoor clothes and footwear are a must as you will be walking to some locations over rural terrain whilst carrying your equipment.
You must be over the age of 18 in order to attend this course.
Fees and funding
The fee for this course is £695.
Payment is due at the time of booking - ask us if you'd prefer an invoice sent to your company.
Secure your place with a deposit - If you're booking more than two months before the course starts, we can accept a £200 deposit to secure your place, and the balance is due one month before the course starts.
Your course fees cover the cost of studies and include great benefits such as the use of our modern library and free use of the IT equipment and software on the campus during your course.
Materials and Equipment
Your course fees include everything you need to dive right into painting—premium oil paints, quality canvases, brushes, and more, so you can focus on creating with professional equipment.
You may also wish to bring with you:
- any paints, brushes, canvas, and artists’ equipment you already have
- oil paints are provided but you can bring any coloured medium you prefer to work in, from pastels to watercolours
- cotton rags
- glass jars
- old credit card / flat plastic object for scraping
- sharp spikey tool(s) like a small skewer from the kitchen, hair grip, nails, old scissors
- portable easels and folding chairs are optional, as is working on the ground on a blanket, whatever is most comfortable for you.
You can read the terms and conditions of booking here.
Need accommodation for a week long summer course?
Accommodation can be booked separately to the course; the rooms are only a few minutes’ walk from our studios and classrooms, and cost £259 per week.
These are single rooms with a private bathroom in shared apartments in Nottingham Trent University’s city campus accommodation, which is ideal if you're looking to be based in Nottingham's lively city centre and want an economical place to stay.
Find out more and book your accommodation here.
How to apply
You can book your place via the NTU online store:
14 - 18 July 2025, Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm
18 April - 16 May 2026, Saturdays 10 am - 4 pm
Browse all short courses in fine art.
Any questions?
Contact the short course team:
- Email: creativeshortcourses@ntu.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)115 848 2813