Painting a Colourful Highland Cow
Learning to Paint a Rainbow Highland Cow!
Today is my painting workshop at the gallery Creative Melbourne, in Melbourne Derbyshire. I set up the space yesterday afternoon so that all of the easels and canvases etc are ready to go when we all arrive this morning. We shall be making very vivid Highland Cow paintings I am sure, as Im taking 26 different colour tubes of paint including some sparkly pearlised paints. It will be a small group of six, today painting up in the mezzanine gallery, which is a lovely space to work in, above the art gallery itself which fills two floors below.
Spare Cake
I have baked two cakes for the occasion. Partially because I’m never sure my cake will rise! So I did a ‘spare’ and they both rose beautifully so now we have two. ‘Spare cake’ is surely one of the happiest phrases in the English language.
A Big Hairy Beast
We will be basing our painting loosely on this big colourific chap above, although each piece will be as unique as the artist who paints it. We typically have at least two or three total beginners in my workshops, which is always exciting. I haven’t met any of the artists joining me today, so I will find out about experience levels once everyone arrives. Some attendees are coming from a little farther afield today, so I hope everyone has had a nice journey to get here. I will post photos from the day’s activities later on.
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Paint a Highland Cow - Half Day Course
Paint your own cow!
** 2025 Workshop dates are LIVE! Book here https://suegardnerstudio.com/workshops/
My Colourful Rainbow Highland Cow Workshops are always popular, and I have been asked to hold a half day session at Sharpes Pottery Museum in November. This will be a step-by-step painting workshop, on how to create a colourful highland cow from start to finish! Don’t worry if you have never painted since school, beginners and more experienced artists are all very welcome / I simplify the process, breaking it down into fun steps. You can have a pre-drawn canvas too, to allow you to relax and focus on your colour choices.
Highland Cow Painting Course.
Enjoying the day
This was the first time we had a workshop at this venue, which is the village hall just near my home. It was a lovely day, we had half the group who had a little experience with different painting media but who were new to acrylics, and half the group were total beginners. It was a bigger group than normal as we had a few reschedulings from another date. A very positive and jovial group of lovely ladies! Here are some photos from the day, and the lineup of moo-g shots at the end of the day.
We went step by step through the painting, with mini demonstrations throughout the day and guidance and encouragement given at every stage. Everyone went home with their own beautiful and unique work of art. Friends were made, laughs were had, techniques were learned and the cake was eaten! Everyone was marked safe from the terrors of the ‘exploding jar of black paint’!
Beautiful new paintings
The next Highland Cow Workshop is on March 4th at Sharpes Museum- places are still available, there will be a max of eight places at this one.
Sharpes Pottery Museum is a lovely cosy venue with a wealth of history and heritage. We are in the Glazing Room, a nice comfortable space. The cafe will be providing a lovely buffet lunch for us and as always there will be homemade cake! Book your workshop here
step by step tuition
Fabulous results in my beginner's art classes - Let your creative side out!
The step-by-step process is the reason my workshops are suitable for total beginners, as well as artists with more experience who want to learn new techniques and tips, all the way through to experienced artists who want a relaxing day painting away from it all, with time to experiment and try something different.
"Absolutely fabulous. Sue, thank you. You teach in an easy way for numpties like me to understand. You made the course so easy, especially doing the cow's nose and eye. I have never painted an animal and at least it does look like one, even though perhaps a bit psychedelic . It was a great day 5/2/2023, today, lovely lunch and cake was had by all. Plenty of drinks, no not gin, but everyone’s cows were marvellous. I shall definitely look for another of Sue's courses to attend."
Follow this link to book one of my courses for yourself. Why not bring a friend? Vouchers can also be bought online to gift, and we have a brilliant two-day hare workshop in the Summer if you want to make a weekend of it!
* Learn to Paint - join me at my in-person workshops
Looking for beginner’s art classes? I teach art workshops for artists at all stages, at my events in Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
Beginner’s art classes.
If you have always thought you would like to have a go at painting but don’t know where to start, why not join me in one of my in-person art workshops this year? I provide all the materials needed, and we follow a step-by-step process to get you from A ( a bright white canvas ) to B ( a beautiful piece of original art).
The step-by-step process is the reason my workshops are suitable for total beginners, as well as artists with more experience who want to learn new techniques and tips, all the way through to experienced artists who want a relaxing day painting away from it all, with time to experiment and try something different.
I have a lovely workshop coming up in March 2023 where you can paint a Highland Cow in Folk Art Style like the one shown here, in progress. This is a technique that involves mindfulness and you will find you really ‘get in the zone’ using different mark-making objects, brushes and stencils to create a totally unique and vibrant painting to take home.
