Paint Along Day Workshops

Spend the whole day with Ali & expand your skills

What could be better than treating yourself to an entire day working on a project alongside Ali’s expert tuition and positive guidance? With over thirty years experience of planning and delivery, Ali injects each of her day workshops with skills that can be used in every creative project you tackle, plus a relaxed and informal teaching style aimed at encouraging you to find your own way through a painting making you a more self sufficient artist in the future.

Geography needn’t be an issue as the workshops below are designed to be delivered in person AND live online, benefitting from advances in technology via the Zoom platform and Ali’s skills in distance education. Tune in from the comfort of your own home, with all your materials around you and make as much mess as you would like, all you will need is a charged tablet or laptop/desktop (not a smartphone, you won’t be able to see clearly enough) and a fairly strong internet connection. You won’t need any advanced tech skills, Ali will be in charge of that aspect and will help wherever she can. If you would like to join Ali at her studio, you just need to reserve a place at no extra cost.

How does a ‘Paint Along’ workshop work?

You can choose to spend the morning, the afternoon or all day with Ali, exploring the subject and techniques that she has carefully planned for you.

Here is a little more information that describes the difference between the sessions:

10:00 - 13:00 (GMT):Techniques & Experiments
The morning session will concentrate on an introduction to the materials and better understanding how they work to create marks and textures on your surface. You will be encouraged to explore how to prepare a project based on multiple points of reference and how to interpret the subject through sketches and experiments. These may include creating colour swatches, texture samples, thumbnails, pastiches or even a first draft of a painting, ready for you to tackle larger projects with more confidence.

13:00 - 14:00: A lunch break/preparation for the afternoon session (if attending)

14:00 - 17:00 (GMT): Full Project
Ali will guide you through a whole project from start to finish using a style of teaching called ‘Paint Along’ meaning that she will not be stopping and starting, but progressing through her own version of the piece making suggestions for how you might like to tackle your own version of the subject. She will pause for a short time mid afternoon to allow you the opportunity to catch up and will reach a conclusion with her own piece approximately 30 mins to an hour before the end of the session to help you individually.

A Paint Along workshop is fast paced but highly creative and experimental, equipping you with a wealth of techniques and very individual creations to take forward into your own interpretations.

Woolly Sheep in Chalk Pastel

Saturday 12th April 2025

In a busy year for Ali when she concentrates on landscapes, she is thrilled to be able to still share one of her first subject loves - animals. What better way to spend a day experimenting with pastel techniques than a characterful portrait of a gorgeous woolly sheep that will have you falling in love with their sorrwful eyes and incredible coats.

Ali will guide you through a variety of pastel applications and surfaces including some more unusual ways of building up layers of chalk pastel sticks and pencils on the textured surface of your choice.

from £35.00

Hydrangea experiments in Mixed Media

Saturday 17th May 2025

After years of battling to grow these beautiful flowers in her garden, this year Ali cracked it - by giving up and planting them in a pot instead. They are stunning whether they are in full bloom or changing to a skeleton petal as we head towards winter.

This workshop will provide you with experimental techniques including gesso resist, using a ruling pen with watercolour, creating coloured backgrounds for detail and mark making with unusual tools. Ali is so excited to be sharing some her latest discoveries for such a classic subject.

from £35.00
Book a place at Downend Farm Studio
£0.00

If you are local to Ali or fancy a trip to Dorset and would like to attend her tuition in person at her studio, book a place at no extra cost. Please read the specific section of the Ts and Cs before booking.

Questions you may have…

How do I book?
Using the details above, add the workshops of your choice to your cart and pay for them on the checkout page.

What do I need to do to attend in person?
When you have booked and paid for your choice of workshop, return to this page and reserve a space by using the relevant section just above this text. You will need to go through the checkout procedure but at no extra cost to you, it’s just so we both have a record of your intended attendance in person.

I’d like to discuss what will be covered during the workshop - what can I do?
You are very welcome to contact Ali ahead of booking without any obligation. The photographs you see in the description will be the type of resources we will work from and if you would like to see the style of Ali’s painting, please browse the gallery section of this website to see how she interprets a subject. Ali does not prescriptively paint a sample piece ahead of the workshop so that you can see her overcome the same creative issues that you may be experiencing in real time. This helps to keep her work fresh and spontanious.

What materials will I need?
When your booking is confirmed (see below) you will be able to access a full equipment list so that you have plenty of time to prepare before the session. Ali recommends certain products but the success of your session does not rely on you duplicating the brand or quantities of materials you may need. At the start of every session, Ali always runs through the alternatives or takes questions on whether what you have is suitable. Should you wish to discuss this ahead of booking, you are more than welcome to email her without obligation.

What happens next?
As soon as your booking has been confirmed, you will be emailed a link to a web page that holds everything you need to know. Make sure you pop ali@learningtopaint.co.uk into your contacts or the email may go into your spam folder. Keep this email very safe and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to read it, well before your session, as it contains where you need to be on the day, what preparation you may need to consider and the materials that are going to be used. Should you misplace this email, we are very happy to send it again but cannot guarantee that it will arrive in time if we are only given short notice.

Will the workshop be recorded?
The Techniques & Experiments session in the morning with be recorded with photographs and uploaded to the website page where you will have found your equipment list and resources.
If you attended the Full Project session in the afternoon, as this will be a very comprehensive demonstration of how Ali tackles a painting, it will be filmed and a link to the video footage will be emailed for you to keep when Ali has had an opportunity to edit it to demonstrate all the steps that she took.

I think I might prefer a more step-by-step form of learning, do you offer this too?
Yes! You may wish to investigate Ali’s art group The All A-Board Artists as there are three levels of membership that cover a slower paced form of delivery, two pre-recorded tutorials and one live step-by-step membership. Please look for The All A-Board Artists in the menu of this website.