Clouds and cosmos: A mixed media summer school
- Wednesday, 17 June 2026
- Thursday, 18 June 2026
Enrol
| Standard: | £360 |
| Concessions: | £324 |
Please book a ticket to attend this course which will take place in the Roden Centre for Creative Learning.
Tickets include entry to the National Gallery. Please arrive in good time to access the building and find the event.
Bookings close 10 minutes before the event begins.
Concessions are for full-time students, jobseekers, and disabled adults.
About
Look up, slow down and turn to the sky in this two-day summer school exploring clouds, atmosphere and the cosmos in art.
Across history, artists from Giotto to Van Gogh have looked to the heavens to express the intangible, from divine presence and human emotions, to weather and the passage of time. In this hands-on course, you’ll explore how clouds and skies have functioned not simply as backgrounds, but as expressive and symbolic spaces, shaping mood, narrative and meaning.
Beginning with close looking and drawing from paintings in the National Gallery, you’ll examine how artists have constructed expressive, playful skies and celestial effects through composition, colour and gesture. Back in the Clore Art Studio, you’ll respond creatively to these works by applying watercolour paint to your drawings and experimenting with collage, allowing forms to dissolve, overlap and transform.
On the second day, the course becomes more experimental. You’ll work into your compositions using monoprinting, introducing chance, layering and repetition, pushing your imagery further away from direct reference. The summer school concludes with the creation of resolved mixed media works that bring together drawing, painting, printmaking and collage – building rich, atmospheric surfaces inspired by the sky.
This summer school is suitable for artists of all levels. All materials are provided, and your works are yours to take home. Handouts with extra resources will be provided in advance of the sessions.
Clouds and cosmos: A mixed media summer school
The first day focuses on observation and structure. Working in the Gallery, you’ll draw directly from paintings, analysing how clouds, skies and celestial effects are constructed through line, texture, colour, tonal contrast and composition.
In the studio, you’ll develop these drawings using watercolour and collage, learning how to build atmosphere through layered washes, controlled mark-making and carefully placed forms. Exercises will focus on scale, balance and surface, moving from studies to more developed compositions.
Clouds and cosmos: A mixed media summer school
On the second day, you’ll work back into your compositions using monoprinting, introducing a print-based approach to layering and repetition. You’ll learn how to use monoprinting to clarify structure, deepen textures and unify surfaces.
Combining drawing, watercolour, collage and printmaking, you’ll bring selected works to completion, producing a small body of finished mixed media pieces inspired by the sky.
Your tutor
William Goldsmith is a gallery educator, as well as an artist, author and illustrator. He has worked with The Royal Opera House, The World of Interiors, Penguin Random House and The New York Times, and recently as an artist-in-residence at the Archivio Luigi Pericle in Ascona, Switzerland.