Lemons in silk and stitch
Embroidery summer school
- Monday, 29 June 2026
- Tuesday, 30 June 2026
- Wednesday, 1 July 2026
Enrol
| Standard: | £540 |
| Concessions: | £486 |
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
Explore still life through silk painting and couture embroidery in this three-day summer school inspired by Juan de Zurbarán’s luminous depictions of lemons.
In collaboration with the Royal School of Needlework, this three-day summer school brings together silk painting and hand embroidery. Led by embroidery and textile artists Lucy Martin and Charlotte Gaunt, the course takes Juan de Zurbarán’s Still Life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket as its starting point, drawing on the painting’s motifs and forms while reinterpreting them through contemporary hand embroidery.
Juan de Zurbarán and his father Francisco de Zurbarán’s still-life paintings transform humble objects into powerful presences through careful composition, light and surface. In this course, you’ll respond to these qualities through a layered process that moves between paint and stitch, developing richly worked textile pieces. Beginning with silk painting, you’ll explore colour, form and flow directly onto fabric before building depth and structure through couture embroidery techniques, working with silk and metal threads.
Across the three days, you’ll learn how painted marks can guide stitched responses, how embroidery can enhance and interrupt colour, and how traditional techniques can be reimagined in a contemporary context. Working on a couture slate frame using couture methods, you’ll be supported to develop a personal interpretation of Zurbarán’s painting - translating lemons, baskets and surfaces into tactile, luminous works of textile art. Sessions will be enhanced with visits to the Zurbarán exhibition and Gallery rooms with art historians to learn more about both Zurbarán’s paintings and the expressive power of paint and embroidery historical.
This summer school is suitable for artists of all levels. All materials are provided, and your works are yours to take home. A handout with extra resources will be provided in advance of the sessions.
Embroidery summer school
The course begins with a demonstration of how to frame up or ‘dress’ a couture slate frame using the Parisian method. You will learn how to attach fabric to the frame using ribbons to achieve even tension.
You will then be introduced to silk painting, spending time becoming familiar with the technique and applying paint in a free-flowing, expressive way. Working from the original painting, you will explore colour and form while developing your own interpretation. The initial painted surface will move freely across the fabric and will later be enhanced with stitched detail. Your work will be left to dry overnight, ready for embroidery on day 2.
Embroidery summer school
Working on a silk painted ground, you will explore how to respond to the marks made on the fabric during day 1. Using a combination of silk and metal threads, you will be encouraged to work expressively, combining textures and material qualities to create a richly textural surface.
Techniques taught will range from stitches rooted in Jacobean crewelwork through to contemporary 21st-century goldwork, creating a harmonious balance between traditional and modern approaches.
In the second part of the day, you will return to silk painting, adding further layers of paint to build surface texture and enhance your embroidery.
Embroidery summer school
Working onto the fully dried and detailed painted ground, you will continue developing your embroidery, exploring a wider range of techniques and materials. You will have freedom of choice in both materials and placement, allowing you to refine your own interpretation of the piece.
Finally, you will learn how to safely remove your work from the slate frame and take home your own Zurbarán-inspired couture embroidery.
About the Royal School of Needlework & your tutors
The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is widely recognised as the leading centre for the art of hand embroidery. Based at the historic Hampton Court Palace, the RSN has been dedicated to preserving and innovating this remarkable craft since 1872.
Your tutors for this course are Lucy Martin and Charlotte Gaunt. Lucy Martin is Head of Contemporary Programmes at the Royal School of Needlework and is classically trained in the art of hand embroidery. Charlotte Gaunt is an interior artist whose work spans surface embellishment, print design and painting, offering a beautifully complementary approach to couture hand embroidery.
Lucy and Charlotte have collaborated on a number of courses and are delighted to bring this shared practice and creative dialogue to the National Gallery.