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Pebblewick
01326 210 448 Book a class

Learn to paint by the sea

Pebblewick is a small painting school in an old sail loft above Falmouth harbour. Watercolour, gouache and drawing for grown-ups, a Saturday art club for children, and painting weeks on the Cornish coast.

  • Paper, paints and brushes are on us
  • Eight painters to a table, never more
  • North light and a view of the boats
Book a class See the timetable
A gouache painting of Falmouth harbour at low tide, with boats on the sand and terraced cottages

Three ways to paint with us

Weekly classes

Ten Thursdays a term, morning or evening, from your first wash to your own style.

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Saturday art club

Messy, cheerful mornings for painters aged five to fifteen, in three groups by age.

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Painting weeks

Five days on the coast with an easel, a tutor and lunch in the garden.

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A school in a sail loft

The loft was built in 1880 to cut and stitch sails for the pilot cutters. It still has the long tables, the north windows and the smell of linseed.

We opened the school in 2014 with one class of six. Now about ninety people paint here every week, from a four-year-old with a fat brush to a retired harbour master working on his fortieth sky.

Nobody is graded and nobody has to be good. You come to look carefully and put down what you see.

Painters of all ages working together at a long table in a bright studio

Your first class

01

Pick a class

Choose a morning or an evening. A taster class needs no commitment to the term.

02

Come as you are

Wear something you can get paint on. We have aprons, paper and everything else.

03

Paint

Two hours with a tutor beside you, a cup of tea at half time and nothing to prove.

04

Take it home

Every painting goes home with you, finished or not. Most people are surprised.

From this term's tables

Red poppies painted in watercolour on cream paperShow the picture large
A gouache still life of lemons and a blue jugShow the picture large
Layered hills at dusk in watercolour, under an orange sunShow the picture large
The sea and a green-topped cliff painted wet in wetShow the picture large
Autumn leaves scattered across a page, painted in gouacheShow the picture large
A beginner's colour mixing chart, five colours from deep to paleShow the picture large

What painters say

MP
I had not held a brush since school. Ten Thursdays later there is a painting of the harbour on our kitchen wall and my husband thinks I bought it.
Margaret PenroseThursday morning class
TA
Our daughter talks about Saturday art club all week. She has started painting the cat, which the cat tolerates.
Tom and Kerensa HaleParents, art club
DO
A week of painting the same cove at different hours taught me more about light than twenty years of photographs.
David OkaforPainting week, June

Before your first class

Do I need to be able to draw?

No. Most people who come to us say they cannot draw. We start with looking, then with shapes of colour, and the drawing comes along with it.

What should I bring?

Nothing but yourself. Paper, paints, brushes, aprons and tea are part of the price. If you have your own paints you are welcome to bring them.

Can I join in the middle of a term?

Yes, if there is a seat. You pay for the Thursdays that are left, and a tutor spends a little longer with you on the first evening.

Is the loft easy to reach?

It is up one flight of wide stairs with a rail on both sides. Tell us if stairs are hard for you and we will meet you at the door.

Can I give a class as a present?

Yes. A gift card covers one taster class, a term or a painting week, and never runs out.

Come and paint on Thursday

A taster class is two hours, costs £28 and includes everything. There are usually two seats left.

Book a classCall the loft