painting
abstract landscapes
exploring colour, shape and mood of Spanish landscapes
14-21 OCTOBER 2025
TUTOR: JO HATHAWAY
This painting course will help participants to consider landscape in all its colours, shapes, and moods, and the impact it has on them; and then to make paintings that represent and express it and themselves, rather than purely attempting to recreate it.
The aim is to help you free up your practice and inspire joy and confidence in your sketches, colour choices and mark making, so that you can achieve really vibrant work.
The course considers:
what we mean by the terms ‘abstract’, ‘expressive’ and ‘realistic’
how we qualify whether abstract work, works
where to start, and how?
the elements of abstract painting – line, form, light, space, composition, balance, painting style, approach, and colour
how to work with and mix colour in acrylic paint
how we apply abstract concepts to landscape painting
how to free your practice and paint landscape in a freer, expressive and more abstract style
how to work water-based paint to reveal all its textural and abstract qualities – from washes and glazes to thick, oil-like pastes
how to use different tools and techniques to develop and communicate abstract landscapes.
Using water-based paints, mostly acrylic, participants will:
review and discuss a range of contemporary and traditional landscape painting to think about what appeals and impacts them
learn how to sketch landscape in an abstract way
undertake short and longer, guided and free exercises and experiments in collage, pencil, watercolour and acrylic paint to have fun and free their practice
produce informed abstract work of a high quality that sits in the liminal space between real and purely abstract.
The rich colours and the beautiful light of southern Spain in September provide a superb natural palette for self-expression and emotion through art. Working in watercolour and acrylic paint enables students to create finished work quickly, bringing a vitality to their work.
The course is suitable for everyone, including complete beginners.
ABOUT THE TUTOR
JO HATHAWWAY
Jo is a Brighton-based painter and illustrator. Her work focuses on using colour to express memory and landscape, and is inspired by poetry and prose. Her work spans the spectrum of abstract, expressive landscape, balancing imagination and memoir. She also paints interior landscapes.
Jo studied art and illustration at Warwickshire College and graduated in 1990. She has worked professionally as an artist, and published as an illustrator ever since, for many years in parallel with her work as an editor and writer.
Jo exhibits widely across her home county of Sussex, is a regular at Brighton Festival’s open houses, and has also shown in London, Edinburgh, Co. Clare, Paris and Indiana. Later this year, she will be joining a group show in Vienna.
In 2025, Jo will be exhibiting:
FEBRUARY: a solo show of smaller works at the Starling Studio Gallery, Brighton, ‘Now For Something Completely Different’
MARCH: ‘Down To The Bone II’, a group show at The Grange Museum, Rottingdean, Sussex
APRIL: solo show at Mangetout in Brighton, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’
MAY: taking part in Brighton Festival open house
SEPTEMBER: part of a group show in Vienna, Austria, ‘Pink Panther’
NOVEMBER: three-artist show at the Regency House, Brighton – a painter, a papercut artist and an upholsterer
DECEMBER: a solo show in Killaloe, Co. Clare, 'Community'
She is currently curating a large-scale group show set to launch in London in 2026, ‘Fierce’, which will feature the work of a diverse group of women artists and makers.
Jo continues to teach art to both adults and children in the UK and Europe.
Her work is shown and sold directly, through fairs, festivals, and independent gallery exhibitions. She also teaches children and adults' workshops.
Jo has a CTESOL teaching qualification, an English degree from Bristol University, and a Masters in Social Studies from Kings College London.
COSTS
Price per person €1,950 for the 7 nights
A maximum of 5 participating places available on this course.
Partners, friends and family who wish to take part in the course are welcome, on the basis that they will share a twin room. Price is €1,550 per additional person.
WHAT IS INCLUDED?
Full-board accommodation in private ensuite twin bedroom
5 days’ tuition (average 4 hours per day)
A tapas dinner in Granada city
Castle and excursion to local viewpoints
An exhibition of work for the village
Transfers to and from Granada Airport/Bus station
WHAT’S not INCLUDED?
Flights
Alhambra tickets
Transfers to and from Malaga Airport
accommodation
Accommodation is on a full-board basis in a charming rural hotel located in the very historic village of Moclín, about 35 minutes’ drive from Granada city and airport. Guests will have private twin ensuite bedrooms (you will never be asked to share a room), all of which are spacious and very traditionally Andalucian in style. All classes will be held in the large studios in the hotel, and there will be plenty of opportunity to get out and explore the glorious surrounding countryside. The property, which is exclusively ours for the week, is arranged around a central open courtyard, has a roof terrace and is right on the edge of the village with panoramic views over the surrounding landscape.
TRANSPORT INFO
FLIGHTS
The nearest airport is Federico García Lorca Granada-Jaén Airport (GRX).
Vueling (part of IAG) flies direct routes from London Gatwick Airport to Granada.
British Airways, Jet2, EasyJet and Ryanair are just a few of the airlines that offer regular direct flights from the UK to Málaga.
A list of airlines operating at Málaga Airport (AGP) can be seen on the airport website.
BUS
The bus service in Spain is very efficient and highly recommended. There are many buses direct from Malaga airport to Granada and we will collect you from there. Book through the ALSA website
CAR
If you would like to make your own way to Moclín, we can provide directions and there is lots of free parking at the venue
For more information please contact us