Room With a View with Kate Nielson / 1 Day Workshop

Suitable for all levels

This workshop explores the dynamic relationship between interior and exterior space in painting. Participants will create paintings that look outward from an interior setting — incorporating windows, doorways, and glimpses of the outside world.

Drawing inspiration from artists such as Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, and Édouard Vuillard, the workshop examines how painters blur the boundary between interior space and landscape. Participants will explore how light, colour, pattern, and perspective can connect inside and outside environments within a single composition.

Special focus will be placed on:

• Framing the outside world through windows or openings
• Balancing interior space with exterior views
• Using pattern and decorative surfaces within rooms
• Exploring colour relationships between interior and landscape
• Experimenting with flattened space and shifting perspectives

Participants will begin with drawing and compositional studies before developing a larger painting that integrates interior space with a view beyond.

Workshop Structure (6 Hours)

Introduction & Artist Context (45 minutes)

• Looking at paintings by Matisse, Bonnard, and Vuillard
• Discussion of interiors with windows and layered space
• How artists connect interior pattern with exterior landscape

Observational Studies (1 hour)

• Quick sketches exploring window views and framing devices
• Looking at how interior objects interact with outside space

Planning the Painting (1 hour)

• Developing a composition combining interior and exterior elements
• Considering colour relationships and spatial balance

Painting Session (2.5 hours)

• Creating a resolved painting
• Individual guidance on composition, colour, and structure

Break & Discussion (30 minutes)

Final Development & Reflection (45 minutes)

• Refining paintings
• Group discussion about spatial decisions and painting strategies

Materials

Participants may work in oil or acrylic painting.
Still life objects and interior setups will be provided.

• Paints either acrylic or oil
• Brushes
• Large Canvas sized between 60 x 60 and 120 x 120cm
• Sketch pad
• Either pencil and/or charcoal
• Rags/apron

Terms and conditions

Please choose carefully as fees are non-refundable. Refunds of course fees will only be given if the course is cancelled or a place is not available in the course. Payment of course fees implies that you have read and agree to the WAC Terms & Conditions which are available online.