Paint Along Day Workshops

Spend the whole day with Ali & expand your skills

What could be better than treating yourself to an entire day working on a project alongside Ali’s expert tuition and positive guidance? With over thirty years experience of planning and delivery, Ali injects each of her day workshops with skills that can be used in every creative project you tackle, plus a relaxed and informal teaching style aimed at encouraging you to find your own way through a painting making you a more self sufficient artist in the future.

Geography needn’t be an issue as the workshops below are designed to be delivered in person AND live online, benefitting from advances in technology via the Zoom platform and Ali’s skills in distance education. Tune in from the comfort of your own home, with all your materials around you and make as much mess as you would like, all you will need is a charged tablet or laptop/desktop (not a smartphone, you won’t be able to see clearly enough) and a fairly strong internet connection. You won’t need any advanced tech skills, Ali will be in charge of that aspect and will help wherever she can. If you would like to join Ali at her studio, you just need to reserve a place at no extra cost.

How does a ‘Paint Along’ workshop work?

You can choose to spend the morning, the afternoon or all day with Ali, exploring the subject and techniques that she has carefully planned for you.

Here is a little more information that describes the difference between the sessions:

10:00 - 13:00 (GMT):Techniques & Experiments
The morning session will concentrate on an introduction to the materials and better understanding how they work to create marks and textures on your surface. You will be encouraged to explore how to prepare a project based on multiple points of reference and how to interpret the subject through sketches and experiments. These may include creating colour swatches, texture samples, thumbnails, pastiches or even a first draft of a painting, ready for you to tackle larger projects with more confidence.

13:00 - 14:00: A lunch break/preparation for the afternoon session (if attending)

14:00 - 17:00 (GMT): Full Project
Ali will guide you through a whole project from start to finish using a style of teaching called ‘Paint Along’ meaning that she will not be stopping and starting, but progressing through her own version of the piece making suggestions for how you might like to tackle your own version of the subject. She will pause for a short time mid afternoon to allow you the opportunity to catch up and will reach a conclusion with her own piece approximately 30 mins to an hour before the end of the session to help you individually.

A Paint Along workshop is fast paced but highly creative and experimental, equipping you with a wealth of techniques and very individual creations to take forward into your own interpretations.

Secretary Bird in Gouache & Pastel

Saturday 20th September 2025

If you ever get the chance to see a Secretary Bird in person, Ali suggests you grab the chance! On a couple of occasions she has seen them and was astounded by their majesty and movement.

In this workshop you will spend the morning experimenting with techniques for combining two unusual media but learning from Ali as they are one of her favourite combinations to describe animals and birds. Get a better understanding of how to apply layers of underpainted gouache on a surface that you might not expect would be good for painting and then layer the pastel over the top for depth and drama.

In the afternoon you will tackle this incredible bird, capturing their strong features and discovering ways of creating a portrait that you will be able to apply to future projects.

from £38.00

Weathered Waves in Watercolour & Acrylic Ink

Saturday 18th October 2025

If you’ve ever walked past an old boat slowly rusting at the water’s edge, you’ll know the pull of its textures and colours—Ali certainly does, and she’s returned to the subject many times. In this workshop you’ll spend the morning exploring ways to combine the subtlety of watercolour with the fluid intensity of acrylic ink, guided by Ali’s approach to layering and mark-making to suggest age, salt, and time. Discover how different surfaces and water ratios can transform the way you depict decay, patina, and reflection.

In the afternoon, you’ll bring these techniques together to tackle a beautifully weathered boat, learning how to balance structure with suggestion. By the end of the session, you’ll have not only a richly atmospheric painting but also a deeper confidence in blending media to evoke mood and memory in your work.

from £38.00

Water Lilies in Chalk Pastel

Saturday 1st November 2025

There’s something timeless about the quiet beauty of lilies drifting across still water—subtle, shifting, and full of painterly potential. In this workshop, Ali will lead you through a morning of focused exploration with chalk pastels, sharing some of her favourite ways to build rich, velvety layers and create softness without losing clarity. You’ll explore how to suggest movement in water, capture light with minimal strokes, and make the most of this expressive medium on textured surfaces.

In the afternoon, you’ll bring those techniques into a finished piece inspired by water lilies—looking at shape, colour harmony, and how to create depth without overworking. The session offers the chance to loosen your approach and build confidence with chalk pastel, leaving you with both a finished artwork and a fresh set of tools to use in your future practice.

from £38.00

Garden Birds in 30 minutes(ish), with watercolour and ink

Saturday 13th December 2025

Capturing a fleeting moment with just a few well-placed strokes can be one of the most rewarding challenges in painting. In this workshop, you’ll begin the day by exploring how to work quickly and impressionistically—learning to let go of precision and embrace suggestion, movement, and energy. Ali will guide you through warm-up exercises and mark-making techniques designed to loosen your style and build confidence with bold, intuitive choices.

In the afternoon, you’ll turn your focus to a selection of garden birds—using the skills from the morning to bring character and life to your subject without getting caught in detail. You’ll look at shape, gesture, and colour to find that perfect balance between spontaneity and clarity. By the end of the session, you’ll have a finished piece (or pieces!) full of charm and vitality, as well as a renewed sense of freedom in your painting process.

from £38.00
Book a place at Downend Farm Studio
£0.00

If you are local to Ali or fancy a trip to Dorset and would like to attend her tuition in person at her studio, book a place at no extra cost. Please read the specific section of the Ts and Cs before booking.

Questions you may have…

How do I book?
Using the details above, add the workshops of your choice to your cart and pay for them on the checkout page.

What do I need to do to attend in person?
When you have booked and paid for your choice of workshop, return to this page and reserve a space by using the relevant section just above this text. You will need to go through the checkout procedure but at no extra cost to you, it’s just so we both have a record of your intended attendance in person.

I’d like to discuss what will be covered during the workshop - what can I do?
You are very welcome to contact Ali ahead of booking without any obligation. The photographs you see in the description will be the type of resources we will work from and if you would like to see the style of Ali’s painting, please browse the gallery section of this website to see how she interprets a subject. Ali does not prescriptively paint a sample piece ahead of the workshop so that you can see her overcome the same creative issues that you may be experiencing in real time. This helps to keep her work fresh and spontanious.

What materials will I need?
When your booking is confirmed (see below) you will be able to access a full equipment list so that you have plenty of time to prepare before the session. Ali recommends certain products but the success of your session does not rely on you duplicating the brand or quantities of materials you may need. At the start of every session, Ali always runs through the alternatives or takes questions on whether what you have is suitable. Should you wish to discuss this ahead of booking, you are more than welcome to email her without obligation.

What happens next?
As soon as your booking has been confirmed, you will be automatically sent an email that holds everything you need to know. Make sure you pop ali@learningtopaint.co.uk into your contacts or the email may go into your spam folder. Keep this email very safe and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to read it, well before your session, as it contains where you need to be on the day, what preparation you may need to consider and the materials that are going to be used. Should you misplace this email, we are very happy to send it again but cannot guarantee that it will arrive in time if we are only given short notice.

Will the workshop be recorded?
The Techniques & Experiments session in the morning with be recorded with photographs and sent to you in a follow-up email after the session.
If you attended the Full Project session in the afternoon, as this will be a very comprehensive demonstration of how Ali tackles a painting, it will be filmed and a link to the video footage will be included in the follow-up email for you to keep when Ali has had an opportunity to edit it to demonstrate all the steps that she took.

I think I might prefer a more step-by-step form of learning, do you offer this too?
Yes! You may wish to investigate Ali’s art group The All A-Board Artists as there are four levels of membership that cover a slower paced form of delivery, two pre-recorded tutorials and two live step-by-step workshops. Please look for The All A-Board Artists in the menu of this website.