Crafts@Kirkgate Harbourside Painting with Celia Burbush
20th June 2026 10:00am
Kirkgate Centre
Harbourside painting for beginners
Strictly no drawing required! Just an interest in the wistful aspects of harbours – bright bobbing boats, harbour walls stained with the tides, guls floating on the breeze, all mirrored in rippling reflections on the deep blue sea.
Using easy templates, follow Celia Burbush on a gorgeous adventure with watercolour (and a spot of gouache), brushstroke by brushstroke, layer by layer, learning as you go! It’s not quite colour by numbers, but just as fun!
Further info:
Covering some introductory exercises to build up your basic understanding of watercolour painting and the particularities of harbour life, we will move to a longer painting further in the day, following Celia’s lead. Get ready to activate the imagination, breath in that salty sea air! As with all of Celia’s workshops, the day will be gone in a flash and you’ll be surprised what you can achieve! Step by step all the way, this workshop will suit beginners upwards.
Please bring:
· Pencils
· soft eraser
· sharpener
· board to paper to (approximately 50x38cm), if you have one (Celia has plenty of spares)
· portable watercolour set, or handful of tubes – including the following colours: primary red, crimson/pink/magenta shade, blue, yellow, brown, green, ochre, violet/purple shade, or nearest equivalents.
· range of watercolour brushes
Celia will bring the watercolour paper (included in course price) and other spares of items. She will also bring additional art materials available to purchase at reduced prices. Cash/card accepted. Card payment preferred.
The day, 10am – 3.30pm, will consist of a series of very easy painting demonstrations and exercises ranging from 20 minutes to 1 hr 30 mins in length, using watercolour paints. We will begin by focusing on colour mixing and how to select an evocative colour palette for our harbour work.
Using easy templates to get us started, we will practice the themes that make harbours exciting subjects. This will include the geometric shapes and colours made by the rigging of boats and harbour walls and buildings, and their rippling reflections in water.
We’ll practice the layering of watercolour as well as more sketchy immediate approach. In the second half, Celia will guide you in making a colour selection or palette for your painting, before taking you through a step-by-step process, leading to the completion of a finished harbour painting.
Celia’s details
Insta: @celiaburbush & @space2dream
FB: https://www.facebook.com/celiaburbush777
You can ask Celia questions directly: celiaburbush@outlook.com
Originally trained as a painter, Celia works across a broad range of approaches, media and subjectmatter, including portraiture, low-relief sculpture and community art. She became C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year in 2017, won her episode in BBC’s inaugural series of ‘Home is Where the Art Is’; and received critical appraisal in Joshua Sofaer’s book ‘Performance, Objects, Participation’ (eds. Mock, R & Paterson, M, 2020, Intellect Live). Most recently, she co-created The Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art’s first remote outdoor art trail and hosted their first online symposium in 2021. She was Director of New Arts North 2009-2015, receiving many funding awards for her art projects, working with the major cultural venues. She continues to work with communities in Cumbria, helping them to further their artistic expression.