Location course · £49
Mousehole Harbour
An ancient Cornish fishing harbour the Spanish once tried to burn to the ground. Six centuries of patched granite, tidal water, and a village that still celebrates the night it was saved.
About this course
Why Mousehole looks impossible, and isn't
Mousehole is the kind of place that stops you mid-step. The ancient harbour walls are irregular, built and rebuilt from different stone across different centuries. The water shifts between blue, green and grey with the tide and the light. The granite cottages are piled up the hillside behind the quay, each one at a slightly different angle.
Here's what beginners don't realise: all of that irregularity is your friend. When a scene is this layered, there's no single correct version of it. Your palette choices, the way your brush moves, the slight uncertainty in your line aren't mistakes. They're the painting finding its own truth. The four-stage process gives you the structure to respond to it confidently.
Read more about the four stages →This course is for you if:
- You've completed Beddgelert Bridge, or already know the four-stage sequence.
- You want to try a scene with more going on: water, reflections, a hillside of buildings.
- You're ready to treat irregularity as a feature, not a problem to fix.
Curriculum
Seven lessons, the same four stages.
From first materials to the finished reveal, built the long way round.
Setting up and blocking in
- 1Materials & Setup
- 2Big Shapes
Colour across a complex scene
- 3Watercolour
Weight and depth in the stonework
- 4Tone & Shade
Storytelling, hatching, negative space
- 5Detail 1: Storytelling
- 6Detail 2: Hatching & Texture
- 7Negative Space & Final Reveal
Who this course is for
Beginners welcome, no experience required.
This course is for anyone who's always wanted to paint but hasn't known where to start. You don't need prior experience or an expensive set of materials. Just curiosity, a willingness to give it a go, and a subject worth spending time with.
By the end you'll have a finished painting, made in your own way, and a four-stage method you can carry to any scene you encounter.
Browse other location courses →Mousehole Harbour
£49one-time
- 7 video lessons across all four stages
- Reference photographs included
- Lifetime access, learn at your own pace
- Works on any device
Lifetime access · One-time payment
Questions about this course
Who is the Mousehole Harbour course for?
It follows on from my free Beddgelert Bridge course, so it suits anyone who already knows the four-stage sequence: big shapes, watercolour, tone and shade, detail. If you have not done Beddgelert Bridge you can still start here, as long as you are comfortable with those four stages.
What will I paint?
Mousehole's granite harbour in Cornwall: patched harbour walls, tidal water, reflections and a hillside of cottages, built stage by stage from my reference photographs.
How do the lessons work?
There are 7 video lessons across the four stages, in a fixed order because each stage depends on the one before. You work at your own pace and the course works on any device.
What do I need to paint along?
Lesson 1 is Materials & Setup, so you can see exactly what to gather before you start painting.
Is it a subscription, and how long do I have access?
No. It is one payment of £49 and you keep lifetime access, so you can come back to any stage whenever you need a refresher.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, within 14 days of purchase, as long as you have not gone beyond the introduction or first lesson, because by then you have received the digital content. Email mike@artyfactor.com with the course name and the email you enrolled with. The full wording is in the Refund and returns policy.
How do I pay, and is it safe?
Checkout is handled by Stripe. Your card details go straight into Stripe's secure form, so I never see or store your card number.