Learn the alchemy and processes involved in making your own set of watercolour and gouache paints. The roots, berries and minerals that we will be precipitating, grinding and binding, all have layered correspondences that link to the planetary archetypes.
Using compasses and straight-edge we will create mandalas that also resonate with the planetary patterns.
The symbolism and character of colour in different traditions will be explored as we apply our paints to patterns to reveal works of dazzling beauty to adorn the home and nourish the soul.
Cancellation and a full refund can be obtained up to 2 weeks before the course starts. Start dates may be amended on request.
All materials included.
{At the end of the course you'll be taking home your own set of handmade mineral and plant paints and inks + a stunning portfolio of patterns/mandalas.}
Local organic cooked lunches and accommodation can be booked directly with Emerson College - please get in touch for more details.
5 days (10:00am to 5:00pm)
This craft course provider has been awarded Platinum status for receiving 50 or more 5 star ratings from previous students.
The Students' Choice award ensures that course providers get recognised for their efforts in the teaching and practice of UK craft.
They also allow tutors to gain valuable feedback on their courses and for new students to find the course that's right for them.
I loved this course!
The tempo was good and there was a good balance between pigment and pattern.
The teaching comes from deep wisdom and knowledge.
SAOG Studios is 360 degree impressions of beauty and mystic knowledge - very stimulating.
You create a soft atmosphere and are very good listeners and teachers.
A great week that brought many elements of life into one.
It has been such an amazing week! I have learnt so many things about colour and the alchemical process.
I so enjoyed the geometry meditations at the beginning of each day. Both Daniel and David added intriguing stories, poems and information that made the course so unique. I'd recommend to anyone!
Deep gratitude to you all for your wisdom teachings and the detailed hands on application of them. Your teachings all came from a place of immense generosity, deep understanding and love. Thank you.
The weeks unfolding of the philosophy of craft traditions, the relationship of minerals and colours with the planets, together with sacred geometry patterns and how they all connect was opening for the mind and consciousness. The physical action of touching, washing, grinding minerals, plants & beetles, plus the dramatic chemical reactions, grounded the knowledge in the body and crates a relationship for me with all the materials and tools we used. The making and using of the paints on the sacred patterns was a heart opening meditation that connected all parts of this incredible week - thank you so so much. Thank you also for making space for Darren’s water talk, which was also illuminating, plus the daily poems and prayers which helped set the intention of the room.
I wanted to share these words I was inspired to put on social media with some photos after the course
“Wild crafting our materials ( both traditional craft arts & healing arts) and connecting our creativity to a specific place on the earth - making relationship with those plants, earth, rocks and minerals and their connections to the planets/ cosmos is all of our birth right, no matter which continent we live on, or who are ancestors are - it is the medicine to antidote the industrialisation and commodification of our world and Re Member our interconnections.”
On returning to London ... I felt similar to how it feels when coming back from a meditation or spiritual retreat...only better as now I have some beautiful colours to mark and remember the journey :)
I hope to be able to take more workshops with you all ...
Thank you again, and warmest regards to you all and your families during this beautiful dark time of year and the rebirth of the seed of light,
Thank you so much for last week's course, a truly wonderful weeks journey of shared knowledge and wisdom. The space was held gently and openly as we co-created our pigments and paint and put compass to paper. I feel re-enlivened to colour and to art.
Every time I stir my morning coffee I am reminded - clockwise, clockwise!
Thank you so much for last week's course, a truly wonderful weeks journey of shared knowledge and wisdom. The space was held gently and openly as we co-created our pigments and paint and put compass to paper. I feel re-enlivened to colour and to art.
Every time I stir my morning coffee I am reminded - clockwise, clockwise!
This course has been amazing in the depth and breadth of knowledge and practice. The pace, mood and tone was perfect and so enjoyable.I came primarily out of an interest in creating my own paints and exploring pattern, but was blown away by how all this has been rooted in the cosmos and philosophy of a much deeper spiritual exploration (which, as serendipity would have it, is also exactly what I had been looking for in my own art practice) ...
I'm interested in all the SAOG courses. I want to do them all!
I found this course to be a very fulfilling. It was very rich. I love the mix of different practices, and the combination with geometry. I also enjoyed the mix of teachers. I always enjoy the mix with philosophy and poetry. I prefer this to some teachers who are primarily technicians and not connected to the soul of this practice ... There are lots of other SAOG courses that interest me! I'd love to do the one on labyrinths, and more on Moroccan and Persian Pattern.
I enjoyed the course so much, it was full of joy, learning, fun, thoughts. The variety of experiences and lessons were just amazing ... your hospitality and kindness was remarkable. I feel like home, the studio is full of positive energy, I didn't feel how time passed by, if I didn't need to go to sleep, I would have spent 24/7 there!!!
The course was simply amazing! I have tears of gratitude just thinking about all I have learned in only five days: meaning, beauty, open-heartedness, sacred act of creation, connection to all that is. I loved the balance of geometry/pattern and pigment making.Learning from Daniel, Vija, Hana and Adam was incredible. Masters in their fields. They openly share their knowledge and craftsmanship with the group.I learned more in five days than in three years of art at university! It is real, connected, practical, loved, and invokes the spirit of curiosity and fuels inspiration. Magical.
Daniel was so kind in letting us use his studio, stay later, which was brilliant.
I'd definitely like to attend more courses at SAOG Studios ...
I wanted to write to you both following my weeks course with you doing the "Alchemy of Pigment and pattern' ... I wanted to express to you how truly inspiring I thought it was.
Through my work as an artist, a designer, and previously as a teacher of art and artistic therapy, I am very much interested in the processes of alchemy and inner transformation through imagination and artistic work with a connection to nature. However, I have experienced a very long period of disillusionment and creative lostness. Your course has helped me to regain a depth of meaning, enthusiasm and direction. As teachers you both have a combination of talent, modesty and authenticity for which I am most grateful, as well as a relaxed environment in your studio full of books, learning , good conversation and creativity. I felt so at home and have left with a huge book list and bags of inspiration.
I feel that you have helped me to re-connect with all that is important to me and I wanted to express my gratitude to you both for a most excellent week. I hope that in the future I will be able to attend more of your courses ...
This has been the most amazing week ... magical is not a helpful adjective, but how else can one express the quality of a time that expands and contracts in such a delicate and organic, comfortable and respectful way? A place in which the flow of the day can fit inspiring thoughts and practical learning with such truth and beauty? Where one learns so much from lines, forms and inner alignment? Gratitude and Abundance is what I take with me from these days and I'm sure my learning will follow for many weeks to come. Thank you for such a nurturing and vital experience. I bow to you for you are true masters!
I feel inspired, overwhelmed, excited ... A wonderful therapeutic week, so much knowledge and new stuff and an array of beautiful colours. Thank you Daniel and David.
"Fantastic amazing course in all ways ... engaging, interesting, fun, friendly ... I learnt an incredible amount. Great depth. I feel inspired to paint and draw after so many years as well as to make more paints." M. Mayne (Nov. 2016)
Wonderful week of exploring ancient techniques and creating from the earth. Loved exploring the planetary connections through the patterns and colours. I came away with a freshly discovered love of compass and ruler - a huge change from my recent work!
Absolutely delighted with the experience and the results. So looking forward to joining more courses with Daniel and the Sacred Art of Geometry.
great, maybe could have got a bit more covered/done - starting times stretched somewhat, but then again that is part of the charm!
Daniel was an excellent host, very generous providing coffee and healthy nibbles.
lovely location.
great to get back to the 'old way' of doing things i.e properly.