Concertina Treescapes with Shona Macdonald

Shona Macdonald is leading a workshop at Worthing Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 27 February, starting at 10:30am. The session is called Concertina Treescapes, and the focus is on creating 3D forest and mountain landscapes using wet-on-wet ink techniques. If you've ever worked with ink, you'll know that wet-on-wet is all about how the ink spreads and bleeds into damp paper, which is exactly what Macdonald uses here to build depth and texture. The 'concertina' part of the title refers to the way the final piece is folded, so instead of a flat painting, you end up with a landscape that stands up on its own.

Working with ink in this way lets you build up layers of distance — the soft, hazy shapes of far-off mountains in the background, and the sharper, darker detail of trees and foliage in the foreground. Because it's a 3D form, the landscape doesn't just sit on the page; it takes up space, and you can look at it from different angles. It's a good way to get a feel for how to create a sense of scale and atmosphere with a single medium.

Macdonald runs the whole thing, so you'll be working under her guidance throughout the morning. It's a hands-on session, and you'll leave with your own finished piece. The workshop runs from 10:30am on Saturday 27 February at the Museum & Art Gallery in Worthing, and tickets start from £38.25, with a £0.75 transaction fee on top.