The Winter Intensive.
Find your creative rhythm. Grow your artistic practice, together.

The Winter Intensive is a 16-week online art course that brings rhythm, direction, depth and community to your creative practice. Develop your personal style, create a new series of new work and present it during our group exhibition in Rotterdam.

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About the Winter Intensive

The Winter Intensive is a 16-week online art course for intermediate and advanced makers who want to bring rhythm, direction and growth to their creative practice. It’s a place to create space for art alongside daily life, with the structure, guidance and community support to help you keep showing up and creating.

Over the course of the programme, you’ll discover what drives you creatively, develop and deepen your personal style and turn that exploration into a series of new work. Through visual research, experimentation and storytelling, you’ll strengthen your creative process alongside a close-knit international community of fellow students. Live online classes offer support, fresh perspectives and meaningful exchange to keep you experimenting and moving forward throughout the darker months.

As winter draws to a close, the Winter Intensive concludes with the option to join our group exhibition in Rotterdam, where participants come together to present their work to one another and the public. The Winter Intensive is a yearly programme that has been running since 2021.

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Group of women gathered around a table, closely examining a framed drawing of a person with long hair.

Course Details

• Starts: Wednesday 18 November 2026 - March 13th 2027
• Tuition - €560 (incl. 21% VAT)
• 15 classes + 1 in-person exhibition day & artist talk
• 20:00–22:15 CET
• Location - Zoom
• Ends: Wednesday 13 March 2026
• Group Exhibition: Saturday 13th of March in Rotterdam
• Two-week break over Christmas & New Year
• Classes each Wednesday
• Language - English (Dutch translation available)
• Level - Intermediate to advanced practice, all media, varying technical levels: if this course speaks to you and you desire to create a practice of your own, then you are very welcome.
• Class Size - min 15 students, max 25 students 

People looking at colorful drawings and artwork laid out on the floor in an indoor setting.

What you’ll learn

• How to create a series of artwork
• How to go from inspiration to finished artwork
• How to conduct visual research
• Moodboarding & mind mapping
• Personal style development
• Classical drawing techniques
• Storytelling skills
• Compositions & archetypes
• Presentation & framing
• How to position your work (online & offline)
• How to discuss your work and process within a group

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What’s included

• Live, interactive classes & group discussions
• Personal creative coaching, in-class
• Immersive and inspiring assignments
• Group Exhibition in Rotterdam (optional)
• Class recordings; exclusive to students
• WhatsApp group for sharing & connecting
• Access to Pinterest boards and playlists
• Basic materials list provided (materials depend on your chosen medium)
• Extra technique assignments on request

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A woman with brown, wavy hair smiling at the camera in a room filled with people. She is wearing a gray shirt with a gold chain pattern, gray jeans, and holding a leash. In the background, there are several people, some with curly hair, a man with a beard, a woman in a yellow sweater, and a woman with dark hair. There are also large potted plants and a railing in the room.

Course Modules

  • A person's hands holding a crumpled black-and-white photograph of a nude woman with short, dark hair, and a potted plant graphic visible on the photo. In the background are colorful artwork and various printed images.

    1. Assignments & Visual Research

    Six weeks — overlapping

    We begin with a series of inspiring assignments designed to ease you into a creative rhythm and bring you closer to what motivates and inspires you artistically.

    From there, we move into visual research. Using techniques such as mind mapping, moodboarding, journalling and sketchbooking, you’ll tap into your creative subconscious and uncover the themes, ideas and visual direction you want to investigate throughout the course.

  • Person holding an open book with colorful, abstract illustrations of trees and a building, inside a room with large windows showing cars outside.

    2. Material Testing

    Four weeks — overlapping

    During this phase, you’ll experiment with your chosen materials and explore how composition, style, texture and technique can work together to convey the story and visual language of your new series.

    Material testing creates an important space between idea and execution: a chance to try different approaches, follow unexpected discoveries and refine what works before committing to finished pieces. It allows you to accelerate your creative practice through playful experimentation, without the weight of performance anxiety.

  • Group of women standing around a collection of large, vibrant art prints laid out on the floor in an indoor space with a staircase in the background.

    3. Creating a Series

    Six weeks — overlapping

    After exploring what motivates you artistically and developing your personal style, it’s time to gradually begin creating your final pieces.

    Material testing and finished work naturally flow into one another, with each experiment offering new possibilities as your creative practice gains momentum. Over these six weeks, you’ll develop a coherent and complementary body of work that brings your ideas together and reflects both your personal style and creative progress.

  • Two women stand facing a white wall in an art gallery, looking at a rectangular dark-colored artwork. One woman wears a floral jumpsuit and mustard sneakers, the other wears a patterned blouse under a red overall and black boots. There are small photographs and illustrations pinned to the wall beside them.

    4. Presetation & Exhibition

    Four weeks — overlapping

    Presentation is the final, essential step in completing a piece or series. By experimenting with framing, hanging and other forms of presentation, you’ll learn how to take your work beyond the sketch stage and turn it into a finished, elevated artwork that is ready to be shared—and, where relevant, sold.

    The course comes to a close with an in-person group exhibition in Rotterdam. Students are invited to come together, discuss their creative process and share their sketches, experiments and finished pieces with one another and the public. Participation in the exhibition is optional, but highly recommended as a valuable artistic experience and celebratory close to the Winter Intensive as spring begins.

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How we teach

The Winter Intensive is a live, social online course centred on creative community, group discussions, and individual feedback on your work. Classes are taught on Zoom, and all students are encouraged to have their cameras on to promote interaction and community. The atmosphere in class is open and social, alternating between moments of working on your own practice and discussing work. Ailisha Shannon guides the class, ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to discuss their work and receive the individual feedback they need to take the next steps. The course welcomes people from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. We aim to create a warm, comfortable environment that is particularly supportive of neurodivergent and chronically ill participants, as well as those who are naturally introverted.

  • During classes, students are encouraged to share their work and progress with the group by taking pictures and posting them in the class WhatsApp group. As students begin to share more of their creative process, inspiration and progress with one another, this group chat becomes an integral and supportive part of the class community, both during and outside class. It creates a space where students can connect, share in real time and support one another’s creative processes. Participation outside class is entirely voluntary, and the chat can be muted without students missing anything essential to the course.

  • The Winter Intensive focuses on building a strong and inspired artistic practice of your own. Although the course initially starts with a series of class assignments, this is not a step-by-step course in which everyone completes the same assignments. After the first module, you will begin developing and directing your own work, supported by personal feedback, practical tools and guidance from Ailisha Shannon.

    The Winter Intensive is a warm and supportive space that helps you find the courage and motivation needed to build your own practice. You won’t be left to figure things out alone. The course provides structure, thoughtful feedback and a supportive creative community, while allowing you to make work that reflects your own interests, questions and ambitions in a medium of your choice. Active participation, curiosity and a willingness to experiment are central to the programme.

  • Students are encouraged to spend an average of four hours per week on their creative practice in addition to attending classes. This time commitment will naturally vary from week to week. However, some creative time outside class is necessary to gain the full benefit of the course. Classes are best viewed as opportunities to discuss, reflect on and receive feedback on work produced predominantly outside class.

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A group of twelve diverse people standing behind an art display table, which holds colorful drawings and sketches, in an indoor setting with white curtains and a large leaf plant in the background.

Testimonials

  • “This class gave me strength and an understanding of the nature of art.

    It helped me believe that I am capable of developing my own unique artistic voice. Ailisha helped me understand that creating art is not a mysterious practice for the chosen few, but a skill that can be developed, and even behind the most successful art careers lie long hours of practice. She gave me the skills to trust that if I keep going, I will become the maker I want to be.

    This course gave me an artistic community and helped me learn the techniques I needed, as well as the process behind creating a piece of art. Most importantly, it gave me the right mindset to make art. Ailisha is a talented artist/art mentor who sees you as a person and will find the right way to set you on your own artistic path and keep you on it, in a way that will bring you joy and satisfaction”

    — Gérgo

  • “The (many) classes I’ve taken with Ailisha have all shaped how I work.

    The ‘winter intensive course’ in particular gave me a way to create little collections that feel more “my own” than artwork I’d done previously. Coming up with concepts and themes and moodboards, taking my own reference images, using film - these are all things I’ve taken forward after the class to have a more structured creative process. It was also great having a group of people to work with consistently over time, and to watch each other grow.”

    — Molly

  • “The Winter Intensive is a great way for me to get my creativity flowing.

    Through group and personal assignments, I learned more about my own style and direction, and Ailisha challenged me to go deeper into why I am making what I am making.

    The atmosphere in the online class is great! It is a safe space to share creative work and motivate each other. This class is an accessible way to make more art. There is always room for technical questions, but there is also room to say you ‘just feel stuck’ and ways to deal with that. And lastly, there’s a lot of fun, light, and good banter as well!

    Ailisha is always willing to go deeper into your questions and to explain things, sometimes getting back to you about it in the next class. There are no dumb questions. Overall, the class is really fun, helpful and a great way to learn more about your own art”

    — Babs

  • “Ailisha has a great way of challenging you, while creating a vibe that is supportive, comforting and inspiring.

    This class couldn’t have come at a better time; I wanted to get myself out of a major creative block, and the course has definitely pushed me in the right direction. While I already had quite some drawing experience, this class made me get out of my comfort zone, gave me new perspectives and challenged me in a way that got me working hard and loving it again!”

    — Marjolein

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