About

The Great Torre Abbey Paint out will be a two-day outing, including a trail of artists running from Torquay Train Station to Agatha’s Bench on the harbour, and a Mass Paint Out on Torre Abbeys upper meadow. It’s a wonderful family friendly event, with free art packs, activities, and a chance to get creative and active in Torbay. Attached is a brief outline of each day's activity.

New for this year, we’re particularly excited to include Torbay’s first ever plein air art competition. These events attract professional artists from across the region, think Sky Landscape Artist of the Year style competitive painting under a strict time limit. On day 2 of the event, artists of all practices and mediums will setup around Torre Abbey, painting for the chance to be crowned English Riviera Landscape Artist of the Year 2026, with a youth competition to discover an Emerging Landscape Artist of the Year as well.

The event is also associated with the Pavilion Restoration Programme and will be one part of ongoing engagement activities being delivered over the next 12 months in and around the Pavilion.

With this wonderful opportunity to celebrate Torbay’s engagement with what has already been a phenomenal event, and thousands of attendees set to experience the Paint Out, we wanted to share a chance with you to get involved. We’re seeking a small number of local business partners to join us as collaborators and associate themselves with the weekend.

Day 1: Artists on the Art on Your Doorsteps Trail AOYD)
A day of activity focused on discovery of the works featured as part of AOYD alongside artists on location painting in the landscape. On the day, 8 – 10 artists will work along the trail with visible signposting to them, producing plein air work on location. Flyers will be available detailing the locations of the artists (as well as advertising Day 2 activity) to give the option for audiences discovering one artist to then engage with the event as a trail, but the primary focus will be on chance encounters with the potential to “stumble across” multiple artists whilst going about one’s day.

Day 2: The Great Torre Abbey Paint Out and En Plein Air Art Competition
Our big day of spectacle, think Sky Arts, Landscape Artist of the Year, Watercolour Challenge, a chance to gather, discover and be creative, focused on celebrating Torquay, and the historic Torre Abbey.
Some of our lead artists from day 1 will gather at Torre Abbey with an open invitation to other artists, aspiring creatives, families and all audiences to come along and join in. The primary focus of the day will be about the freedom to come and be creative in a social space, with some additional light touch facilitation to encourage and incentivise participation. There will be a station with free art packs for people to grab and have a go. There will also the opportunity to take part in the plein air competition with various categories for participants to apply to and prizes to be won.