About how we teach
When we paint our focus is on our painting; when we teach our focus is on the student and their painting.
We take great pleasure in helping aspiring artists exceed their own expectations. We teach by techniques rather than by subject, so that those with us acquire a skill set that they are then able to apply to their own choice of subject matter. Applying skills as you learn them to a subject matter that you find truly inspiring is so much more exciting than applying those same techniques to a set exercise. Through a mix of demonstrations, technical exercises, experimentation and theory we are able to watch students grow in confidence and enjoyment of their own creative endeavours.
And that makes us very happy.
As fully qualified teachers with many years experience we have are able to quickly discover what it is the person in front of us is hoping to achieve, and to make an assessment of their ‘starting point’. Others may call this ‘ability’ … the only ability you need when learning with us is genuine enthusiasm!
Oh, and energy … we can get carried away!
art holidays 2025
Sometimes it is nice to get away for a few days and think about nothing other than painting…BLISS!
Articles
Visit our library of articles written for the Artist and Illustrators Magazine.
Videos
Online tuition videos…
COMING SOON
Watercolour Classes
Enjoy learning alongside other budding artists
BOOKS
Rob and Siân share their secrets to painting successful watercolours in their tuition books.
Videos
For a number of years we had a great deal of fun making tuition videos with a company called Art Tutor. The videos were available through the Art Tutor website, but sadly Art Tutor ceased trading a while ago. Since then our videos have been quietly sitting in a hard drive on a shelf in our study, unavailable to the many folk who had enjoyed them.
We think that is just sad.
So we are currently taking a look at how we might make them available once more to aspiring watercolourists on our own website.
Typical Tips
We are happy to share everything we know about watercolour painting ; we don’t keep ‘watercolour secrets’! Here are some examples of the type of information you can expect us to impart.
Materials
We are often asked about materials… which materials do we advise for beginners, and where to buy them are two very common questions. The following article answers these questions, and advises on first steps. Do take a look!
Experimenting with materials
A Typical Tip
Question:
How do I know if a paint is transparent or opaque?
LEFT JAR : Cobalt blue. RIGHT JAR: Winsor blue. The brush lying behind the jars cannot be seen through the left jar.
Answer:
Take two glass jars of clean water. Pick up a tiny amount of paint on your brush, then rinse the brush in the water.
If the paint is transparent you will still be able to see through the jar.
If the paint is opaque, you will not.