Skyblue Online Art Classes with Jane

Here's How I Did

My first ever art class, 25 years ago, was run by  a very accomplished artist who held his classes in his flat. Each week he set up a still life or set  exercises for our small group of four to do at home and more importantly he had buckets of enthusiasm about painting and he  showed us how to paint. 

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This was a total revelation to me,  watching another artist paint, it was fascinating.  By watching and following his explanations and  then having a go I found this so exciting - I was hooked! I couldn't wait for my next class. We received feedback on what we had done which was  invaluable. Many of my attempts were strange, not what I wanted and I longed for improvement! But with encouragement and commitment I really had the art bug!  I have to say that this was a long long time before YouTube arrived!

When the classes finished I had a seed of  confidence to find books, obsessively go to life drawing classes 3 or 4 times a week and eventually build a portfolio of drawings  to apply to college to paint. 

Pre College Learning

I have to say that this period before college was the richest in my learning experience. I asked other artists if I could sit in and watch how they painted (still no YouTube!) Gradually I picked up skills that other artists were very willing to share with me.

After I graduated from completing my BA Fine Art Degree in Painting in 2000 and then my Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching Adults in Art I decided that I would also like to pass on my skills to others just as I had learnt.

Why is this relevant? Because I still believe that it is from artists that you can learn the most.

Qualified and Ready to Teach!

In 2006 I started teaching my own art classes locally in West Sussex. I had taught at colleges in Worthing and at the London College of Fashion for a while but my heart was with painting and teaching ran nicely alongside. As my skills were still developing I was passing them on to my growing classes.

Gradually the classes have expanded and we have been going steadily since then meeting every week, they are a really great bunch and we often have trips out in the summer and get togethers for Xmas.

There are lots of ways you can learn to paint Why not learn from YouTube?

The online platform YouTube has millions of painting videos to learn from and free, in fact I have learnt a few things from YouTube too but it has felt too overwhelming, too much choice, where should you start? Then I have found that there is never enough explanation or experience by the artist/tutor to get me to return over and over again and maintain interest.