Held at the Community Centre in Hoylake, Wirral, the majority of my weekly painting classes commence with a brief demonstration by myself.

New students often have a tendency to approach the creation of artwork as though ‘painting by numbers’ i.e. ‘draw it out’ then ‘colour it in’. My demos are not intended to be prescriptive; they are an opportunity to demonstrate alternative, less restrictive and more logical approaches to painting that also offer greater possibilities for artistic expression.

I aim to compete demos in around 10 or 15 minutes so as not to encroach upon valuable painting time. They are therefore much simplified and often somewhat rushed! As the class consists of a mix of students working in either water-mixable oils or acrylics, I tend to alternate demos between the two media, whilst simultaneously describing both techniques.

Pictured here are some of my recent demo pieces. I’ll often choose as a subject something seasonal, hence the autumn/winter/spring landscapes here. It’s not just landscape painting we concern ourselves with however – subjects also embrace portraits, still life and more. Indeed I encourage students to suggest topics for further classes.

For more information on my art classes please follow this link.