Vincent Van Gogh is a brilliant artist to inspire children in primary school, a classic example of the starving artist struggling for recognition. Yet despite his tragic life he never gave up in his quest to become a great painter … Read More

Pablo Picasso was like a bull, very strong willed, always looking for new challenges and never satisfied with his achievements. He had an insatiable appetite for creating new ideas and for loving the many women in his life. At the … Read More

How often have we heard someone dismiss a piece of art because it doesn’t look like a photograph? It is almost as if a work of art has to conform to a given set of visual rules before it can be accepted as art in some people’s eyes. … Read More

Having taught in secondary schools for many years before setting up my own art business, I have a lot of experience of teaching art to children. Now my art business takes me into many primary schools where I meet a lot of primary school art co-ordinators. Unlike their secondary school … Read More

I taught art in schools for years before leaving and setting up my own art business providing schools with art workshops. Yesterday, I was in a secondary school in Reading, UK – lovely school – running a GCSE … Read More

Although the subject matter, techniques and materials of artists have changed over the centuries, their attitudes towards life and their environment have changed little. The manner in which they expresses their ideas, their style, can in basic terms, be seen as one of the following: Classical, Romantic or Realist. When … Read More

‘Art is a parrot word and should be replaced by … Read More

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André Derain was born in 1880 at Chatou, which … Read More

Hokusai was born in the autumn of 1760 at … Read More

It doesn’t matter whether you are using watercolour, acrylic, oil or pastel if you do not understand your colours and what happens when … Read More

Keeping Acrylic Paints Workable: Because acrylics dry so fast, squeeze only a little paint out of a tube. If you’re using a ‘normal’ plastic palette invest in a spray bottle so you can spray a fine mist over the paint regularly to keep it moist. ‘Stay-wet’ palettes – where the … Read More

I came across an article that described the use of a gesso ground for use with watercolour. Whilst this causes a few problems it also creates a number of opportunities not found when working on more traditional surfaces.
Gesso is an acrylic based and therefore waterproof when dry, but is great … Read More

One of the things that distinguishes one artist from another is their palette – the colours they use to create their paintings. It is often … Read More

How often have we heard someone dismiss a piece of art because it doesn’t look ‘real’? It is almost as if a work of art … Read More