Absolute Beginners Class – Introduction to Drawing with Grant Waters and Introduction to Colour Theory with Jane Strother

Absolute Beginners is a series of six short courses taught in chronological order. Students can pick and mix from the series or decide to study all six. We start off with an Introduction to Drawing, then move on to Colour Theory, Acrylics, Watercolour, Oil Painting and Mixed Media.

Each subject is taught two hours a week for five weeks and is designed for those who have never even picked up a pencil before, but who would love to learn to draw and paint.  All materials are provided so all you need to bring is yourself. See below for further details on each short course.

AUTUMN TERM MODULES.

Introduction to Drawing with Grant Waters

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 19th, 26th September and 3rd, 10th and 17th October 2025.

This 5-week course looks at giving you a basic knowledge of drawing materials, what they do, and how to use them. You will learn the difference between 2B and a 6B pencil, what a graphite stick does and the difference between a conte crayon and willow charcoal. Drawing from observation, you can learn about line tone and form to produce some great first drawings.

Introduction to Colour Theory with Jane Strother

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 24th October, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th November 2025. (Half Term 27th October)

Over the 5 weeks you will learn about the colour wheel, how it works, and how to colour mix using a wide range of hues from the basic primaries. At the same time you will have the chance to mix colours using a different medium each week, looking at how to mix dry colours as well as wet. The basic principles remain the same but the handling of your tools and medium will be different. 

SPRING TERM MODULES.

Introduction to Acrylics with Jane Strother

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th January, 6th February 2026.

The colour mixing skills aquired in the previous module will be revised and extended for acrylic painting. You will experiment with different brushes, palette knives and other implements while discovering the versatility of the paint. This will include beginning a painting, overlaying colour, mark-making (such as dry brushing or sgraffito) and the use of translucent and opaque colour. The sessions will take the form of simple exercises before application to a subject such as a still-life, or something from your own imagination.

Introduction to Watercolour with Susan Neale

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 13th, 27th February, 6th, 13th, 20th March 2026.

Over these 5 weeks you can study fundamental techniques in painting with watercolour. Students follow clear instructions in step-by-step paint-along sessions and all questions regarding materials, equipment and technique are answered. The result is understanding, exploiting, directing and controlling the medium in a sensitive and informed manner. 

SUMMER TERM MODULES.

Introduction to Oils with Laura Degenhardt

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 17th, 24th April, 1st, 8th, 15th May 2026.

Each of these sessions will have a technical focus to build knowledge about the way that oil paint works, and confidence in using oil paint in an individual way. We will use still-life as the subject, allowing for experimentation with colour, tone, composition, and mark making to build a finished painting. 

Introduction to Mixed Media – Tutor to be confirmed.

Friday afternoons, 1pm-3pm, 29th May, 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th June 2026.

During this course, anything goes! You will be mixing your media from collage to thread, wool, paints, inks, prints, prepared papers and anything else that can go into composing an image. A great chance to understand how to manage different media together within the same work.