Seasons Art Class® is a 14-week course aimed at complete beginners and improvers. We offer a high standard of art tuition in a friendly and relaxed setting.
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Each one of our part time, step-by-step, art classes for adults will teach you the skills required to draw and paint.
You will gain experience in creating beautiful artwork covering a broad selection of subject matter, from figurative work to landscapes, and still-life compositions to more contemporary and colourful abstract studies and portraiture.
In developing your artistic skills, you will learn and understand general styles of composition, specific artistic mediums (oils, pastels, watercolours and acrylics), and whether using either canvas or paper as a support suits best, allowing you to focus on these areas for the future.
Our students always comment on how their skills have grown beyond their expectations, because of this, We’re confident you will discover the same joy of growing your talents.
We look forward to seeing you on our next course. We know you’ll just love it!
What you need to know about our art classes for adults
Absolute Beginners to Improvers, Just Like You
The Seasons Art Class® is a brilliant way to learn new skills you will be able to enjoy forever.
All courses are designed to be fun for absolute beginners (who have never picked up a brush before), through to Improvers.
It is also a great way of meeting new friends and to have a fun experience you will always remember and cherish!
It is open to all adults of all ages
Step By Step, We Make It Easy and Fun…
Step by step progressive guidance and tuition in the basic techniques and secrets needed to create beautiful pieces of art.
We adapt to each student’s needs and give them all the help they require to develop their artistic skills. The curriculum is fun, comprehensive and interesting.
Over 14 weeks we will explore four different media:
- pencil drawing
- oil pastel
- watercolours
- acrylics
Twelve exciting projects
After 14 weeks, students have created a minimum of twelve pieces of their very own original art they can enjoy forever, from misty mountain tops to stunning seaside vistas.
By the end of our course you will be able to draw and paint things you didn’t dream possible, from picturesque village scenes to sketches of your family, friends and even pets!
These courses are designed especially for beginner to intermediate artists by a team of professional and highly experienced art tutors. Each term has a brand new and exciting curriculum. You’ll never repeat the same lesson and we explore new mediums for returning students.
On average, 50-75% of our students return to our courses, year after year, to continue honing their skills and socialise with the friends they have made
Surprise and delight your family and friends when you show them what you have learnt over a fun packed 14 weeks.
Courses
Drawing
Module 1: Drawing
Overview: We begin our 14-week course with a step-by-step drawing module in which we cover the fundamentals of creating art.
During the drawing module we’ll look at different grades of graphite pencil and the effects that they achieve, what paper students should be using and practise mark-making for different textures and styles. We also look at tonal values, observation and sighting, enlarging with grids, perspective, portraiture and figurative drawing. Soon you’ll be viewing everything as an artist would!
The drawing techniques continue to be developed throughout the course and beyond, as we learn to use simple shapes to construct an object, create initial sketches and balanced compositions, and make under-drawings in preparation for raw paintings!
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Module 2: Oil pastels
Overview: Our next module focuses on colourful oil pastels. Oil pastels are a stepping stone between pencil sketching and using a wet painting medium.
Oil pastels were designed by Picasso, who asked a chemist friend to create this versatile new medium. Oil pastel is a more portable and practical version of oil paint. We opted for oil pastels because oil painting is not practical for our classes, due to both toxic smells and extended drying times. The oil pastel is a wonderful alternative and has delighted our students who often assume they were like crayons… until they were taught how to use them!
This module is an opportunity to introduce mixing and blending pigments. We also look at the colour wheel, we also explore colour theory and colour harmony and how pigments look on an array of coloured papers. We also explore the different effects achieved with tools, such as rubber-tipped blending sticks and tortillons.
Oil Pastels
Watercolours
Module 3: Watercolours
Watercolour paints are known for their transparent and luminous quality and are a popular medium because it is highly portable and versatile.
During our watercolour module you’ll learn how to prepare your paper and use the tools and different techniques to get different effects.
We explore the tools of the trade and the many techniques to create a range of effects. We also continue to build on the drawing element, as our students learn how to plan and create underdrawings for their compositions.
Module 4: Acrylics
We end on a high note with this versatile medium in our final module, which has one extra session because of the complexity and range of the medium.
As with all of our modules, we begin acrylic painting at the grass roots. This includes learning about the medium, surfaces, various tools and application techniques such as impasto.
There are four painting lessons – one of which is often dedicated entirely to the use of palette knives. We start with a simple painting to get students used to the huge difference in consistency and behaviour between this medium and the last.
In this module we also look at aerial perspective (instead of the linear perspective we covered in the drawing module), we cover abstract painting as well as painting foliage and culminating in a landscape which uses all of the techniques learned in the previous lessons.
By the end of this module you will have a wide repertoire of techniques and tools at your disposal. The carefully curated order of the abstract lessons has been done strategically so that students are able to explore the different techniques and develop a style of their own.
Acrylics
Why Choose a Seasons Art Class®
Our founder, Gen puts it so beautifully:
“This is more than ‘just’ an art class. It’s your new hobby, it’s your new set of friends and local support network. It’s your enjoyment in and outside of class – a skill you get to take away with you and continue to enjoy, long after class is over. It’s midweek coffee and chats with like-minded pals who live nearby. It’s your favourite day of the week. It’s creating artwork that your family and friends will treasure. And more than anything, it’s being part of something bigger and knowing that you’re so welcome here!”
As well as the four types of media, our course syllabus covers a broad range of challenges. Varied subject matter appeals to individual interests and also ensures that we get the very best out of our students.
Our students have the opportunity to explore different types of subject matter and styles to find what resonates with them and where their natural affinities and talents lay.
We supply all the required materials which allows our students to experiment before investing in their own art supplies and potentially purchasing the wrong things.
With an extensive syllabus to cover, our classes are a full 3 hours to ensure our students have enough time to achieve something during the lesson. We also give our students handouts at the end of each class so they can take this information away with them.
FAQs
Each of our courses is 14 weeks long, culminating in a gallery-style exhibition to showcase the work you have created during your time with us.
Each art class lasts 3 hours, ensuring you have plenty of time to really achieve something good! They are held once a week for each of the 14 weeks and you can choose either a morning or afternoon slot to fit in with your other commitments, subject to availability.
Virtually everything is supplied apart from paper/sketch pad and pencils, which can be purchased for a nominal fee and come in a neat little portfolio-style carry case for you to keep everything in. We use recycled paper and eco-friendly materials wherever possible. The portfolios are made from recyclable materials too and you can reuse these over and over again.
Yes, you do. Our courses are nearly always oversubscribed and it is necessary to pre-book onto the entire course.
The individual modules are structured in a way that means – if you miss a class – you can easily catch up, with the tutor and classroom assistant offering one-on-one help where needed. We also have full colour handouts with instructions for each lesson and even video links, so you can catch up in your own time, should you miss a session.
Numbers vary according to the size and capacity of each venue but we do have a maximum class size to ensure everyone gets plenty of individual input from the two Seasons Art Class team members per class.
Numbers vary according to the size and capacity of each venue but we aim to keep class sizes sensible so that everyone gets plenty of individual input from the two Seasons Art Class team members per class.
We enjoy an average of 50 – 75% student return rate time after time. The combination of their achievements, our progressive curriculums and new found art class friends, keeps our students coming back again and again.
Our syllabus is suitable for complete beginners who have never drawn or painted before, through to improving artists who have already attended one or more of our courses.
You will be given step-by-step training in sketching and drawing techniques, oil pastels, watercolour painting and the comparatively modern medium of acrylics. You will also learn about picture mounting.
Yes, is the simple answer. In fact it’s ideal! Each term starts with an introduction to the module and the individual classes are then designed for students who are learning to paint and draw for the first time.
If you are a returning student you will be given more advanced projects, designed to take you to the next level. Our improvers receive a level of teaching that is appropriate to their experience.
All of our art classes are intended for adults only, with attendees ranging in age from 18 to 90+.
Many of our students are of retirement age and keen to take on a new creative hobby now that they have a bit of extra time on their hands. Overall, we have a diverse range of students and our weekly meetings offer a chance to socialise and mix with like-minded people, creating many long-lasting friendships
We have never had a student who couldn’t achieve something of a good standard in our classes. Everyone learns at their own pace but most come in as complete beginners and can’t believe what they are achieving even by the second and third week.
If you are willing to listen to your tutor and are receptive to what you are taught, you will become an ‘enthusiastic amateur artist’ and learn to paint competently by the end of the 14 weeks, creating pictures you will be proud to show to your friends and hang on your walls at home.
If you still have a question, please email us and we will reply as soon as possible.
An Introduction to: Eddie Ward
From an early age I loved to draw and my creative skills developed with a focus on charcoal and paint portraiture.
I’m now an artist, illustrator and cartoonist as well as the co-owner of a successful greetings card company. I’ve drawn hundreds of designs which have been stocked throughout the UK and internationally – our company has sold over a million cards!
As an illustrator, I draw in a variety of styles – my recent work tends to be humorous and figurative. In addition to commissions, I’m proud that my illustrations have featured in several high profile newspapers and magazines.
I now have the desire to help others to connect with their creativity and build on their artistic skills. With Seasons Art Class, I have the perfect opportunity to inspire enthusiastic beginners to find the artist within themselves. I cover Horsham and the surrounding area – our weekly classes are held in St Mary’s Church Centre in Horsham’s beautiful and historic Causeway.
Eddie Ward
Contact us
To find out more and check availability, please get in touch with us today.
Address:
The Church Centre
Causeway
Horsham
West Sussex, RH12 1HE
Tel: 01403 800 508