VALENTINES FLOWER PAINTING WORKSHOP w. ‘SARAH HORNE ACADEMY’

I spent a lovely day teaching this month at the ‘Sarah Horne Academy’ in Leamington Spa. The workshop was held in Sarah’s studio space, all materials and flowers supplied. The students had a wonderful day with fellow artists creating a floral still life in oils from their arrangements. Our next workshop ‘Impressionist Flowerscape’ will be held on Thursday 7th May 2026…details on the ‘workshops’ page of how to book.

Starting with a ‘10 minute apple’ demo & warm up exercise to get students used to working with the oil paint, mediums, brushes and smooth panel board. Using a limited palette again of just 3 colours plus white for the apple. Then - same again, another apple - but you can only use 20 brushstrokes!

Our 10 minute apples…

Onto the roses next…everyone had their own arrangement to work from with a beautiful big pink rose as the center piece. It’s harder than it looks to paint a rose well -but even though some hadn’t painted since school, and most had never used oils before - the results were fantastic.

Progress by lunchtime - it’s lovely how everyone gets to know each other through the day, sharing stories and secrets, with many returning and meeting up to paint together again. Art is therapy.

Happy Valentines Day!