Art courses, workshops & events in the Sutton, Croydon & Bromley area
Looking for fun and friendly art classes in and around Wallington, Purley, Caterham, Bromley and Croydon? Our talented tutors teach everything from drawing skills to printmaking, watercolours, pastels, acrylics, ceramics and mixed media. Attend a course or come along to one of our workshops to receive expert guidance and improve your artistic ability, whatever your current skill level. We’ll help you explore a variety of techniques, with demonstrations and one to one guidance.
10-Week All Abilities Course
For complete beginners to confident artists
Drawing and painting classes for adults - 3 hours, once a week, for 10 weeks
These brilliantly-designed courses are aimed at artists of all levels. Whether you’re new to art, want to broaden your skills, or just enjoy making art in the company of others - you’ll be made very welcome. Our experienced tutors and helpers will guide you through each session and offer plenty of individual support to ensure you make great progress.
Our Most Popular Course
* Book Early *
Our Most Popular Course * Book Early *
We’ll take you on a fascinating journey through a variety of drawing and painting skills, including composition, tonal value, colour theory, and portraiture. The final session of this course gives you an opportunity to go ‘freestyle’, creating an artwork of your choice using your favourite medium or mixed media, under the guidance of our experienced tutors.
Refreshments are provided and all materials & paper are included in the price.
Workshops & Events
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Daytime and Evening Workshops
From a relaxing evening of painting, music and wine, to life drawing with a professional model, we run a whole host of one-off events and workshops. Perfect for those who can’t commit to a whole course, or students on our courses who want to learn an additional skill. There are lots of interesting topics and media to choose from, as well as a variety of days and times. We welcome complete beginners, as well as experienced artists. We also run ad-hoc workshops for children and teens from time to time.
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Art Events
From time-to-time we run special events such as wellbeing days, gallery visits and art exhibitions. Our wellbeing days are the perfect antidote to the busyness of everyday life. Join us to take some time out to unwind and explore your creative side. And once a year we run a big summer exhibition showcasing the work of our students and tutors, and raising money for worthwhile causes. Another perfect excuse to relax and enjoy being surrounded by creativity!
Our philosophy
Why ‘Art For Life’? Well firstly art is a skill you can learn and enjoy for the rest of your life. And also, it brings you life when you’re creating it, especially when doing so in the company of lovely people!
We believe art is for all, no matter what your age, background or level of ability. You’re an artist if you make art, in the same way that you’re a cook regardless of whether you can only make toast or whip up a soufflé! For that reason, we call our students ‘artists’ from the word go.
But art is something you can get better at through instruction and practice, and we’re here to help each artist progress towards their personal goals, whether that is to make more accurate drawings or become more expressive and imaginative in your painting.
And we aim to make the process of learning enjoyable, rewarding, inspiring and most of all - fun!
Join us on a creative journey
Follow us on Instagram! Just click on any of the images below.
Paying It Forward
We’re passionate about using art to enhance people’s lives, beyond the pleasure our students get from attending our courses and workshops. We aim to do this in a number of ways. For example, each year we choose a charity that’s close to our hearts and donate 20% of the sales from our annual exhibition.
We also offer work experience placements to teenagers and adults who need a helping hand, including people with disabilities and learning differences, to help them get started within the creative industries.
As well as caring about people, we love the incredible planet we are privileged to live on, and since our logo involves a tree we feel it’s appropriate to donate some of our profits to planting trees! This reduces the impact of climate change for future generations, improves air quality, increases biodiversity and reduces flood risks. We support The Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity and planter of many trees!
Our Big Summer Celebration Was a Huge Success!
Our Summer Exhibition and Charity Art Sale, where you saw a selection of the wonderful work that has been produced by our students this year, helped us raise a lot of money for some very good causes. This event was be extra special as it was also our 1st birthday!
We're delighted so many of you came along, and invite your friends too.
Together we raised over two thousand pounds for charity!
Helping you to make progress and develop your own style
We believe that everyone is born creative, and that adults often need to find their inner child in order to re-learn how to be playful and express themselves freely. Young children just dive in and enjoy making art without a care, but as we progress through school and beyond, our teachers, peers or even our own inner voice sometimes tells us that we need to draw and paint things in a certain way. But history has proven that’s simply not true at all! There are so many different expressions of art and a diverse range of styles, and all of them have value.
Of course we’ll teach you how to accurately observe, draw and paint what you can see. But the goal isn’t always to achieve an accurate representation. Art is a form of communication, and there are many languages in art. So we’ll also encourage you expand your horizons to value originality, ambiguity and imagination in order to develop your own style. Sometimes it’s good to focus on making something look interesting or intriguing, or express your feelings about a subject, rather than making things look realistic. And it’s often more about the journey than the finished result.
So whether you haven’t picked up a paintbrush since school, or you need some guidance to reach your creative potential, have a look at our courses and workshops section to find the best course for you. Wherever you start and whatever your goal, we’ll help you along on your journey. If you’re not sure which course would suit you best, get in touch and we’ll help you decide.
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