One of the best things about taking a course is that it challenges you to step out of your comfort zone and encourages you to learn new skills. If you think you have creative flair and fancy trying an art course, we sent our reviewer Jessica Tooze along to some beginner’s sessions to find out what you can expect…

Course: Introduction to Drawing and Painting
Venue: The Heatherley School of Fine Art
When is it? Monday evenings from 6.30-9pm for 12 weeks

My painting and drawing experience prior to agreeing to try this course had been limited to classes at school. Arriving at Heatherley’s then, I was a bit nervous, especially when confronted with corridors crammed with paintings, drawings and sculptures that were dauntingly good. Directed to an empty studio filled with large, empty easels that looked as if they would require a course of their own to figure out how to adjust without one falling on my head, I wondered what on earth I was doing there!

When the tutor, Danny Cuming, arrived, I immediately confessed my lack of art know-how. He was clearly used to this though, cleverly making some easel-adjustment look easy and explaining that the class could cater to everyone, from the very greenest beginner (i.e. me), to far more experienced artists. In fact, Danny described how a lot of students arrive on the first day of their course gritting their teeth with trepidation, so apparently I was really quite calm in comparison. Hmmm, that was all very well, but there was still the problem of a giant easel of black paper in front of me.

First attempts
As the rest of the class arrived, we were introduced to the obligatory still life standard – a table of assorted vegetables placed in the middle of the studio. It was the perfect opportunity for me to dredge my memory for latent artistic ability. I had hoped, however, for the respite of a mini lecture or demonstration of technique before being confronted with a piece of charcoal and that expanse of paper, but no such luck. Danny’s philosophy is that the best way to learn is from experience, so we were simply told to get drawing.

Luckily I found that my first attempt was nowhere near the disaster I expected, and I even had some words of praise from tutor Danny. A few of the students found working with charcoal a bit tricky, but the benefit was that the simplicity of the black and white allowed us to focus on our technique (I found too that the smudginess of it was quite handy to hide annoying peppers that persisted in looking more like deformed pumpkins). My second drawing – larger in an attempt to improve my composition and fill that great vastness of paper – was actually less of a success than my first. I had a slight problem with a colossal cabbage, which I seemed to have created to dwarf every other vegetable into quivering insignificance. Under Danny’s guidance though, some much-needed shading helped to return  the drawing to something I felt almost pleased with by the end of  the evening.

Two and a half hours initially sounded like quite a long time to spend drawing, but the concentration required meant that the time passed quickly. In fact it was quite therapeutic just to switch off for a while and get into an artistic frame of mind; just me and my cabbage. The course continued over the next few weeks with a succession of still-life drawings using chalk and charcoal, and I found myself relaxing in to it and also learning and applying new techniques as I went along.

Creative people
There were about ten of us in the class and we were a fairly diverse group. One of the course members said that it was an opportunity for her to do something creative. Another said that ‘instead of watching TV all evening, it’s nice to do something with your hands’. The consensus was that it was pleasurable to have time to focus on something you enjoy – an opportunity to de-stress away from work and family pressures. Some people had also travelled for quite a distance to get to Heatherley’s, the College’s reputation drawing people from all parts of London. One lady was doing the course for the third time in a row. She explained that she had been a complete beginner when she first started, and now had gained a lot of confidence so was able to interpret each class differently.

The course progresses with life drawing and working with paint, but even from my first few sessions I was already more confident in my general understanding and overall competence. If you want to get back into art, or are looking for a thorough introduction to the basics, this course is the perfect starting point.

Meet the tutor: Danny Cuming
Danny Cuming was endlessly patient and encouraging throughout the course, always ready to reassure and give advice where necessary. And when he’s not overseeing his students’ ungainly efforts, Danny is a professional artist and curator with studios in East London and Sussex, working across a variety of disciplines.