Name: Allan Ramsay
Institution: The Heatherley  School of Fine Art
Courses I teach: Portraiture, Figurative Oil Painting, Oil Painting

Allan Ramsay is a portrait painter.  In 1988 he was awarded first prize in  the John Player Portrait Award (subsequently renamed the BP Portrait Award) at the National Portrait Gallery in London. He has paintings in public and private collections in the UK and USA, and also teaches at the Heatherley School of Fine Art.

Q. How long have you been in the industry?
More than 30 years. My love of teaching stems from my own thrilling experiences attending evening classes in figure drawing at Edinburgh College of Art over 30 years ago. For four years I worked in the day and attended classes in the evenings, an  experience firmly in my mind as each person arrives for our classes after a day at work.

Q. Tell us about some of the projects you’ve worked on.
I have taught drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art, the Wimbledon School of Art and the Heatherley School of Fine Art. I have also taken on projects at  the Burrell Collection and other Glasgow museums and galleries. In 1989 I was  commissioned to paint a portrait of the  playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn for the  collection of the National Portrait Gallery.  I have also exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in London, and the Royal Scottish Academy  in Edinburgh.

Q. What do you think is the most important skill required to do your job?
The most important thing about teaching  in a studio environment is to enjoy meeting and teaching people. The most important skill is to understand the mechanisms of painting and to be able to explain these mechanisms to students in a way that is easily understandable.

Q. When students come to the first session, what’s the first thing you teach them?
Teaching is not a ‘one size fits all’ situation. The first thing I try to do is to encourage students to relax and enjoy the learning  process. I then wait to see what each  student needs to learn.  

Q. What do students gain from your lessons?
Facility, understanding and, hopefully, an enjoyment of the process.

Q. What’s the hardest thing to teach?
Nothing is hard to teach to a willing student.

Q. How do you encourage amateur artists to develop their own style?
The beauty of teaching is that everyone  has their own style. It is the teacher’s job to provide an understanding of structures, thereby supporting each individual’s own style and aspirations.

Q. What do your students generally tend to do once they’ve finished the course?
Quite a few continue on the course or change to another of the wide range of classes available at Heatherley’s.