Painting with Confidence

Yesterday’s Roseberry Topping painting workshop at Swainby Village Hall was such an enjoyable session, and as always, it was lovely to see people surprise themselves with what they could create.

We worked with acrylic paint and a limited colour palette, which gave everyone a strong structure to work within. I often find that adding a few creative constraints actually gives people more freedom to play and experiment, because there is a sense of safety and direction from the beginning.

The workshop was never really about teaching people how to copy my painting. It was much more about learning how to see an image differently and moving away from the immediate reaction of “I couldn’t paint that.” Once you break an image down into large, simple shapes and begin blocking in colour early on, the canvas becomes far less intimidating and the hesitation starts to disappear.

From there, we gradually built the painting in layers, adding smaller shapes, refining areas, and finally introducing detail towards the end. It was wonderful to watch people relax into the process, trust themselves more, and gain confidence as the session developed.

The feedback from the workshop was fantastic, and I’m really looking forward to welcoming everyone back for the other creative workshops and art classes I’ll be hosting in the coming months.