I took the Pet Portrait watercolour painting class with Blythe Ashton (OneArt Studio, Stanmore). The venue was condusive, spacious, clean and quiet for painting. there was easy parking nearby and heaps of cafes around. Blythe was excellent and very patient. She was very well prepared and provided me with heaps of options on whether I preferred to draw my pet from scratch (and she taught a lot of fundamental principles and precise techniques for drawing animals) OR, to jump straight into painting. She had a print out and pencil sketch of my pet (both matched in A4 size for easy reference) already prepared for this option. She provided me with watercolour paper, a set of paintbrushes, a pre-prepared a palette of paint colours (from tubes). Her instructions were spot on - she painted by example (she had another sketch of my pet on a separate piece of watercolour paper), so I could mirror her techniques and brush strokes step by step on my own piece of artwork. The class of 3.5 hours was good value. I was the only student there so it was a very dedicated and focussed class on what I needed to learn to achieve the goal of painting my pet. We focussed on shape, colours, tone, techniques for the eyes, nose and tongue. I never realised how difficult I found it to paint a dog's open mouth (the staffy grin). I also gained confidence with painting as I am quite hesitant and restrained wth watercolours.
I really liked how well prepared and committed to the session (and to my needs) Blythe was. She was very encouraging and patient. When I mentioned I didn't enjoy precision drawing and would rather skip that process to start painting, she already anticipated that (not everyone likes drawing, hahaha) and had the pre-sketched version all ready to paint. She shared her artist skills and tricks with me. And also provided nibbles. I was not able to complete the entire painting within the time but it was a very satisfying achievement overall. Thank you.

Pamela is a great teacher, and showed us the various tools used in water colour painting - brushes, different papers and textures and tube vs cake pan paints. Using just 1 brush, she showed us a variety of brush strokes to achieve different types of leaves, stalks, berries, petals. I gave it a 4 star Good rather than 5 star Great only because although the workshop indicated 'Outdoor Florals' and my expectation was that we would sit in nature (or outdoors) to paint florals. The instructions said to bring sunscreen, hat and walking shoes! However, we spent the whole time on a sheltered balcony overlooking a garden. She did picked some leaves and flowers in a vase, but we did not use it for painting (except to look at a sprig of little pink flowers as inspiration). The whole session was spent learning to paint imagined florals (roses, boronias, lavenders, ferns, berries). If one did not know what a boronia looked like, it would be difficult to capture the essence of the flower. Venue: Her balcony was spacious and beautifully set, and all in all, still a relaxing way to spend a freehand watercolor painting session. I did enjoy Pamela's workshop. She structured it well and I came out of it with new techniques, courage to use some beautiful watercolour paper, produced samples of different strokes, wet on wet, wet on dry, and an integrated floral art piece, and as a bonus she baked us a delicious plum cake with tea and coffee!

I attended the workshop by Melody Suranyi on the Watercolour Travel Journalling Workshop. Right from the start (email with welcome and directions) were very clear and well organised. The venue was very conducive to learning and crafting/painting. The workshop was well structured, well paced and I felt a great sense of achievement with my finished piece. I have not painted for over 40 years since school days! Melody taught the fundamentals of water-colouring, techniques, what colours and brushes to use, before we started on our selected pieces from our travel photos. It was amazing how a few basics helped me achieve my finished result. The workshop suits beginners all the way to more advanced painters as we all work at our own pace in a structured but not controlling environment. She knows her stuff! Highly recommended.

I enjoyed the class. It was very informal, friendly and the instructor provided clear instructions in an easy relaxed environment. Materials were all supplied, and we each got a bag of more materials to take home to practice some more. The location was great and very conducive for a short relaxed session.