01For adults
It is never too lateto begin. Or begin again.
Perhaps you have never drawn. Perhaps you have not held a pencil or brush in years. Or perhaps you would simply like a few hours away from screens, daily responsibilities and everyone who needs something from you.
CREATE gives you the space to slow down, learn something new and enjoy making again. Just experienced, encouraging tuition, interesting ideas and the freedom to explore at your own pace.
Every course runs for six weeks and is limited to six students.
Materials will be supplied.
01Course
Beginning to See
Drawing and painting foundations
- When
- Thursday evenings, 6.30pm to 9.00pm
- Length and group size
- Six weeks, maximum 6 students
- Price
- £270
Materials will be supplied.
Drawing is not a talent you either have or do not have. It is looking, and looking can be taught.
Over six weeks you will learn to see the way an artist sees, then to put it down on paper. Line and proportion. Tone and form. Composition and perspective. Mixing colour properly. Then painting from what is in front of you, and finally a piece entirely your own.
No experience is needed and nothing is assumed. If you have not drawn since school, this is where to start.
What you will cover
- Week 1Line and looking. Continuous line, negative space, sighting and proportion
- Week 2Tone and form. Graphite and charcoal, still life, building three dimensions
- Week 3Composition. Thumbnails, viewfinders, one and two point perspective
- Week 4Colour. The colour wheel in practice, mixing from a limited palette
- Week 5Painting from observation. Underpainting, layering, knowing when to stop
- Week 6Bringing it together. A resolved piece of your own choosing, and a relaxed group review
02Course
The Joy of Expression
Painting what you feel, not what you see
- When
- Thursday afternoons, 3.00pm to 5.30pm
- Length and group size
- Six weeks, maximum 6 students
- Price
- £295
Materials will be supplied.
This one is not about accuracy. It is about what happens when you stop worrying whether it looks right. Working from the Expressionists, the Fauves and the painters who pushed past likeness, you will use colour as feeling, distortion as meaning, and mark making as something closer to handwriting than illustration.
In weeks 4 and 5 you will build one expressive work of art, and the subject is entirely yours. It could be a landscape, a still life, a portrait, or something with no subject at all. There is nothing you need to bring and nothing you need to have decided in advance.
Some experience of drawing or painting is helpful but not required. If you have done Beginning to See, this is the natural next step.
What you will cover
- Week 1What expression means. Mark making without subject, on large paper
- Week 2Colour as feeling. Non-naturalistic palettes and colour psychology
- Week 3Distortion. Taking observation and pushing it past accuracy
- Week 4Your expressive work, part one. Choosing a subject, composition and colour
- Week 5Your expressive work, part two. Layering, texture, palette knife, resolving
- Week 6Personal response. A free choice piece, then everything on the wall
03Course
Beautiful Accidents
A mixed media course in texture, layers and letting go
- When
- Friday mornings, 10.00am to 12.30pm
- Length and group size
- Six weeks, maximum 6 students
- Price
- £310
Materials will be supplied.
Every other art class teaches you control. This one teaches you what to do when you lose it.
Discover the creative possibilities of mixed media through a playful, experimental course exploring ink, wax, crayon, charcoal, gesso, texture paste, Brusho, collage, scrim, sand, grit and more. Learn how to combine materials, build rich layers and textures, and experiment with different surfaces and techniques to create exciting and beautiful effects.
Nothing is precious here. The mistakes are the material. By week six you will pull one piece to a finish that you could not possibly have planned at the start, which is entirely the point.
No experience needed, and no drawing ability assumed. If the blank page frightens you, this is a surprisingly good place to begin, because within ten minutes it is no longer blank.
What you will cover
- Week 1Materials and possibilities. Ink, wax, crayon, charcoal, gesso, texture paste, Brusho, collage substrates, scrim, sand and grit. The let’s play session.
- Week 2Collage and the found image. Papers, maps, book pages, and image transfer
- Week 3Ink, wash and letting go. Pouring, tilting, salt, spray, and responding to what happens
- Week 4Mark and line. Oil pastel resist, graphite, wax, stencils, sgraffito, scratching back
- Week 5Subtraction. Sanding, tearing, lifting and bleaching. The bravest session of the six
- Week 6Resolution. Pulling one piece to a finish, and knowing when to stop
Starting January 2027
04Course
Fused Glass
Light, colour and transformation
- When
- Friday afternoons, 3.30pm to 5.30pm
- Length and group size
- Six weeks, maximum 6 students
- Price
- £290
Adults only, 18 and over.
Materials will be supplied.
Cut it, layer it, and wait to see what the heat did to it.
Fused glass is taught almost everywhere as a one-off experience day. This is a proper six week course, so you build real skill: cutting straight lines and then curves, understanding how colours react at temperature, controlling texture and bubbles, working with frit, stringers and inclusions, and finally composing a landscape entirely in glass.
No experience needed. All glass, tools and safety equipment are provided. For safety we supply all the glass, as different types are not compatible with each other in the kiln.
What you will make
- Week 1A strip fused tile. Cutting, safety, and how glass behaves
- Week 2A suncatcher. Transparent against opalescent, frit, stringers, colour reactions
- Week 3A leaf, petal or organic form. Cutting curves and fitting shapes
- Week 4A textured panel. Kiln carving, bubble control, copper inclusions, stencils
- Week 5A fused glass landscape. Building a horizon: sky, hills, water and light
- Week 6A piece of your own design. Using everything you have learned
About size and firing
Pieces are made at 13cm x 13cm. That is deliberate: large enough to design properly, small enough to complete and refine within a single session, which is exactly the right size for learning.
All work is fired off site by a specialist kiln and returned to you as soon as it is ready, usually within a fortnight. You will not take a piece home the same afternoon, and the wait is part of the pleasure.
This course begins in January 2027. Register your interest now and you will hear before places go on general sale.
Who teaches
Who you will be learning from
CREATE is led by Helen Pestana, a highly qualified educator, former Head of Department and Sixth Form tutor, creative director and practising artist. With a professional background in graphic design and marketing, Helen went on to gain Qualified Teacher Status and pursue advanced university-level study in 20th-century art history with The Open University.
Her multidisciplinary career spans design, international communications, education and the arts, bringing together creative expertise, academic insight and extensive professional experience at the highest level.
“CREATE is a place to experiment. To make mistakes. To try again and to discover where the joy of creation might take you.”
Term blocks
Block 1
Begins Thursday 22nd October 2026
Block 2
Thursday 14th January 2027
Block 3
Begins Thursday 18th March 2027
How to book
There is no online checkout here, and that is on purpose.
Tell us which course interests you using the form, and Helen will call you back for a proper conversation about whether it is the right fit. Places are then held over the phone.
It takes five minutes and it means nobody ends up on the wrong course.