Tuition
“I cannot express how much of a game changer my one-to-one tuition with Tom was. My weakness in painting as always been getting too focussed/bogged down with detail. Tom, explained and demonstrated the power of simplicity and how to ‘build’ a painting. The lesson made a massive impact, especially with regards to value and temperature relationships. I have already booked my next session which I eagerly look forward to. Thanks again.”
“I’ve just had my third painting lesson with Tom Hughes and it was every bit as instructive as the first two. He taught me more about colour temperature, tone, blocking-in quickly, using paint transparency to one’s advantage and painting less detail. The result was a step increase in my painting style in just the direction I wanted: less detail, less illustrative and towards a looser style requiring the viewer to interpret more.
It was exciting to learn from Tom and I was taken outside my comfort zone as I asked him to keep pushing me to limit the detail and block-in quickly.
Thank you again, Tom, I shall be in touch for the fourth lesson shortly.”
I offer one to one or group tuition. I charge per head with a maximum group size of 4. I recommend booking 3-4 hours as under 3 isn’t enough time and any more than 4 is usually unproductive as there’s only so much you can take in.
Lessons take place in a variety of Bristol locations from the Avon Gorge, to the harbour side, depending on what you want to learn more about be it landscape or urban. The lessons can be catered for absolute beginners or more advanced painters. I teach the fundamentals of “painting what’s there” or “capturing reality” which is what the vast majority of plein air painters are interested in, I find. If you’re after something a bit more avant-garde, then my class would not be for you.
Topics covered would include the following:
Choosing a subject/painting spot
Arranging a compostion
Measuring/sightsize drawing
Mixing colours that match what you’re seeing
Judging tone accurately
Brushwork/mark making
I can supply equipment for absolute beginners, but I encourage people to bring their own gear as there is a limit to what I can carry to a location, especially if I’m coming by bike.. You can watch my equipment video for an idea of the basics. Please email me to enquire about making a reservation. Mon-Fri 10am - 1 or 2pm works best for me, I try and keep weekends free for family.
There are two main spots that I like to use for teaching, both have a lot of variety, including foliage, buildings, water and aerial perspective. Here’s are links to both.
I am a patient teacher that will listen to your painterly frustrations and do my best to help you through them. It would be really helpful if you emailed me some images of your work, particularly pieces that are good examples of the things you are struggling with and want to improve on, then I can get a good idea of where you need the most guidance. Coming to the lesson with a list of specific things that you want me to focus on will help you get the most out of our time together.
Pricing
£50 per hour
Here’s an example of what I teach - Drawing sight-size from life while matching tones and colours accurately.
Gift Vouchers
If you would like to treat a friend or loved one, I can provide gift vouchers to the value of an amount of your choosing.
Instructional Videos
I have ten instructional plein air videos available to buy and stream from my online Gumroad store.
These 10 videos are a kind of “Best of Thoughts on Painting - Vol.1” and feature some of my favourite paintings from the channel, each about an hour in length with very minimal edits. I have replaced the original audio tracks with full length, in-depth technical narration, describing why I’m doing what I’m doing and how I’m doing it.
If you have ever wanted tuition from me, but live too far away, these videos are an excellent substitute!
You can watch a 1 minute trailer for each video here, or on Gumroad.
