Painting a Colourful Highland Cow

Learning to Paint a Rainbow Highland Cow!

Today is my painting workshop at the gallery Creative Melbourne, in Melbourne Derbyshire. I set up the space yesterday afternoon so that all of the easels and canvases etc are ready to go when we all arrive this morning. We shall be making very vivid Highland Cow paintings I am sure, as Im taking 26 different colour tubes of paint including some sparkly pearlised paints. It will be a small group of six, today painting up in the mezzanine gallery, which is a lovely space to work in, above the art gallery itself which fills two floors below.

Spare Cake

I have baked two cakes for the occasion. Partially because I’m never sure my cake will rise! So I did a ‘spare’ and they both rose beautifully so now we have two. ‘Spare cake’ is surely one of the happiest phrases in the English language.

A Big Hairy Beast

We will be basing our painting loosely on this big colourific chap above, although each piece will be as unique as the artist who paints it. We typically have at least two or three total beginners in my workshops, which is always exciting. I haven’t met any of the artists joining me today, so I will find out about experience levels once everyone arrives. Some attendees are coming from a little farther afield today, so I hope everyone has had a nice journey to get here. I will post photos from the day’s activities later on.

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Highland Cow Painting Course.

Highland Cow Painting artist

Enjoying the day

This was the first time we had a workshop at this venue, which is the village hall just near my home. It was a lovely day, we had half the group who had a little experience with different painting media but who were new to acrylics, and half the group were total beginners. It was a bigger group than normal as we had a few reschedulings from another date. A very positive and jovial group of lovely ladies! Here are some photos from the day, and the lineup of moo-g shots at the end of the day.

Book your workshop here

We went step by step through the painting, with mini demonstrations throughout the day and guidance and encouragement given at every stage. Everyone went home with their own beautiful and unique work of art. Friends were made, laughs were had, techniques were learned and the cake was eaten! Everyone was marked safe from the terrors of the ‘exploding jar of black paint’!

Beautiful new paintings


The next Highland Cow Workshop is on March 4th at Sharpes Museum- places are still available, there will be a max of eight places at this one.

Sharpes Pottery Museum is a lovely cosy venue with a wealth of history and heritage. We are in the Glazing Room, a nice comfortable space. The cafe will be providing a lovely buffet lunch for us and as always there will be homemade cake! Book your workshop here

step by step tuition

Which paint do I use?

I have had a few requests recently asking which paints I use in my workshops. So far, all of my workshop days have been using acrylic paints, because they dry really fast and this allows artists to easily take away their paintings at the end of the day. I have used several different brands of acrylic paint, and these Daler Rowney System 3 are the ones that I have found striking the right balance between quality and affordability. The colours are nice and bright, and there is a good choice. They seem to stay usable in the palette for longer than some of the others, too. I use the big tubs because we get through such a lot of paint, but these are also available in smaller tubes. I’ll share links to the places that I buy mine here here,

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Fabulous results in my beginner's art classes - Let your creative side out!

The step-by-step process is the reason my workshops are suitable for total beginners, as well as artists with more experience who want to learn new techniques and tips, all the way through to experienced artists who want a relaxing day painting away from it all, with time to experiment and try something different.

Read More

Paint your own Rainbow Sheep!

On March 4th I’m holding a one-day painting workshop in which you can paint along with me, step by step and take home your own original sheep canvas at the end of the day.

The venue is the lovely Sharpe’s Pottery Museum, downstairs in the glazing room. This cosy historic building makes the perfect backdrop for a day of fun, relaxing and learning.

We will have a buffet lunch provided by the onsite caterers, and as always, plenty of coffee and tea and slices of homemade cake are provided.

Beginners and more experienced artists are very welcome, we usually have two or three participants who have never painted before, together with some who have, and are keen to do more. We have even had professional artists join in, for a relaxing day trying out a different medium. For more info and booking details click here

Big Cats Workshop at Sharpes Pottery Museum - a 'Roaring' Success

This was a good day, with a full compliment of ‘ workshop repeat offenders’ :D and amazing results! It particularly tickled me that the vigorous brushwork was triggering peoples' personal exercise monitors into asking 'Are you working out?'

Adding the block colours and then the markings, one step at a time

Beginning with the simple shapes - building a framework

A painting course in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Art Workshops

This was only the second art workshop to be held in the new space at Creative Melbourne Gallery. Upstairs above the main gallery floor there is a mezzanine that runs all the way around. This is a light-filled area ideal for painting in. We had a lovely day, everyone was very friendly and chatty with each other and it was a mixed-level group, with half beginners and half improvers. Everyone left with a beautiful and very colourful painting in their own style.

I have had some very nice feedback about the workshop and the venue, and hope to hold another one there in 2023.

“Such a fab day with lovely people and loved our Highland cow herd”

“Just a short note of thanks for a most enjoyable day.I felt that I learned so much. You really are an excellent teacher.Time went so quickly.

Nearly forgot the cake was delicious.

Thank you again.”

“Very enjoyable day, many thanks Sue”

Painting Birds - art workshop

A Wonderful Art Retreat, Painting Colourful Woodland Birds

What a lovely weekend spent painting with such a nice group of artists! Sharpe's Pottery Heritage and Arts Trust We were very nicely catered for by Sweet Caroline on both days with a super buffet, and toasties. And of course, there was plenty of cake - artists need to keep their strength up after all. We tried a variety of different acrylic painting techniques. The group all have different levels of expertise in different media so it was a really interesting weekend. Everyone got on really well and gave help, support and encouragement to one another. There was a lot of laughter and joking around, and everyone ended up producing 3 beautiful small paintings (apart from John who was on a roll on day 2 and painted two or three more!) Everyone took a paint kit home with them so they can carry on painting straightaway. I'm hoping they will keep in touch, and show me the results.

Painting Birds - Workshop next weekend!

Painting Birds - Workshop next weekend!

Im getting really excited about this now! This will be my first 2 day painting weekend workshop and Im holding it at Sharpes Pottery Museum, one of my favourite venues! This week I will be sourcing as many lovely woodland bird reference images as I can find, so that there is plenty of choice. Each guest will get the chance to paint three small bird canvases over the weekend. We will explore the shaped and markings and habitat of the birds themselves, and place them into beautiful light filled woodland settings from our imagination.

There is still time to join us - information on booking here.

Highland Cow painting demonstration

rainbow highland cow with flowers

A painting in progress, Cow with flowers

I am available to give demonstrations and workshops for art clubs and groups. Get in touch for detailsThis week I am getting ready to give a demo at a local art club. I like to take along some sample pieces, as well as painting one ‘live’ for the event.

a highland cow painting demonstration

A painting in progress