Adult Art Classes

Glen's Art Classes give you the option of individual 1-on-1 lessons or group-classes of 6 students max. You'll learn to develop or enhance your own personal style of painting in acrylics or mixed media.

Perhaps you'd like to work in a group, and get ideas or receive positive comments from your peers. Or you would prefer to get more individual attention. Glen can suit her hours to fit a students needs.

Share in Glen's extensive experience which includes a Diploma in Teaching, an Arts degree from Whitecliffe College of Fine Arts and Design, plus several years of study at the world-renowned Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam. Whether you're a beginner or you've advanced to higher levels, you're bound to enjoy Glen's expertise.

Crossing that barrier

"When people come to their first art class, they often think they absolutely hopeless at painting and lack in confidence. Still, they have this inner need to express themselves, using paint and colour.

"We start working on that straight away. My first aim is to build confidence and self-esteem, by showing my students the basics and offering positive criticism along the way. That way they learn to see what they like about their own work, and can introduce those elements into their next paintings. They develop a sense of what works and discover their own personal style. My students quickly realise they're not as bad as they originally thought!"

Here's how it works
You find an artist or painting you like so much, you want to do a similar one - we discuss why
You start simple, and copy part of the painting - then we do more difficult things as time goes on
You begin with mastering the basics - colour, tone, composition, lines, light, movement
You move to the choices between oils and acrylics, and mixed media
You analyse different artists and styles - impressionism, surrealism, modernism, abstraction
You study famous New Zealand and Pacific painters from close up, and try Pacific themes
Once you're ready you start developing your own personal contents
More than just an art class

"Key to the painting classes is a sharing of ideas, feelings and thoughts - with me or the others in the group. We always have a decent coffee to get the conversation going, and more often than not a friendship evolves when you work closely together like that.

"My students see themselves improving week after week and they impress themselves and family and friends with their paintings, doing much better than they thought they could. Once they witness their own talents blossom, it's easy to encourage them to consider exhibiting in cafes or small galleries. That way, I try to persuade them and show off their work to the public and move forwards keeping their art as a hobby or progressing to a more professional level.

"Painting is all about self expression. My students decide what they want to explore in their work, and what they want to discover in themselves. People paint for different reasons. I prefer to focus on the whole person, and encourage my students to include the spiritual and emotional aspects of their personality into their work."

Here's what the students say

Glen teaches students of all levels of proficiency and experience - beginners, intermediate, advanced. Some have been coming for years.

"If I'm by myself, at home, it's hard to find the time to do what I really love. One afternoon a week with Glen means that the family can't take over. Those are my moments to really enjoy myself. I love having that special time. It's always relaxed and fun, in a friendly atmosphere. I can't think of a better way to improve my painting."

Shelley, Titirangi

"Painting is something I've wanted to do for a long time. But for some reason or other, I've always put it off till later. Glen's outgoing personality convinced me to get started, and now there's no looking back. I've found my own personal hobby."

Min, Mount Eden