How would you describe your time at Leith School of Art?
I have absolutely loved my time at Leith School of Art. It has more than lived up to expectations. I learn so much and work so hard each day I can hardly speak when I get home. The quality of teaching and the amount of personal attention we get is exceptional. The tutors also complement each other very well. There is a great studio dynamic; a sense of common purpose and students discuss each other’s work with thoughtfulness and insight. The mix of first and second years (and soon third years) working together is great.
Practical things I have learned include a better understanding of tone and colour, and how if you get the tone right you can use subjective colour, disassociating colour and form. I have always painted what is in front of me up till now so this has been a revelation. I have also learned to draw in a different way to produce drawings which are useful to paint from and to enjoy drawing in galleries.
I like the rigour of developing a project over 6 or 8 weeks, how one painting leads to another, how to paint purposefully, and to only change one thing (medium, scale, colour palette) from one painting to the next.
I have also learned the difference between subject matter and theme, useful for planning a series of paintings, and have loved concentrating on words like ‘visceral’ and ‘tenderness’ as I paint.
I approached the second year with more confidence than the first. I now know that if I keep working away and producing drawings and paintings something will happen and a project will come. I am delighted the course has been extended to three years. It feels liberating to be only halfway through rather than nearly at the end. I’m going to take some risks with the next project.
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