When Knowledge Unlocks a Young Artist’s Creativity

There are some photographs that tell almost the whole story without needing many words.

Look at the concentration in this young artist as he sits painting with me on the beach at Mawgan Porth, Cornwall. Then look at the smile, the stance and the pride as he holds up his finished artwork.

He was an absolute joy to teach.

Young minds are extraordinary when we give them good information

One of the things I love most about teaching children and teenagers is watching how quickly they can absorb knowledge when it makes sense to them.

They really can be like sponges.

Yet so often, what holds a young person back in art isn't a lack of talent, creativity or imagination. They simply haven't been given enough of what I call the grammar, spelling and punctuation of art.

We wouldn't expect a child to write confidently without understanding language. Yet in art, we can sometimes expect children to create paintings without first helping them understand the visual language they are trying to use.

Teaching children to understand rather than copy

My art lessons aren't about showing a student exactly where to put every mark so that their finished painting looks like mine.

I want them to understand what they are looking at.

Why does the sea change colour? Why does something appear further away? What makes sunlight sparkle across water? What happens to colour and contrast as things recede into the distance? Why will one brushstroke create the effect they want while another won't?

Once a young artist begins to understand some of those principles, something fascinating happens.

They start making their own decisions.

Instead of asking, "What do I put here?", they begin to look, think and work things out for themselves.

Knowledge gives creativity somewhere to go

For me, this is one of the most exciting parts of teaching art.

You can actually watch understanding developing. A child begins to see something they hadn't noticed before, understands why it looks the way it does and then finds their own way of translating that information into paint.

The finished artwork remains completely theirs.

Knowledge doesn't take away individuality or creativity. Quite the opposite.

Knowledge gives creativity somewhere to go.

That is why the smile in this photograph means so much to me. This young man isn't simply holding a painting. He is holding something he has learned to create himself, while sitting beside the very Cornish landscape that inspired it.

Art lessons in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

I teach art lessons and painting experiences in Mawgan Porth, Cornwall, for children, teenagers, adults and families, from complete beginners to experienced artists wanting to develop their understanding further.

My aim isn't to teach people how to copy my artwork or adopt my technique. It is to give them the foundations of art so that they can develop the confidence, understanding and skills to create artwork in a way that is genuinely their own.

Because when somebody understands what they are seeing, the possibilities suddenly become much bigger.