Upminster/ Cranham Children's Art Classes

Upminster/ Cranham Children's Art Classes Inspiring young artists (ages 6+) with fun, educational classes on techniques, styles, and art history. Beginners & improvers welcome.

Led by a DBS-checked tutor with expertise in landscapes, cityscapes, and abstract art. Join us to create and explore!

🎨 This past weekend, we continued exploring classic animated characters—this time with Tom and Jerry! 🐱🐭The children wor...
07/09/2026

🎨 This past weekend, we continued exploring classic animated characters—this time with Tom and Jerry! 🐱🐭

The children worked with acrylic paints, experiencing how their solid, opaque quality differs from watercolours. They explored a colourful scene with muted tones while learning the traditional painting process: beginning with the background and gradually working forward in layers, finishing with the characters in the foreground. This approach helps create depth and is especially useful for more complex compositions.

Because we spent more time developing the background and surroundings, many students did not have enough time to complete their characters. I strongly encourage them to finish their paintings at home and bring them back to class—I would love to see the finished results!

🏆 Next weekend: Art Competition!

Our recent character-themed lessons have been preparation for next week’s competition:

Theme: The Most Creative Animated Character Scene

Children may choose any favourite animated character and create an imaginative scene—funny, adventurous, spooky, action-packed or anything else they can dream up! The scene should include some action, perhaps even two characters interacting, just like Tom chasing Jerry.

Please bring an A4 printed reference picture of the chosen character, if possible. If you cannot print one, feel free to send the image to me and I will prepare it for your child. Alternatively, children are very welcome to create an original character entirely from their imagination.

There will be three winning places in each class, judged according to:

1. Completion of the artwork
2. Colour selection and combinations
3. Creativity and action within the scene

The art medium for the competition will be watercolours.

Good luck, everyone -I cannot wait to see what you create! 🌟



A little Disney magic from our young artists! 🎨✨Sharing some of our finished Pinocchio paintings. I’m so proud of the ca...
01/09/2026

A little Disney magic from our young artists! 🎨✨

Sharing some of our finished Pinocchio paintings.
I’m so proud of the care, patience and creativity the children brought to this project. From mixing colours to capturing expressions, each artist has given this classic character their own personality.

Not everyone could join us this weekend, so this is just a selection of the wonderful work from our classes. 💛

This coming Saturday, we’ll be at Cranham Community Centre! I’m looking forward to seeing everyone there for more creativity together.



🎨 Exploring Pinocchio (1940) through artFor this lesson, we stepped away from the contemporary, AI-inspired, 3D and anim...
24/08/2026

🎨 Exploring Pinocchio (1940) through art

For this lesson, we stepped away from the contemporary, AI-inspired, 3D and anime characters we often explore and looked closely at a single frame from Disney’s classic Pinocchio.

Before painting, we discussed how an image can tell a story without movement or dialogue. Why is Pinocchio sitting on the floor? What might he and Jiminy Cricket be saying? What do their expressions and body language reveal? How does the composition direct our attention?

The children studied the film’s simple shapes, strong silhouettes, selective shadows and beautifully limited, muted colour palette. We compared this historic style of animation with the highly detailed, technology-driven imagery children see today and discovered that simplicity can be just as captivating and expressive.

While painting, the children mixed their own skin tones, explored colour relationships and used watercolour with less water to achieve a richer, more consistent coverage. Some worked on brown paper, allowing its warm tone to become part of the palette itself.

This lesson was about much more than recreating a character. It encouraged careful observation, visual storytelling, imagination and critical thinking -learning not only to look at an artwork, but to ask what it is trying to communicate. ✨



Last week in our children’s art class, we explored the wonderful world of The Lion King -a timeless animated classic tha...
17/08/2026

Last week in our children’s art class, we explored the wonderful world of The Lion King -a timeless animated classic that brings back so many happy memories! 🦁🎨

The children drew their favourite characters and worked with either coloured pencils or watercolours. Our main focus was tonal values - carefully blending highlights, midtones and shadows to create depth and bring the characters from 2D to 3D.

Finding and mixing the right colours was a real challenge, but everyone did a fantastic job! Some artworks are still in progress, and I hope the children will finish them at home and bring them back to class for feedback.

They should all be very proud of their wonderful work! ✨



10/08/2026

Dear Parents,

I just wanted to send a little message regarding our art classes as our groups are growing, which I’m incredibly grateful and excited about. ❤️

It is very important to me that I continue providing every child with the highest possible standard of teaching, while also having enough time and attention to support each student individually.

As the classes are becoming busier, I would really appreciate your help in reminding your child about the importance of listening and remaining respectful and quiet when I am giving instructions or working individually with another student.

Of course, I want my art classes to be fun, relaxed and enjoyable! Children are absolutely welcome to talk and interact when appropriate, and there will always be opportunities for discussion and creativity. However, when I am explaining something to the group, demonstrating a technique, or helping another student, I need everyone to listen and avoid talking over or interrupting me.

I would also kindly ask that children remain seated during the lesson, including when they have finished their artwork, unless I have asked them to move around. Running around the classroom or repeatedly moving between other students can be very distracting, particularly for children who are still concentrating on their work.

I run the classes independently, and as our groups grow, having these simple classroom expectations in place will allow me to give much more of my time and energy to teaching, demonstrating techniques and helping each child progress — rather than having to repeatedly stop the lesson to regain everyone’s attention.

I really want to maintain the positive, encouraging and creative atmosphere that we have built together. At the same time, it is important that all students understand that when I am speaking, demonstrating, or helping another student, they need to respect that moment and allow others to listen, concentrate and learn.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could have a quick conversation with your child about this before their next class. It really will make such a difference to the whole group.

Please note that these classroom expectations are necessary to maintain a safe, respectful and productive environment for everyone. If disruptive behaviour continues despite reminders and support, unfortunately this may result in a child no longer being able to continue attending the classes. I sincerely hope this will never be necessary, and I truly appreciate your support in helping me maintain the positive and enjoyable environment that I want every child to experience.

Thank you, as always, for your support and for trusting me with your children. I absolutely love teaching them, and seeing how much their confidence and artistic ability are developing makes me incredibly proud. ❤️🎨

Thank you so much for your understanding and support. 🙏😊

Last weekend’s art class left me incredibly proud. 🎨Our young artists worked on watercolour portrait painting, focusing ...
10/08/2026

Last weekend’s art class left me incredibly proud. 🎨

Our young artists worked on watercolour portrait painting, focusing on observation, facial structure, colour mixing, layering, light and shadow, and learning how to let watercolour create those beautiful, expressive textures.

And just look at what they created! 🤍

These artworks were painted by children ranging from Year 6 through to Year 12, and I’m genuinely amazed by the individuality and confidence in each portrait. Although everyone worked from the same subject, every painting has its own character, brushwork and interpretation — which is exactly what I love to see.

More than anything, these paintings show what happens when children keep practising. The students who come to class regularly, listen, experiment, make mistakes, try again and continue practising at home are beginning to see all that hard work come together. Their progress makes me so happy.

Throughout the lesson, I worked individually with each student, identifying the areas they could strengthen and giving them specific feedback on what to work on next. At this age, the goal isn’t perfection — it’s learning to really look, make confident artistic decisions and understand how to improve your own work.

For such young artists, I think these are absolutely wonderful. I’m so proud of how much effort, patience and dedication they put into this lesson. ❤️

Well done, everyone. I can’t wait to see what you create next! 🎨✨


✨ Children’s Art Class – Graphite & Shading ✨Last weekend in our children’s art class, we went back to the basics of gra...
03/08/2026

✨ Children’s Art Class – Graphite & Shading ✨

Last weekend in our children’s art class, we went back to the basics of graphite drawing and shading. We focused on fundamental sketching techniques, understanding light and shadow, and learning more about composition—essential building blocks for every young artist.

It was also wonderful to welcome some new students to the class!

I am incredibly proud of every single child. Looking back at where we started and seeing the progress they’ve made, I truly feel we’ve reached a significant milestone. Their confidence is growing, their observation skills are improving, and the quality of their shading and drawings has come such a long way.

The artwork they produced this week was absolutely fantastic, and each drawing reflects the effort and creativity they put into their work.

To keep building these skills, I highly encourage everyone to continue practising at home. Even a few minutes of sketching each day can make a huge difference.

Well done, everyone—I can’t wait to see what you’ll create next! 🎨👏


This weekend, our young artists went back to the basics! 🎨🪲We practised freehand drawing and composition before moving o...
27/07/2026

This weekend, our young artists went back to the basics! 🎨🪲

We practised freehand drawing and composition before moving on to painting beautiful dragonflies with watercolours. Watercolour isn’t the easiest medium to master, especially when we regularly switch between acrylics, pastels and other materials, but everyone did a fantastic job adapting.

A big welcome to our new students – we’re so happy to have you with us! 💛

Most of the dragonflies are still a work in progress, so I’d encourage the children to finish them at home if they have time. I can’t wait to see the finished results!

Looking forward to another fun project with everyone this weekend! 🖌️✨


Komodo Dragons in Watercolour 🦎🎨Last weekend in art class, our students took on the fascinating challenge of painting on...
20/07/2026

Komodo Dragons in Watercolour 🦎🎨

Last weekend in art class, our students took on the fascinating challenge of painting one of nature’s most remarkable reptiles—the Komodo dragon!

This project introduced a slightly different technique from our usual approach. Instead of completing all the pencil work before painting, students first built up many of the textures and details using pencil (and some chose to use fine pens), then finished the artwork with layers of watercolour. This combination of drawing and painting created beautiful depth and brought the dragons’ unique skin to life.

The most challenging part? Definitely the scales! Capturing the intricate patterns and textures required patience and careful observation. It took time, but every student persevered, and the results were incredibly rewarding. We’re so proud of what everyone achieved.

Did you know?
🦎 Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards in the world, growing up to 3 metres (10 feet) long.
🦎 They are found naturally only on a handful of Indonesian islands, including Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Gili Dasami, with Komodo National Park protecting much of their habitat.
🦎 They are skilled hunters and have venom glands that help weaken their prey after a bite.
🦎 Despite their size, they can run surprisingly fast over short distances, swim between islands, and even climb trees when they are young.

Congratulations to all of our artists for embracing a challenging subject with such patience, creativity, and determination. Every Komodo dragon has its own personality, and each painting is a wonderful success. We can’t wait to see what everyone creates next! 👏🎨✨


🎨 Our first children’s art class after the holiday was all about colourful abstract cats! 🐈✨This week, our young artists...
13/07/2026

🎨 Our first children’s art class after the holiday was all about colourful abstract cats! 🐈✨

This week, our young artists explored how to simplify shapes and create unique cat characters inspired by geometric forms and contemporary art. They could choose to paint a single cat or a group of cats, using reference images as inspiration while adding their own creative ideas.

We also talked about colour, experimenting with bold combinations and discovering how complementary colours can make a painting really stand out. Every artwork turned out completely different, showing just how imaginative the children are.

It was wonderful to see everyone back with so much enthusiasm, and I was especially pleased to hear that some children had continued painting over the holidays. Their confidence is growing, and it’s lovely to see every student making progress.

Here are just a few of the colourful creations from this week’s class - I couldn’t be prouder of them! ❤️🎨

Address

115A Marlborough Gardens
Upminster
RM141SR

Opening Hours

11am - 1pm

Telephone

+447907532231

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