Written by Celine Louie
There are the arty folk of this world, those who can effortlessly transform a plain canvas into beautiful art, and then there are those not-so-arty folk that look at pictures drawn by five year olds with great envy.
I certainly fall into the latter category.
So to be completely honest, being asked to experience a painting lesson with Fiona Rima of Rima Art did leave me a little concerned.
My most recent drawing experience was only a few months back playing a family game of Pictionary. I drew the first card; ‘Squirrel’ was my prompt.
Too easy, I’ve got this, I thought with confidence.
From that moment on the game went downhill fast. I proceeded to draw an egg shaped being, with a beak, human hands and boot shaped feet, standing beside a tree; madly indicating that the half human- half monster ‘egg thing’ I had drawn runs up trees.
Obviously we didn’t win that round, and the tears of laughter flowed for a while after that. I was left to wonder if adding a fluffy tail to my beaked egg would have helped.
So as I cautiously stepped into Fiona’s amazingly organised art studio, the walls adorned with just some of her impressive art work, I was quick to bring her up to speed on my not-so creative side. Surprisingly this didn’t seem to faze her, but we decided that rather than drawing animals, we might start by drawing something much simpler, like a flower.
Scrolling through the image gallery on her phone, it was clear that Fiona lives and breathes art. There were hundreds of close-up photos of flowers, many just from her garden. I really admired the way she took the time to stop and appreciate the simple things we easily walk past and take for granted. Clearly she views the world from an artist’s perspective.
We selected a cosmos flower to sketch and paint, simple beauty with eight symmetrical pink petals, and a lovely bold yellow centre. My confidence started to grow, and I felt I was in good hands.
Given my painting (dis)ability, she suggested we use pan pastels- they come in little tubs of loose powder and are applied using a little foam brush pad. Very forgiving, she assured me. I breathed yet another sigh of relief.
Now you may think, that a simple flower such as the cosmos would only require two colours- pink and yellow, but in actual fact we ended up selecting nine different coloured pastels in order to achieve the contrast and detail required to bring this flower to life.
As we were a little time poor that day, Fiona quickly sketched the outline. I relaxed some more, colouring-in seemed appropriate for my current skill-set.
Before I knew it I was wearing special two-fingered art gloves, had the brush in my hand and was being gently guided by Fiona, cheering squad in tow, working my way around the petals of the flower.
With long, gentle brush strokes outward from the centre, the petals miraculously started coming to life. I was shown how to blend different colours accentuating the shadows and undulations of the petals, and thanks to her expert advice, the odd whoopsy was quickly fixed.
Once I got into the swing of it all, my mind started to relax and I really enjoyed the creative process. I realised that without being shown the techniques, I shouldn’t be so hard to judge my drawing ability. Perhaps there was a little artiness hidden in me after all!
Fiona was warm and engaging but most of all so encouraging, we had many laughs during the session as her down to earth nature quickly made me feel at home in her studio. Thanks to her guidance the finished product was way beyond anything I thought I was capable of creating, and my confidence certainly grew. It was so nice to tap into that long forgotten creative side of myself.
So whether you feel a little despondent about art, or are a budding artist keen to learn more, I really encourage you to tap into your own creative side. Fiona will be starting up art classes in the New Year for people of all ages, you can get in touch with her at … I hope to see you there!