I have been attending Eric Thompson’s watercolour class for 15 years, first in Staindrop and subsequently at his gallery in Bp. Auckland. It is one of the highlights of my week, and is only missed if it is absolutely unavoidable. It is ‘my’ time, when I can relax with Eric and my classmates ( all now my friends) and do something I really enjoy, and I can honestly say everything else going on in my life is forgotten during those two hours. If only they didn’t go so quickly!

I was a complete novice when I started, but I am amazed at how much I have learned over the years. Eric is a lovely man and a great teacher who passes on his own extensive knowledge and skill by demonstration combined with clear explanations of what he is doing, and why. Of course, these are almost always interspersed with humorous comments in his own inimitable style! He only ever offers encouragement, constructive criticism and advice on how to overcome any problem, which enables us to tackle any project without the fear of failure.

I am sure the online courses offer the same level of instruction. I am only sorry that participants cannot fully experience the fun of being in Eric’s company.

Eric’s classes at Bondgate Gallery are brilliant, good for the soul! Also a great learning environment, his teaching style is relaxed but informative. The subjects painted are chosen to extend ( exasperate) our comfort zones. New skills and techniques are incorporated into most lessons, which include the use of professional colouring pencils and ink pens. The style of painting is varied from loose to more detailed studies.

Never a dull moment ,unfortunately most of it is captured on camera

When I retired, some 14 years or so now, my daughter gave me a cheap Chinese watercolour set as one of my birthday presents. Having no natural artistic talent, I thought "what do I do with this?". I read a few books, watched a few videos and did a few not very good pictures (nothing new there!). I joined a beginners art class at the Arts Centre (where I met Cilla who was actually a friend of my wife through a ceramic class that they both did). After a few terms at the Arts Centre I was becoming disheartened - the tutor would demonstrate techniques and then disappear for most of the lesson while we used our imagination to conjure up a suitable picture. Having little or no imagination, I found this very difficult and nothing that I produced was in any way my idea of what a painting should look like.

Then I found the workshop that you ran at the Art Shop. We did a simple winter scene with a ploughed field, small farmhouse, hedges and some trees. You can only imagine my excitement when you put it in a frame and showed it round - an actual painting that I had produced by myself (with possibly a little help from you!). Two further workshops followed and I enquired about your Hurworth class - the rest is history as they say.

All of the thanks really goes to you with the way you coped with insults and comments from Mike and myself, always giving as good as you get and also your zeal in constantly going round and correcting our feeble efforts.

I found it quite emotional saying goodbye to all the friends at the class, Lynn and yourself and I know that Cilla felt the same. She commented on the way home "Makes you wish you had changed your mind", but we both knew that it was time to stop.

I hope that I will find the time and energy to carry on with the painting and make good use of your videos.

All the best and I will let you know how things are going from time to time.