This coming May I have booked to go on a week long course in the Cotswolds with the American watercolourist, Charles Reid. Most people who know me on POL are aware that I have been a fan of Charles Reid for some time now, so it perhaps won't come a surprise that I want to be in a situation where I can watch him paint and learn from him. However, if it wasn't Charles R running the course, I don't think I would bother. I have been on 6 different courses,with well known artists, in my life (if you don't count the two term long courses I did at our local arts centre to learn the basics of watercolour painting) and I am not sure I have actually gained anything from them. Sometimes, exactly the opposite. Perhaps I am odd, but I found myself more interested in the tutor's process of decision making about a painting rather than being interested in the actual technicalities of applying the paint to the paper. Most of the tutors were unable to answer my questions because in the final analysis, they probably were painting more by intuition and experience than anything else and pretty near all of them were unable to provide satisfactory explanations, which I found frustrating. The other problem I found was that, for me, painting is a very solitary past-time and I need peace and quiet and privacy to do my best. Painting with a group of people who you have only just met was difficult. There was inevitably some bright spark who was streets ahead of everyone else and me, and that seemed to knock my confidence in what I was doing. I always felt I was on trial and had to do better than my best and, of course, this just didn't happen and I have never produced any painting of note on any course I have been on - only bin fodder. The other problem was that some of the tutors were pushing their own style of painting (even although they kept muttering about everyone finding their own style) and I just ended up confused. When I returned home from a course I found myself in a mish-mash of styles - some of it mine and some of it influenced by the tutor. It usually took me quite a time to get myself back onto my personal track. Well, I hear you say, if you feel so negative about courses, what the hell are you doing going on the Charles Reid one. A very good question and I did ponder for quite a while as to whether I should pay my money and take my choice. However, the thing about Charles R is that if I come home and I have absorbed some of his style then this, to me, will be a bonus because I love his style and I would die happy if I could produce just one painting in my life as good as his. Also, I have been longing to see him in action and actually painting. He has a unique style of applying the paint to paper and although I have his DVD's, the cameraman seems always to get a fit of artyfarty-ness all at the wrong moment and just when I want to see a particular brush-stroke I get treated panoramic views of distant hills or a bird flying. Not helpful. So if I can have an uninterrupted view of CR's brush then this will definitely be an improvement. The one thing that won't change for me is the fact that I know that I will produce nothing worth keeping on the course. I just can't paint in company and I shall have to accept that CR will probably come to the conclusion that I am a right numptie and have strayed onto the wrong course and should gone on the one about macrame instead. I'll give an update as to how I get on. The course is in early May.