Perennial problem to resolve today, that is to say the first day of a new course at the School; sorting out the difference between illustration and painting. What's the big deal you might think? Illustrators use paint, so by definition illustration using paint is, well, Painting (note the capital P). This is a bit like saying the Yellow Pages and Shakespeare use the same set of characters and punctuation, so they must be more or less the same thing. With paint, as with text,intention and implementation is everything. Why should this matter? Well if you , like 90% of my students, have trouble 'freeing' up, finding your 'style' or habitually overwork your paintings then thinking about this is the start of the end of all that. Ilustration is essentially the neutral conveyance of visual information, that is to say a picture which is correct in all of its relevant details, and free from bias; most early paintings fit into this definition, as do some of the Pre-Raphaelite and Dutch paintings. Informative yes, technically brilloiant, certainly - but not work s of originality, imagination, verve or flair. The apotheosis of illustration is really aviation, botanical or bird art where every rivet, stamen or feather is adjudged to be correct - or not. Painting then is really the opposite of this, poetry to illustration's non fiction if you will. Painting isn't about including everything, or reporting from a neutral standpoint, it's all about exclusion, bias, exaggeration and imagination. Paintings can be judged on how they make you feel, illustrations on how informative they are; once this is understood, the painter has complete freedom to manipulate a scene to create the right feeling. This is a powerful example of art theory empowering students to start Painting rather than creating another tired old harbour scene using small brushes and tight rendering of detail. There's nothing wrong with illustration of this kind beyond the fact it's boring and says nothing about its creator, but let's not kid ourselves it's Painting, in the great and ancient sense of the term. If you doubt this I say go and look at the' Fighting Temeraire' Britain's favourite picture, then stand at Gravesend until you see the sun setting in the east as Turner painted it.