Trudi, an experienced tutor and local artist, works and teaches regularly in the Mendip area.

Trudi's gentle and encouraging style of teaching will beguile you into wanting to learn more. She mainly teaches and encourages beginners to discover the wonderful world of colour and light found in everyday life.

Once discovered, a sky, meadow or simply the way sunlight plays across a building or a face, will never look the same again! 'See' things in a different way forever. Even if your ability to put all this down on paper fails you - you will enjoy 'looking' and 'seeing' much more from now on.

Her help and gentle guidance will encourage and cajole you to express your own particular style of painting.

Time permitting, Trudi will demonstrate for you throughout the holiday.

Trudi has exhibited her work widely throughout the West Country, concentrating on all the major Art Weeks and Trails and The Royal Bath and West Show where in 2002 she was awarded 1st place for best picture in exhibition followed by several Commendations in subsequent years.

Trudi offers weekly painting classes and regular painting workshops particularly aimed at beginners. She also runs painting breaks in The Algarve.

Charles Evans was born in Yorkshire in 1953 and he had the privilege of a childhood spent playing in the countryside for which he had an in bred appreciation. He had always drawn and was always striving to improve his drawings. His heroes were Turner, Flint and Constable. He would wonder at the magic, mood and atmosphere that Turner managed to get into his skies, and marvelled how Constable managed to get the effect of his trees.

He studied at Lincoln College of Art and finally turned to the medium of watercolour. Watercolour is the traditional English medium because, as many artists have discovered, it captures the beautiful sense of atmosphere, haziness, dampness and watery skies of the British landscape.

In the mid seventies he followed a career in catering but during this time was commissioned by the Coal Board to paint a series of paintings of pits and the local villages through which he had his first one-man exhibition in Leeds in 1983 which was featured on Yorkshire Television. This lead onto other exhibitions.

In 1998 he was commissioned by Yorkshire Television to do a brooding type moorland scene for their TV soap "Emmerdale". After this he was asked by Tyne Tees Television to do a short series of painting Programmes for their regional series. He made the first three and these proved to be so successful that a further nine were made which are now being made for Discovery Real Time.

He has also released many DVDs and books on painting and is one of the leading demonstrators for Daler-Rowney in the UK.

He carries out workshops and demonstrates at art societies all over the country, as well as fronting painting holidays all over the UK.

www.charlesevansart.com

Tim Fisher is one of Leicestershire's rising stars in the world of fine art and a popular art tutor.

Born in Leicestershire, England, Tim became a professional artist in 2000, following a successful career in research for an international US company. Within this environment, Tim was viewed as a highly creative person and currently holds two worldwide patents.

Since the launch of his new career, Tim has won numerous art awards. He was short listed from 12,000 entrants for the first Daily Mail Not the Turner Prize competition. His pastel entitled "Pink Hydrangeas" has subsequently been displayed at the Mall Galleries, London and now is on loan to Leicester University.

Approaching his paintings like a researcher, Tim works with the heart of a purist and the mind of a realist. Whenever possible he collects his own reference material by observation, field sketches and taking photographs.

www.timfisherartist.co.uk

Steve Hall grew up on the outskirts of Bath and drew from an early age but art was considered a low priority until 40 years later when he started watercolour painting. His background is that of teaching architecture and construction which helped him with his drawing skills.

In 1994 he was able to take early retirement and once more escape into the world of watercolour and he has always had a love of the English landscape and a desire to capture its ever changing moods and seasons on paper. As a result he returned to his childhood aspirations and in 1996 he started to paint in earnest.

Like all artists he struggled to find his own style and was always buying the latest book or video, the result being that he was failing to recognise the basics of good watercolour and losing himself in the myriad of gimmicks and gismos that were being offered by the commercial art world.

At about the time of the millennium his efforts took a dramatic turn for the better when he first became aware of the work of Edward Wesson, someone who had managed to put aside all the verbal clutter about the medium of watercolour and put down on paper what he observed in as simple and honest fashion as was possible. Other artists have also influenced his style including Edward Seago, Jack Merriott, James Fletcher-Watson and lately John Yardley.

www.stevehallartist.co.uk

Anna was born in Surrey in 1960 and has always enjoyed drawing but never explored painting until her early 30's. She lives in Kent but is much happier in the open countryside, mountains, coast or moorland.

She has been painting animal and children's portraits for family and friends for many years now, being inspired initially by her own dogs, who are featured in the Pets Gallery. She feels her love of animals, in particular dogs, shows in her paintings.

Anna has experimented with most media and has settled on pastel and acrylic mostly, although she can work in other media: pencil, oil or watercolour. The finest quality paints and materials are used in the finished paintings and every care is taken to ensure a good likeness is achieved in portraits.

She has a keen interest in painting in the style of the impressionists and in particular Monet and has studied his work and painted "in his style" for some time now too.

www.petsportraits.co.uk

Andrew Pitt has been painting landscapes since he was eleven. He has had fifteen one-man exhibitions and has been teaching and demonstrating painting techniques for over thirty years.

Andrew is particularly well known for his simple, direct teaching methods and the clarity of his explanations. Not only does he show students how to paint but, more importantly, he clearly explains what he is doing as he demonstrates.

He has written many articles on watercolour, pen and wash, and oil painting for the Leisure Painter Magazine and his work is included in 'The Encyclopaedia of Watercolour Landscapes'.

Andrew's pictures are in many private collections in Britain, as well as Canada, Holland, North America, New Zealand, Slovakia and Australia.

www.andrewpitt.co.uk

Becky Samuelson has been painting professionally for eighteen years and she works from her studio in St Helens on the Isle of Wight (England) where she specialises in marine, landscape and architectural painting in watercolour, acrylic and pastel.

Much of her inspiration comes from the amazing island countryside with its huge diversity and great natural light providing her with constant inspiration. She particularly loves the use of colour and the effect of light and tries to seek out new and innovative ways of interpreting her subject. She spends as much time as possible sketching, with her preferred method as pen and wash, mainly for its immediacy and the impressionistic style that she can achieve with this.

For the past twenty two years she has sailed with her husband which has added to her repertoire of subject matter. She is equally at home painting the various classes of sailing boats in the Solent as she is with beach and landscape scenes. For those who want their boats painted, she has found it essential to have knowledge of rigging and design for accuracy.

Her work has been exhibited in major galleries both on and off the Island. She teaches for the Adult Education Service at the Isle of Wight College and runs private outdoor summer classes and tuition.

www.beckysamuelsonfinearts.co.uk

Michael Sanders was born in 1950 in Plymouth and has spent most of his life living in the South West of England. He has also lived in the South East and in the South of France. He now lives in the charming village of Calstock, nestled in the Tamar Valley on the border between Cornwall & Devon.

He studied graphics at Plymouth College of Art and ceramics at Bristol. He worked as a graphic artist, signwriter and potter before becoming a professional artist and tutor.

Michael is a regular contributor to various painting magazines, has written books and produced many instructional DVDs. He demonstrates for art retailers and art societies and runs painting holidays in the UK and Europe using all media. He brings a wealth of experience and insight into his workshops, demonstrations and paintings. He is a superb teacher, a gifted artist and writer.

He is inspired by travel, music, boats, aviation and most creative activities.

www.michaelsanders.co.uk