Our Society was formed in 1944.
Our President - Marcus Finch, started teaching painting and drawing in 2001 mostly in the traditional formats of watercolour, gouache, pastels, oils and acrylics. Marcus teaches all subjects including life studies. As a “demonstrating tutor”, Marcus paints in every session and by necessity quickly. This has influenced the way he paints in his own practice changing from painstaking detail to quick “blocking in” of tone and selective application of detail.
As well as teaching 5 classes a week, Marcus provides demonstrations, runs workshops and critique work for art societies in person across the South of England.
Our Patron - Di Levantine of the Snowdrop Charity, which we support.
We offer Demonstrations, Workshops or Critiques that are held ten months of the year.
We have free parking for our meetings at Walberton Village Pavilion, which are monthly except for August.
Downland exhibits twice a year in one of the best locations in the area, the Norfolk Centre by Arundel Castle.
We are a good value, vibrant and friendly Society with different levels of involvement or membership to suit the individual.
Meetings take place at our base in Walberton Pavilion and feature a varied programme of demonstrations, presentations and critiques from respected local artists. Visitors are very welcome to come along and see what we do. Our workshops are excellent value, and themes generally follow on from the demo. They are a good opportunity to try new techniques and to get to know people in an informal setting. Many people like to take advantage of the networking opportunities for sharing ideas and information, organising sketching groups and doing group activities.