Our Painting Holiday Tutors
Our painting holiday tutors are experienced and inspiring artists who will ensure your perfect painting experience, whether in Italy, Spain, or Morocco. To get to know each of our tutors and see what to expect from a painting week, find out more about them below!
Douglas Matthews
Douglas is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art (Drawing & Painting) and has been teaching art to adults and secondary school pupils both in the UK and the Middle East since he graduated. He has had seven one-man exhibitions and his work is included in several international private collections. For 16 years he was the watercolour tutor at the Holyrood Art Club in Edinburgh and has run private painting groups at his home since his return to Scotland in 2000. Douglas continues to paint both in water and oil-based mediums and includes mixed media in the landscapes and seascapes that will be the basis of his next exhibition.
Douglas’ available 2025 dates
- Painting in Morocco 14 – 21 March * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Bologna 16 – 23 May
- Painting in Tuscany 07 – 14 June
- Painting in Tuscany 14 – 21 June
- Painting in Seville 11 – 18 October
Meet Douglas here, in his Introduction to Acrylics on-demand course taster
I am delighted to continue as a tutor with Flavours. My overriding aim is to ensure that you have an enjoyable, stress free but wholly rewarding holiday and that my help and expertise has encouraged you to progress your work in whatever medium you choose.
Examples of Douglas Matthews's Work
John Gagahan
John Gahagan is a professional artist living and working in Scotland. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art and specialises in architectural illustration and landscape painting. His pictures capture his love for urban architecture at home and abroad and coastal and pastoral scenes around Scotland.
His travels with his sketchbook have taken him on many an artistic sojourn; to such diverse locations as France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Ireland, and the Americas.
John’s 2025 dates
- Painting in Andalusia 10 – 17 May * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Puglia 15 – 22 June
- Painting in Puglia 22 – 29 June
- Painting in Andalusia 11 – 18 October
- Painting in Andalusia 18 – 25 October
Examples of John's Work
Michael Gahagan
Michael Gahagan is an accomplished artist and professional business and life coach who delivers painting and drawing tuition in an engaging, relaxing, fun, and supportive style to people of all artistic abilities. His animal illustrations have also appeared in numerous articles and books. Artistic subject matter includes landscapes, seascapes, still life, and wildlife.
I passionately believe that we can all draw! As an artist and professionally qualified coach my aim is to combine my artistic and coaching skills to help participants enjoy art and develop at a pace that suits their own level of skills and experience in a supportive environment with like-minded individuals. The format of the each course is informal and supportive and is designed to improve confidence, build artistic skills and encourage each participant’s individual artistic development.
Examples of Michael's Work
Kate Wheaton
Kate Graduated in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art and achieved an Andrew Grant postgraduate scholarship. Following further study at Jordanhill College she entered the teaching profession moving from Craigmont High School to the Theatre Arts Centre in Edinburgh working with film and photography. She then went to The Royal High School teaching Art and Design to both young mixed-ability classes and students at senior level. Adults attended her evening class in Still Life painting. It was there that she became a Principal Teacher of Guidance helping young people to achieve their full potential.
She has a studio and has exhibited her work in galleries and at Whitehall. She now works largely on commissions for friends. ‘Whichever medium I work in I have a thirst for vibrant colour, it lifts the spirits and delights the heart’.
Kate’s available 2025 dates:
- Painting in Sicily 04 – 11 May
- Painting in Tuscany 20 – 27 September
Examples of Kate's Work
Jonathan Newey
Jonathan Newey is an award-winning artist who lives and works in Reading. He comes from a strong artistic background and is believed to be a 4th generation artist. He works in a variety of mediums and subjects and has been teaching art courses in adult education for 25 years, running courses on drawing and painting with watercolour, acrylic, coloured pencil, and watercolour pencil.
Jonathan Newey is an award-winning artist with over 25 years of experience in both drawing and painting. Born in Reading, England, he comes from a long line of artists in his family. He has extensive experience in a wide range of mediums and subject matter but specialises in drawings and paintings inspired by nature.
He has over 20 years of experience as a teacher and lecturer and has taught in local and national adult education colleges and has also taught in various countries around the world such as Greece, Cyprus, Spain, France, and Italy.
He is a member of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and has been selected for their ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ exhibit at the Mall Galleries, London for 7 years.
He has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has paintings in various collections both at home and abroad.
Examples of Jonathan's Work
Julie Ford
Julie’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Tuscany 03 – 10 May
- Painting in Puglia 01 – 08 June * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Puglia 07 – 14 September
Examples of Julie's Work
Bella Franks
Bella is an artist and yoga teacher living in Brighton. She trained in London and Florence, setting up her life drawing business in 2010 where she teaches the traditional practice in a range of settings such as in workplaces, festivals, retreats, and holidays.
Bella has a degree in Primary Education and works with both adults and children as a freelance educator in schools, museums, and galleries. She specialises in working with children with additional needs and loves the possibilities that art expression offers.
Bella works with charcoal, oils, acrylic, and watercolour as well as mixed media, print, and collage. She loves exploring materials and encouraging her students to try new things and enjoy the creative process.
Bella’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Tuscany 31 – 07 June 2025
- Painting in Puglia 21 – 28 September 2025 * LAST ROOM *
- Painting in Puglia 28 – 05 October 2025
Examples of Bella's Work
Celia Bennett
Celia is an adventurous artist who uses dynamic brush strokes to express her love of colour and texture. Her landscape and seascape paintings are full of movement, life, and light. She works with mixed media or watercolour for her paintings, and watercolour with ink for her sketches. She enjoys sketching outdoors and capturing the essence of places and people.
She has been teaching weekly art classes to adults for several years, covering a wide range of subjects and different mediums. She has also taught mixed media workshops to adults and children. She loves sharing her passion for drawing and painting. She helps her students grow in confidence as they explore various techniques in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. She believes everyone can learn to paint if they have support and encouragement from a good tutor.
She has also mentored other professional artists over the years, helping them to overcome ‘Artist’s Block’, learn new skills, loosen up their style and try new materials and techniques.
She has worked with Winsor and Newton to trial at the Head Office and has regularly demonstrated their products in Art Retailers across the UK.
Celias’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Puglia 18 – 25 May * 2 ROOMS LEFT *
- Painting in Sicily 25 – 01 June
- Painting in Tuscany 21 – 28 June
- Painting in Tuscany 28 – 05 July
- Painting in Sicily 31 – 07 September
- Painting in Sicily 07 – 14 September * 2 ROOMS LEFT *
- Painting in Sicily 12 – 19 October
Examples of Celia's Work
Sophie McKay Knight
Sophie’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Umbria 07 – 14 June * SOLD OUT *
Examples of Sophies Work
Angus Maclean
Gus graduated in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art and Reading University. He has been employed in art education since 1975. Among, the schools in which he has taught are, the Kings School Ely, Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College, Edinburgh, and, for 30 years, at Dollar Academy. He is the Principal Assessor for Advanced Higher Art and Design. He has considerable experience in adult classes including for many years running the Dollar Art Group. As well as creating his own work he has been working on commissions ranging from formal portraits to graphic design work for Cambridge University Press. He has also been engaged in helping his daughter Rachel Maclean with sculpture and “storyboarding” in preparing for multi-media exhibitions.
Gus’ 2025 dates are:
- Painting in Sicily 27 Apr – 04 May
- Painting in Tuscany 17 – 24 May
- Painting in Bologna 12 – 19 September
- Painting in Seville 27 – 04 October
Examples of Angus McLean's Work
Mark Holden
Mark has been a professional Artist in Scotland since 2002 when he started his career in St.Andrews. He has exhibited in Galleries in Scotland and the UK and undertaken commission works in Arnhem Hospital Holland and for a variety of clients in Europe. He also coaches Art Groups in Scotland and, later this year, Italy.
Mark works with Oils, Acrylics, and Watercolours. Subjects include Scottish landscapes, classic cars, golf courses, and skiing. Mark likes to work on commissions for clients and has had several recently used in new house-build projects as feature artwork.
Mark’s 2025 holiday dates:
- Photography in Morocco 21 – 28 February * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Morocco 28 – 07 March * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Andalusia 05 – 12 April * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Venice 10 – 17 May ** LAST ROOM **
- Painting in Venice 17 – 24 May * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Sicily 01 – 08 June
- Painting in Sicily 08 – 15 June * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Umbria 30 – 06 September ** LAST ROOM **
- Panting in Umbria 06 – 13 September
- Painting in Tuscany 04 – 11 October
- Painting in Tuscany 11 – 18 October
It is a wonderful experience sharing art techniques at the amazing Flavours venues and on location trips we share, it's great seeing people leave more confident and excited about their art journey - come along and experience it yourself.
Examples of Mark Holden's Work
Jaclyn Stuart
Jaclyn is an artist who works in St Andrews Scotland. She graduated from Grays School of Art with a BA Hons in Fine Art in 2000. She has taught art in many establishments including lecturing in Further Education. She now runs her own teaching business in St Andrews along with making and selling her own artwork. She works in watercolour, acrylics, oils, and inks.
Jaclyn’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Puglia 11 – 18 May * SOLD OUT *
- Painting in Tuscany 13 – 20 September * SOLD OUT *
Art that speaks to the heart. I love to use symbolism to explore themes of meaning,faith, morality, identity and destiny. I want to create beautiful work that speaks to the heart.
Examples of Jaclyn Stuart's work
Alan Rogers
Alan graduated in painting and printmaking firstly at Exeter, then Glasgow School of Art, before qualifying as a teacher at the University of Wales. He has 35 years’ experience working in colleges and universities in the UK and Italy and enjoys working with mixed-ability groups and encouraging individuals to find their ‘voice’. As a professional artist, Alan has worked internationally across 4 continents and 11 countries as artist-in-residence, curator, and public artist. He was course leader in B.A. Art Education at the University of Wales, a recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Award and has over 15 one-person exhibitions to his name. He moved to Venice in 2020, establishing himself as a visual artist and freelance educator. He works principally using mixed-media, collage, and paint create ‘a sense of place’ and is currently engaged in an ‘archival’ portraiture project of his local community in collaboration with the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
Alan’s 2025 dates:
- Painting in Sicily 18 – 25 May
- Painting in Puglia 08 – 15 June
- Painting in Venice 06 – 13 September
- Painting in Venice 13 – 20 September
- Painting in Puglia 05 – 12 October
Examples of Alan's Work
Deirdre Nichols
Trained at Liverpool and Winchester Schools of Art & taught by William Crozier, Patrick Heron, and Norman Ackroyd, Deirdre won the Northern Young
Contemporaries prize in its early days. Deirdre’s specialisms are watercolour painting and figurative sculpture. She has a degree in Fine Art from Winchester School of Art, a Master’s degree in Classics, and a PGCE from Sussex University, has taught both children and adults and run gallery tours for over 40 years. Deirdre has worked in public and private collections in the UK, France, and the US and exhibits widely. One of her works has been shortlisted for the RA Summer Exhibition 2023.
Example of Deirdre's work
My approach to teaching is to build confidence through technique in both drawing and in the specialist handling that watercolours demand, so that my students can relax into the work and find true pleasure in the execution of it.
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