Lessons for Young Artists

A lifetime’s learning about art, from one of Britain’s leading artists We are all artists as children, painting and drawing each day.

Most of us stop when we get older – but David Gentleman kept going.

For over ninety years he has been drawing, painting, engraving and printing, rising to become one of Britain’s best-known and most loved artists.

His watercolours have filled galleries; his iconic wood cuts are emblazoned across posters, book jackets and train stations; his stamps have made their way to the furthest corners of the world. Here, the great, polymathic artist and craftsman shares what he has learned over the course of a lifetime of making and thinking about art.

Unlike his contemporaries, Gentleman was never a teacher; his lessons are a sequence of unconventional prompts and reflections that will deepen how you think about art and the world around you. Sincere, practical and unpretentious, Gentleman’s insights are a breath of fresh air.

Here are new ways to focus, notice the world and cultivate your own style; techniques to evolve your work, from playing with time to painting in bad weather; methods for getting the most out of mistakes and negative criticism; and, above all, reminders to return, always, to the simple delights of creativity.