Leith School of Art – preparing a portfolio

I was delighted to receive this student testimonial over the weekend.

Fiona was about to start a course at Leith School of Art after the summer and she felt quite unprepared and nervous.

She wanted to produce more finished pieces but was unsure what actually constituted a ‘finished piece’.

Even more so, she was unsure HOW she’d get there.

I’ll let her tell you her situation and how we worked together!

Student working with Portfolio Oomph in preparation for Leith School of Art

“I was a bit different from Julie’s ‘usual’ student. As an adult who discovered my love of Art through evening classes, I’d quit my job to join the Painting Course at Leith School of Art and had used the Portfolio Oomph eBook downloads to prepare my application.

Originally, I contacted Julie the summer before my course looking for help to produce ‘finished works’.  

I felt that through evening classes I never got the chance to finish things and I wasn’t sure how artists developed work to a finished piece.

In reality I got so much more!

Having never studied Art at school, sketchbooks were completely new to me.

Julie helped me to understand the creative process and how to develop project ideas through my sketchbook.

She got me thinking in new and creative ways and made me realize you can start the artistic journey without an end goal or image in mind.

She also taught me to enjoy exploring – no more perfectionism!”

images below completed during our mentoring sessions – click to enlarge

“As a result, I could see a difference in approach between myself and others.

It’s been a year since I did my mentoring and I’ve gone back to my work from that time so often. That sketchbook is now a favourite among many! It was my first self-directed project and the seed for lots of the art I’ve produced since then – because it focused on themes and ways of working that truly interest me.

Now I realise that artists don’t just produce those ‘finished works’ by drawing or painting a piece for longer… It’s the culmination of all the work that’s gone before, a lot of it in the early stages.

I know this will underpin the way I approach my practice going forward.

I would 100% recommend working with Julie, even as an adult like me.

She’s a lovely, encouraging, knowledgeable mentor and you’ll continue to realise the benefits of her support as time passes.”

She’s kindly sent some photos of her work – images produced while we worked together (above) and new work since (below).

*UPDATE* Fiona went on to study Painting at Gray’s School of Art. She is now an abstract figurative artist based in Arkade Studios in Aberdeen City.

Please follow her on Instagram @fionaburrowsart 

images below are work completed since mentoring (while at Leith School of Art) – click to enlarge

This article was written by Julie Read, a leading educator in the Creative Industries, as featured in The Guardian newspaper, on a mission to create a legacy to ‘unlock your creative genius’.

My passion and mission is your art portfolio, to help to get you that place at college or university.

CLARITY, in particular around the creative process, sketchbooks, and what the Colleges actually want to see are the founding principles.