About Graham Wade, Your Tutor

I'm Graham Wade and I have been into Art for decades. Too long to even try to think about it !!

I am one of the many who had artistic abilities from a young age but put it all aside as I went through my late teens, twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties.

Things like relationships, marriage, mortgages and children, pushed my "Art Life" aside as I focused on being employed in a reliable income. 

Now that I have retired, my "Art Life" is BACK !!  I have even regained my "motorcycle life" back,... !!

During my working life I did manage to continue with some painting activities.  During my twenties, I taught myself how to use an air brush.  That resulted in many hours painting murals on motorcycle tanks, panel vans and cars.

I had trouble mixing colours for the air brush work (using car paints), so I took lessons from a Melbourne based Artist, Lance McNeill, who travelled through my area, teaching painting (mostly oil painting).  That gave me most of my colour mixing/oil painting knowledge.

From there I have taken numerous art workshops, online courses and bought stacks of books and DVDs, so I'm still acquiring knowledge.

Perhaps the most valuable lessons I have taken were the online lessons of Johannes Vloothuis, a Canadian based Artist who now works with ArtistsNetwork.com. 

I started these lessons about 9 years ago, getting up at about 3am or 5am, depending on time zone difference from Canada to here, to log-on and follow along in Oil lessons one week, Pastel lessons the next week and watercolour on the other week. 

I admit, I learned a lot from all of these courses and I'm ready to pass on my knowledge,...   

So now, I'm excited to announce, I'll be working with the Thurgoona Community Centre to bring a program of Easy Art Lessons to people in the Albury Wodonga Region. 

Following the closure of the Art, Craft and Activities Group (ACAG) that operated from the Mirambeena Community Centre in Lavington, funding from the ACAG group was transferred to the Thurgoona Community Centre, so some of the former classes could continue.

The Art Class I tutored for five(+) years is just one of the classes that can benefit from the transferred funds, so we are starting the Thurgoona Easy Art Lessons or, to use the acronym, TEAL.

If you would like to know why the Art Craft and Activities Group ceased functioning, CLICK HERE to open a new page that explains the whole story.

There is enough funding transferred to the Thurgoona Community Centre to carry the classes through to the end of 2024 (I hope). 

If the classes prove successful and there s a strong demand or more classes, I will be looking at running a similar program with the Thurgoona Community Centre but as a different model. 

Because there may not be more funding available, I may have to run the classes as a "Stand Alone" model.  This means I will have to have Public Liability Insurance, pay for Hall rental, etc.,  plus cover my own wage.

This will mean the fees may be higher and will have to be paid in advance for each Term. 

But, that's in the future,...