Ali’s Art Courses

Ali’s Art Courses Oil painting classes and watercolour workshops for adults and young people. Folkestone. Hello! I am DBS checked, and have public liability insurance.

I'm Ali Hodgkinson Fogg, a figurative artist living and working in Folkestone. I have been teaching art to children and adults in this beautiful seaside town since 2015.

​Whatever their age, I teach my students the technical skills that are the bedrock of art practice - perspective, light and shadow, colour mixing, paint handling - while encouraging them to embrace their individuality and own way

of seeing. After all, it is uniqueness that takes art from good to great.

​I studied Art History at the University of London; drawing, painting and printmaking at the Royal Drawing School in Shoreditch; and Portraiture at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Chelsea. I have a PGCE from the University of Greenwich and have worked in a wide variety of educational settings abroad and at home, including Kensington and Chelsea College where I was a Course Director.

If you have always wanted to try oil painting but felt too nervous to start, this course was designed with you in mind. ...
12/08/2026

If you have always wanted to try oil painting but felt too nervous to start, this course was designed with you in mind. It is a warm, welcoming space to take those first tentative steps, and I promise there is nothing to feel daunted about.

Oil Painting ABC is a relaxed and supportive twelve week course designed especially for beginners. Over our sessions together we will explore colour mixing, brushwork, blending, layering and simple composition, building your confidence gradually so that painting starts to feel like second nature.

All materials are provided, so there is no need to purchase anything before you begin. I use excellent quality, widely available student-grade paints and a variety of painting surfaces, giving you plenty of scope to experiment and discover what works best for you.

Tuesday evenings are now fully booked, but Wednesday mornings (10am to 12pm, starting 30th September) and Thursday evenings (7pm to 9pm, starting 1st October) still have spaces. I would love to welcome you.

£300, payable in two instalments. Book online at www.alisartcourses.com

I am delighted to invite you to Oil Painting ABC, an introduction to the rich and rewarding world of oil painting. Desi...
31/07/2026

I am delighted to invite you to Oil Painting ABC, an introduction to the rich and rewarding world of oil painting. Designed especially for beginners, this course will guide you through the essential techniques and skills needed to start painting with confidence. Over twelve relaxed and supportive sessions, we’ll explore colour mixing, brushwork, blending, layering, and simple composition, while learning how to work with oil paint safely and effectively. My aim is to help you build a solid foundation so that you feel comfortable continuing your oil painting journey, whether that’s in one of my ongoing classes or in your own creative time at home. All materials are provided, so there’s no need to purchase anything before the course begins. I use excellent-quality, widely available student-grade paints and a variety of painting surfaces, allowing you to experiment and discover what works best for you. Book online at www.alisartcourses.com

Look at this gorgeous selection of paintings by Dee, one of my lovely students on my weekly Only Oils class. Hard to bel...
04/07/2026

Look at this gorgeous selection of paintings by Dee, one of my lovely students on my weekly Only Oils class. Hard to believe Dee was a complete beginner at the start of the year! If you’ve always wanted to give oils a try, why not join my Oil Painting ABC class starting in September. Or, if you already have some experience but would benefit from the weekly commitment of a supportive, relaxed and friendly class, you could join one of my Only Oils groups on a Thursday or Friday morning. All details are on my website www.alisartcourses.com

7:7 begins in four weeks and I can’t wait!It is a seven-week online sketchbook course for adults who want to make art mo...
02/07/2026

7:7 begins in four weeks and I can’t wait!

It is a seven-week online sketchbook course for adults who want to make art more regularly, but find that self-criticism, hesitation, or any number of blocks and barriers keep getting in the way.

The course grew out of what I have noticed again and again in my teaching: that many adults don’t lack ability, but have become very quick to judge their work. The blank page can start to feel loaded before anything has even happened.

7:7 offers a structured way back into regular drawing and painting. Across seven weeks, you’ll receive daily sketchbook prompts and join weekly live sessions designed to help you build a regular sketchbook habit rooted in observation, play and instinct, without the pressure of producing polished finished work.

Special pilot price of £77 - just £11 per week.

There are still places available if this feels like the right moment to join.

Link to book in bio ❤️

We have been learning about glazing in watercolors. Look at this ephemeral beauty created by Sophie, 14 💗
29/06/2026

We have been learning about glazing in watercolors. Look at this ephemeral beauty created by Sophie, 14 💗

Calling local artists!I’m inviting artists to take part in Postcards for P.O.T.S., a Secret Postcard fundraiser taking p...
25/06/2026

Calling local artists!

I’m inviting artists to take part in Postcards for P.O.T.S., a Secret Postcard fundraiser taking place at my Canterbury Road studio on Friday 9th October, 2–8pm, as part of the Open Art Folke weekend.

Participating artists are invited to donate one original A6 postcard-sized artwork.

All postcards will be displayed anonymously and sold for £20, with proceeds going to PoTS UK, a charity supporting people affected by Postural Tachycardia Syndrome through education, awareness, support and research.

The artist’s identity will only be revealed after the postcard has been bought.

I’d love to create a beautiful, varied collection of small original works to raise funds and awareness for this important cause.

If you’d like to take part, please message me and I’ll send you the details.

Thank you, Ali 🙏

I was absolutely thrilled to see my oil painting ‘The Rec’ hanging on the wall at the prestigious NEAC annual exhibitio...
12/06/2026

I was absolutely thrilled to see my oil painting ‘The Rec’ hanging on the wall at the prestigious NEAC annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. It is an amazing show, well worth seeing! Open until June 20th ❤️

Amazing mini still lifes from my Only Oils group! This project was really fun. If you’ve always wanted to learn oils but...
12/06/2026

Amazing mini still lifes from my Only Oils group! This project was really fun. If you’ve always wanted to learn oils but haven’t known how to start, please join my brand new 12 week course ‘Oil Painting ABC’ starting in September. We’ll begin at the very beginning and by the end you’ll have enough skill and confidence to carry on alone or progress to one of my weekly Only Oils groups. The cost is £300 for 12 two hour sessions (just £10 per hour for the tuition and £5 weekly for materials) There is 20% off if you join before the end of June, and you can pay in two instalments. Booking now open on my website www.artwithali.co.uk 🌸

🎨I am delighted to invite you to Oil Painting ABC, an introduction to the rich and rewarding world of oil painting. Des...
09/06/2026

🎨I am delighted to invite you to Oil Painting ABC, an introduction to the rich and rewarding world of oil painting. Designed especially for beginners, this course will guide you through the essential techniques and skills needed to start painting with confidence. Over twelve relaxed and supportive sessions, we’ll explore colour mixing, brushwork, blending, layering, and simple composition, while learning how to work with oil paint safely and effectively. My aim is to help you build a solid foundation so that you feel comfortable continuing your oil painting journey, whether that’s in one of my ongoing classes or in your own creative time at home. All materials are provided, so there’s no need to purchase anything before the course begins. I use excellent-quality, widely available student-grade paints and a variety of painting surfaces, allowing you to experiment and discover what works best for you 🎨

Something I often see with adults I teach is that art gets saved for ‘later’. It becomes something to return to when wor...
07/05/2026

Something I often see with adults I teach is that art gets saved for ‘later’. It becomes something to return to when work is finished, when life settles, when there’s finally enough time to do it ‘properly’. Some of my retired students have wanted to make art since school - the interest never really left, but it became tied up with the idea that it needed time, space, and a certain level of commitment. It started to feel like something they had to devote themselves to, rather than something they could simply DO.

Once that idea takes hold, it’s very easy for art to fall out of reach.

What tends to shift things isn’t suddenly finding more time, but changing the scale and expectations. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes with a sketchbook is enough; a pen or coloured pencils - a page filled with pattern, colour, fragments of observation or memory.

When art fits into the day like this, it stops competing with everything else. It becomes part of the fabric of things rather than something that sits off to the side waiting for the right moment. The focus moves away from improvement and towards function - what the drawing is doing for you that day. Sometimes it steadies you, sometimes it distracts you, sometimes it brings you back into contact with your surroundings.

These small low-stakes sketches build something over time - not in the sense of a finished body of work, but in the way they change your relationship to the page.

Art doesn’t need a clear run at the end of your working life - it can sit exactly where you are, as you are. If this feels familiar, and you’d like a simple way to begin again with some structure, consistency, and support, please join the 7:7 Sketchbook Journey this summer! I’d love to have you. For more information, visit https://www.77sketchbookjourney.com❤️

Address

Folkestone

Telephone

+447821361050

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Ali’s Art Courses posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Ali’s Art Courses:

Shortcuts

Share

Category