Cygnets Art School

Cygnets Art School Cygnets Art School is a National UK franchise teaching traditional, step-by-step skills in drawing,

24/09/2026

The best part is seeing it through their eyes 🧡

Printmaking has a moment built into it that almost nothing else does. You work the plate, you press the paper down, and you genuinely don't know what you've made until you peel it back.

That's a rare thing to give a child. Most of what they make, they can see coming. This one keeps its secret until the last second, and you can watch them realise it worked.

Filmed at Cygnets Art School Abingdon, Witney and East Oxford 🦢

Autumn term is underway and there's still room at many branches. Find your nearest: https://cygnetsartschool.com

What's the last thing your child made that got this reaction?

Magic & Mischief: our October half-term workshops 🐇A week of myths and fairytales, with children working in a different ...
22/09/2026

Magic & Mischief: our October half-term workshops 🐇

A week of myths and fairytales, with children working in a different fine art medium each session. A potion bottle in acrylics. A Coyote Who Stole The Moon in gouache. A magician's top hat in clay, with a rabbit climbing out of it.

Good to know:
· Small classes, 1:6 teacher to student
· All materials provided
· Ages 5+, and all abilities genuinely welcome
· Booking is open now

Find your nearest branch here: https://cygnetsartschool.com

Which one would your child pick first: the potion, the coyote, or the rabbit?

17/09/2026

How to photograph your artwork for the Cygnets National Art Awards 📸

Half of entering is just getting a good photo of the work, and it's more straightforward than it looks.

1. Find some natural light
2. Use a plain background
3. Check all four corners are in the frame
4. Get the camera straight above it: your phone's grid helps
5. Take the photo
6. Crop the background out, keeping the whole artwork
7. Head to the awards site and click Enter Now

Free to enter, and entries close 30 October.

Thank you to Alice at Cygnets Art School Edinburgh Southside for this one 💙

https://awards.cygnetsartschool.com/submit-your-entry/

Six questions worth asking before you sign your child up to any art class 👇There are lots of good options out there, and...
15/09/2026

Six questions worth asking before you sign your child up to any art class 👇

There are lots of good options out there, and the right one depends on what you actually want. Some families want somewhere relaxed for their child to make things, and that's a perfectly good thing to want.

If what you want is your child taught properly: technique, materials, progression term on term, these are the questions that tell you what you're looking at.

Swipe through. And ask them of us, too. We'd much rather you chose us with your eyes open.

Book a trial class: https://cygnetsartschool.com

🧡 Photo Credit: Cygnets Art School Abingdon, Witney and East Oxford

Three people will look at every piece of work that comes in for the Cygnets National Art Awards 2026.Tabby Booth: artist...
14/09/2026

Three people will look at every piece of work that comes in for the Cygnets National Art Awards 2026.

Tabby Booth: artist and co-founder of Cygnets. Her own work is a silhouette style that sits between contemporary illustration and traditional folk art.

Dr Jenni Bradford: heads Team ICAP, working with children's activity providers across the country. She has spent her career on what children actually take away from the arts.

Sophie Derrick: a Wiltshire-based artist whose practice moves between painting and photography, exploring portraiture, transformation and identity.

Alongside the panel there is a public vote, so every piece is seen twice over.

Ages 5 to 18, anywhere in the UK.
Free to enter, and your child does not need to be a Cygnets student.
Theme: Colours of the Rainbow.
Entries close Friday 30 October.

07/09/2026

The benefits of art that may surprise you.

We think of art class as learning to draw, paint and sculpt; mediums, colour mixing, mark-making. And it is all of that.

But there's a lot more going on. Working through a creative task teaches a child to focus, and to problem-solve each step of the way. It teaches patience: that good work takes layers and time. And week after week their confidence grows as they surprise themselves with what they can do, all while sharing a table with friends.

The artwork is what they take home. The rest, they keep.

Filmed at our Notting Hill branch 💙

Parents, what have you noticed your child bringing home from art class besides the painting?

Sunday Sketchbook 🎨This week's prompt: FEATHERS 🪶 This week's prompt is one of the oldest studies there is. Dürer painte...
06/09/2026

Sunday Sketchbook 🎨

This week's prompt: FEATHERS 🪶

This week's prompt is one of the oldest studies there is. Dürer painted a bird's wing in 1512 and artists are still trying to match it.

A feather is a generous thing to draw. The shape is simple enough to begin straight away, and the detail goes as deep as you want to take it. The shaft, the way the barbs separate where they've been ruffled, the way light behaves differently on the soft base and the smooth tip.

Pick one. Draw it however you like, with whatever you have.

05/09/2026

A Saturday morning at Cygnets Art School Rochester, start to finish 🦢

The part nobody sees is the first hour. A quiet room, tables laid out, materials and everything ready before a single child walks through the door.

Then it isn't quiet at all.

Two hours later the paint is drying, the floor is swept, and everyone goes home with something they didn't have at breakfast.

Autumn term is booking now. Find your nearest class: https://cygnetsartschool.com.

03/09/2026

Two little artists from Cygnets Art School Notting Hill, on why they show up 🦢

"Cygnets is a really good place to do art and to develop your brain. And they make such lovely art projects."

"My favourite subject is painting. And I put it on the chimney or fireplace in my living room."

That's really the whole aim of a Cygnets art class. Not impressive paintings, but children who enjoy making things, who feel some ownership over what they've made, and who keep going long enough to surprise themselves.

Autumn term is booking now. Find your nearest class: https://cygnetsartschool.com

Introducing Magic & Mischief ✨This October half-term, our workshops are going somewhere fantastical.Children will paint ...
02/09/2026

Introducing Magic & Mischief ✨

This October half-term, our workshops are going somewhere fantastical.

Children will paint a Coyote Who Stole The Moon in gouache. A potion bottle in acrylics, glowing against black paper. A magician's top hat in clay, with a rabbit climbing out of it. A fairground in soft pastel, and their own magical portal in watercolour.

Every session works in a different fine art medium: watercolour, gouache, pastel, clay, acrylics. Because one of the quickest ways to make a child braver is to hand them something they've never used before.

Small classes, 1:6 teacher to student. All materials provided. Ages 5+, and all abilities welcome.

Booking is now open; link in bio.

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