The Art House Sheffield — Attraction in Sheffield

I did the "Self Portrait in Oils" course here in Summer, 2025. The class was small, ensuring that we got a lot of individual attention from the tutor, who is also an artist. I developed my own portrait by direct observation looking in a mirror. We built our portraits up layer by layer each week over 6 weeks, starting with a practice sketch in pencil, then moving on to an outline in brown/ochre paint, then monotone blocks, revising proportions and then adding more different coloured paints, developing skin tones, hair, clothes and details up to the final portrait.

All materials were supplied including a stretched canvas, disposable palette and a great range of brushes and oil paint colours. If I had any feedback comments in this area, it would be to supply more kitchen towel, white spirits and cleaner mixing medium since what we had to work with to thin out the paint seemed well used, no doubt recycled from other classes. Keeping it in jars with lids is a great idea though! Inevitably working with oils can be messy even for the most careful person - so wear old clothes! Everything seemed to be low odour so the smell wasn't overwhelming which was great! The tutor goes around regularly and is was always on hand to answer questions and to offer their opinion on proportions, tones, colours to use etc.

Tea and biscuits is also supplied, and during these breaks, the tutor also discussed with us techniques and famous works by the old masters from pictures in art books. This definitely ignited all our passions to spur us on! I was able to get access to bring my completed dried portrait home a few days after the course.

Myself and most of the other attendees were not novices to painting, so we did thrive in a course where the tutor was very hands off and left us to express our own emotions and creativity in paint, aligning very much with the tutors own art style. As such, if you are coming to this course expecting to learn detailed step by step techniques from scratch with a very closely involved teacher, then this course probably is not for you. This probably explains some other negative reviews. On the other hand, if you are a budding artist who already has experience painting in acrylics or other media, and would like to try oils and portraits for the first time, then this course is for you!

I personally got a huge amount out of the course, since, not having hardly touched oils for years, it helped me to conquer my own fears using the medium, not to be so precious about it and and it gave me growing confidence, by the end producing what I consider to be more than a passable...

We visited The Tea Studio in The Art House as a last holiday treat before my son was starting back at school. What a lovely place! My lad had a jacket potato meal which he loved, I went for the bhaji sandwich. Very tasty. The cafe has dairy free butter and cheese for vegans and a wide selection of teas, and cakes and cookies suitable for a vegan diet! I had the best chocolate cake from here too, hats off to the lady who looked after us, and her secret recipe. The service was super friendly, and i have already recommended this place to a few people! Its a hidden gem, and we will...

This is a great hidden gem in the city centre. There are a number of courses from pottery, painting, crafts, etc.

There's a lovely little vegetarian and vegan cafe downstairs open to the public.

My mum took some pottery and craft classes not long after my dad died. She found everyone friendly and sympathetic. The whole experience helped her massively get her confidence back to go out again.

The art house supports those who are lonely, amongst many others.

Please support this place to save it from closing during lockdown. It is a vital service as well as a lovely...