EDDIE BANNISTER

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You may have read Eddie's story in "Taking Part" but if not here it is again

Eddie Bannister is a down-to-earth workshop technician living and working in London.  For many years his hobby (and passion) had been fresh water fishing, and he will modestly admit he has been pretty good at it.  It has certainly given him immense pleasure. With the death of his fishing partner last year, however, Eddie’s interest in the sport began to wane, and he started looking around for something else to fill the new gap in his life. 

He had always fancied having a go at painting but had never quite known how, or where to begin.  Art had never been one of his strong points at school, and he’d never been taught how to draw. Like the rest of us, however, a lifetime of home building had taught Eddie lots of painting skills and colour co-ordination, and he reckoned these could be useful in turning the stories in his head into pictures. 

 Over the years he’d watched many How to Paint programmes on TV, but had neverbeen left confident enough to try it himself.  

 “They were too fast, too professional, and full of stuff I didn’t understand”, he says.  “Also, I couldn’t afford the time to go traipsing off to the countryside every time I wanted to do a bit of painting, could I?”

 Then one day last year he came across MisterDenham.com, and saw pictures that he could immediately understand

 “…and look at for ages. The colours are so bright and cheerful, and everyone’s having a good time.  ‘I’ll have a go at that myself ’, I thought”.

Eddie bought himself a small starter set of Acrylics and three brushes, and primed up the smooth side of a scrap piece of hardboard (masonite) the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Then he looked at some of the paintings in MisterDenham’s Gallery, and drew a pencil picture on A4 paper of him and his friend scrumping apples when they were young.

Working at night in his kitchen, after the family had gone to bed, Eddie produced a successful first painting, copying the colours from the website, and began another one straightaway.  He soon became ‘bitten by the bug’, and is now using a colour wheel to help teach himself the basics of colour mixing. 

His unfolding story is a wonderful example of how you can make it happen for yourself in painting.  There is nothing complicated about it, just see how Eddy is doing it - bit by bit. As the story unfolds, I’ll be giving you tips and advice on how to be successful, and show you some shortcuts that will save hours of weary struggle.