I started drawing and painting when I was a teenager. I had no technique but a great desire to express myself without having to speak. I went to art school in London after doing a Baccalauréat in art. I came out without much technique, but with quite a lot of exhibition experience, so I threw myself into the wave of contemporary creation for several years.

After six years of living as a "contemporary artist", I got very tired of it... I felt like I was going round in circles, I thought everyone was doing the same thing and I found it hard to take what I and my contemporaries were creating seriously.

I stopped creating and taking an interest in art for seven years. Then, last year, I began to miss the artistic process and the creative moments, but I didn't want to do what I'd done before. I finally wanted to learn "how to make" art in technical, classical, thoughtful and academic terms.

That's where I found Gilbert's workshop and started coming to classes. It was there that I finally began to learn what "form, composition, tonality, golden ratio" meant... it was also there that I understood that it's not just a matter of chance or "feeling" if you're touched or challenged by a work of art... there's a whole world of techniques and application of methodology to speak this language, so that it doesn't just stop at the superficial "feeling".

And now I'm learning, reconnecting with art from a completely new perspective... I've met a teacher with astonishing knowledge in his field, a consistent and pure technical application and reading... and all this with great sensitivity and patience for these students who dream of just being able to express themselves coherently and freely!

Victoria James