I arrived at Artquarium in the spring of 2012 after a short experience learning to draw in a French art association that was about to close its doors; I had my foot in the stirrup, the painting virus well anchored in my mind and I was looking for a school to supervise me effectively; a well-formulated site attracted my attention on the web; that's how I met Gilbert and Arthur.

Since then, one session has followed another, with its share of discoveries of all kinds: composition, color, contrasts, art history, the immense pleasure of seeing a portrait appear under one's own fingers, a harmonious arrangement of forms, a space in depth. The apprenticeship is structured, possibly strict because of the obligatory stages, but the professionalism and openness demonstrated by Gilbert and Arthur, in their different and complementary teaching methods, leads us towards greater and greater autonomy and responsibility; the passage from one stage to the next is obviously not a regular path, but it's the lot of every student on the planet, and the encouragement given by our two teachers, combined with the particularly pleasant atmosphere we can feel with our workshop companions who are also experiencing the same obstacles, comfort us and help us to go further. I'd also like to stress the comprehensive nature of the teaching I receive at Artquarium: there's no classification between so-called modern art and so-called classical art, Nicolas Poussin and Nicolas de Staël are in the same fight.

Daniel, 65, retired