EVERY week more than 30 local artists travel to the picturesque surrounds of Upton to practise their skills.

The fruits of their labour will be on display during an Art Exhibition at Bridge House, on the Waterfront, over August Bank Holiday weekend.

Many of the artists from the weekly classes run by Upton painter and graphic designer Gerald Savine start from a proverbial blank canvas, with no prior experience.

I thought I would put Mr Savine through his paces by seeing if he could coax a masterpiece out of me.

"I've never failed yet," he promised. "I have people come in at all levels and all ages and whilst it can take time, everyone gets there."

So after getting my head around such concepts as perspective and negative space, we got to work.

While the end result is nothing spectacular, I was really quite pleased. Even such a simple piece forced me to learn about shading, shadowing and getting different shades from the same base colour.

My teacher seemed similarly pleased. "Considering you've not done this before you've done really well," he told me. "You can tell that you would definitely have some ability with your paintings."

Even so, I think I have a way to go. Looking at some of the work that will be on display I was very impressed. Even paintings done by students of only one or two months would not look out of place hung up for all to see.

Mr Savine agrees. "My classes have held exhibitions before and they've always been of a good standard," he said. "But again you can see a real improvement and I'm very proud of that."

People come to the classes to learn, but it is also a place for lasting friendships to blossom.

"It's very important people have fun, and the classes become a very social experience," said Mr Savine.

Over the past two years he has even started to take members on painting holidays to Devon and France. These have been a great success and more are already planned for 2007.

New members join all the time, and there is always room for more. Classes are held at various times throughout Thursdays, and on Friday evenings. Mr Savine also holds monthly art workshops on Saturdays.

The exhibition will be open from 10am-5.30pm Saturday to Monday, August 26-28.