Today is a crazy positive day for me as I’m now back in my studio painting. This is what happened. In early February I passed out and fractured my skull coursing a brain bleed. This became quite a problem for me as everything soon came to a total standstill. Initially I was unable to even stand, I couldn’t concentrate on anything, I couldn’t balance, talking was even difficult as I not only struggled to remember words but I constantly lost what I was saying. The injury made me very dependent as I constantly needed help to do the simplest task and so everything was now a challenge In addition to this and to the despair of my wife I also kept trying to pass out five or six times a day. The impact from the fall also coursed some brain damage which I’ve now been told is permanent 😞 and then several months after the fall the hospital found the reason why I collapsed in the first place. My heart was stopping constantly during the day and night for six to eight seconds at a time. Within hours I was immediately taken into hospital for surgery and now live with a pacemaker wired directly into my heart. This whole experience left me unable to draw or paint as I didn’t even have the strength hold the weight of my arm out in front of me. I had no feeling in my fingers so I kept dropping brushes but then my hands shacked so much painting anything simply became impossible. Till today that is, for the first time since my fall I returned to paint a second layer on a seascape project I started all those months ago. I’m back in my studio 🙏 This whole experience has made me feel so grateful to my wife, family and friends. Without their love and support I know my recovery would have been harder for I had many vulnerable moments where I literally thought is this it ? Five months on from my fall and I’m now back at the gym 3 times a week a week working to recover my strength, stamina and health. I’m teaching in my studio again and as from next week I will be running two live streamed painting lessons every week.

I’m an artist /tutor building an online art school on Skool. A great addition for me and all creatives trying to sell or promote their artwork on Skool would be the addition of a “Gallery Tab”. With a “Gallery Tab” added you could easily share your artwork to other members or your students. You could promote your work to prospective purchasers. The benefits of a simple Gallery Tab would be endless to everyone on Skool. If it could be in the form of a simple grid where multiple images would be visible at once, enabling you to select an I’m image in more detail that would include and information area for artist name, price, size, sales info and availability. This would be an amazing asset to all creatives. I would love to hear what you all think of this idea and I hope someone from the Skool team responds. Thank you Martin

The Oil Painting Academy is now running two live streamed oil painting tutorial lessons every week. Learn the essential oil painting techniques that improve your paintings to a professional standard. 7 day free trial and the first 500 members join with a discounted monthly fee of just $15 per month.

Join with this link; https://www.skool.com/the-oil-painting-academy/about This is my new Skool Art Community. Inside you will find oil painting courses on Still life, Landscapes and Seascapes along with live steamed online lessons every Tuesday and Friday at 5pm UK time. All the above is currently available for a special introduction price for the first 500 members at just $15 pm for the lifetime of your membership. You will also enjoy a 7 day free trial. I look forward to seeing you in class. Regards Martin

Hi everyone I need a little help please. My community was free in till a couple of days ago when I put a price of $15 pm to join it. I thought my existing members would still have access to to everything but they don’t. So my community has a signup fee of $15 per month for all new member. Thats good but is there a way that existing current free members can continue to access everything on there. These initial members have helped me develop the community so how can I give them free access ? If you can help with this please do point me in a direction. Thank you Martin x