Folk Art Painting, sometimes called Tole Painting, is a decorative style of painting built around a collection of brushstrokes and techniques that anyone can learn through practice and repetition.

There are many different styles of Folk Art Painting, including beautiful traditions from across Europe and Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Art in the United States. Although the finished paintings can look very different, they're built using many of the same fundamental brushstrokes and techniques.

That's why we often compare it to learning to write. You first learn the individual brushstrokes, just as you once learned the letters of the alphabet. Then we start putting those strokes together to create leaves, flowers and eventually complete designs.

It's a skill you learn — not a talent you have to be born with.

Absolutely not. The course was created for complete beginners and we start with your very first brushstroke.

You don't need to know how to draw and you certainly don't need to think of yourself as artistic.

Folk Art Painting is a skill that you learn through practice and repetition. We'll show you exactly what to do, one step at a time.

We suggest aiming for around a couple of hours each week, but that doesn't mean you need to find a two-hour stretch of completely free time.

You can break your painting into short sessions and fit them around real life. Even 15 or 20 minutes at the kitchen table is enough to practise a brushstroke, work on your next page and keep moving forward.

Part of the course is about helping you make a little space for something you've decided matters to you, rather than waiting for the magical day when you've suddenly got loads of spare time.

And those small amounts of time really do add up.

Not while you're learning the foundations of the course. It's really important that you're using the same paints and brushes as us so your materials behave in the same way as ours and we can troubleshoot properly if something isn't working.

That's why your complete painting kit is included. Once you've learnt the basics, you'll be able to experiment with other paints and brushes if you want to.

Your complete Folk Art Painting kit includes everything you need to work through the course with us:

5 x 2oz DecoArt Paints + 3 sample pot colours
4 Quality Folk Art Brushes
1 Dotting Tool
Black & White Transfer Papers
Tracing Paper
34-page Full-Colour Workbook Journal

Our Workbook Journal is created exclusively for course students as part of our structured learning experience. Paired with step-by-step video lessons, it helps you build your Folk Art Painting skills through guided practice — seeing each brushstroke, then practising it yourself. For this reason, the workbook is not sold separately.

No. The 12 weeks are a goal, not a deadline.

There's a reason we've given the course a 12-week structure, though.

Over the years I've seen that learning the brushstrokes isn't always the thing that stops people. Life gets busy. We put things off. We wait until we have more time. Or we get stuck trying to make something perfect before we'll let ourselves move on.

So rather than simply giving you a collection of painting lessons and leaving you to get around to them one day, we help you make a simple 12-week plan.

You'll think about why you want to do this, what you'd like to achieve, what you can realistically manage each week and when you're going to make a little time for it.

Then you work through it one step at a time: Progress NOT Perfection.

If life gets in the way, it gets in the way. You haven't failed and you don't have to start again. Your lessons are there for you, so you simply pick up where you left off and keep going.

The point isn't to finish perfectly in 12 weeks. The point is to help you actually start, keep making progress and see what you can do.

Yes. You have LIFETIME access to the online classroom.

You can watch the lessons whenever it suits you, pause and rewind as often as you like, practise alongside us and return to any lesson whenever you need to.

First and foremost, Carol and Toni are there to support you personally. We'll answer your questions, review your work and help you troubleshoot anything that isn't quite working.

You'll also have access to our private student community, where you can share your progress, celebrate your wins and enjoy the encouragement of other students learning alongside you.

And remember — we're not looking for perfection. If something isn't working, that's part of learning. Show us, ask us and we'll help you work out what to do next.

Yes! FREE worldwide tracked shipping is included in the course price. We aim to send your painting kit within 1 working day of receiving your order.

Once dispatched, please allow approximately:
UK: 1–2 working days
USA: up to 7 working days
Rest of World: up to 10 working days

Your kit is sent on a tracked service, so you'll be able to follow its journey all the way to you.