Local lady's paint-along videos get global following

A local Swansea woman has attracted a worldwide audience through her free paint-alongs on social media.

Claire Timbrell, better known as the 'paint-along lady,' in her videos, has amassed an audience of over 1.2 million people from across the globe.

"I've been totally overwhelmed by how many people have joined in," Ms Timbrell said.

"Seeing so many photos of beautiful paintings and reading messages from people all over the world enjoying their newfound creativity is just wonderful. I'm so grateful."

The 34-year-old began making online painting videos when the pandemic first hit.

Her weekly videos have a loyal following from as far as America and Australia, often gaining over 5,000 viewers painting along with her.

"I've always painted. It's something my great-grandad taught me to do and I just did it as a hobby and then I started selling them a long time ago" Ms Timbrell said.

"I started doing paint-along events when I found that I'd started selling paintings anyway, so it was just a case of sitting in the studio and I didn't get out to see people.

"I'm more of a people-person, so I started doing teaching and I enjoyed that more than painting itself – I enjoyed seeing people getting something out of art and painting and it grew from there really."

Ms Timbrell had been doing her paint-along events in pubs, restaurants and schools, as well as for corporate events, however, the pandemic put a stop to this. She then decided to take her events online.

After moving the sessions to Facebook, she was able to gain a worldwide audience, with people sharing the work they had created on social media.

"I know a lot of people were photographing their work and sharing it with their friends because they were proud of what they did, and it spread really fast," Ms Timbrell added.

"It's about fun art, not fine art and anyone can get involved. Painting is something the whole family can do together."

With half term upon us and children stuck at home during lockdown, many are taking part in Ms Timbrell's videos, with the youngest viewer being just four-years-old and the oldest at 89.

Ali George, a mother who has followed along with many of the paint-alongs, said: As a family of 11 it's great to have something that everyone can do.

"Even my daughter who is away at university has joined us. It's wonderful to be connected, have fun, and hear your children say how proud they are of their work."

Ms Timbrell is now doing sessions every Saturday at 10am on Facebook (@thepaintalonglady) and previous videos are also available in the video section for people to do in their own time.

"I feel very honoured that people are painting along, and I love that I have hundreds of messages sent through with pictures of kids painting, adults painting, all sorts of ages painting, I just love seeing all of that," Ms Timbrell continued.

"It can be quite isolating in lockdown, but having these pictures sent to me makes me feel like I'm part of a group, part of all these people painting together."

For more information, follow @thepaintalonglady on Facebook or Instagram, or visit www.thepaintalonglady.com.