Courses and Workshops

A ten-week course suitable for anyone who wants to learn how to get started with oil paint. 

If you are brand new to the oil medium (or have dabbled) this course will help you establish a safe and enjoyable practice using dependable traditional methods. 

Across ten 2-hour lessons, we will cover everything you need to know to get going with oil paints, with an emphasis on representational art.

Over the first half of the course, we will focus on still life, working from objects in the studio to learn composition and the principles of colour theory (hue, value and chroma). In the second half of the course, we will focus on the particular challenges of portraiture.

Classes are small (max 6 students) allowing for plenty of individualised feedback.

There is no class on February 15th (midterm holiday). 

DETAILS:

Course structure 

Weeks 1 and 2:

• Getting to know your materials and setting up
• Basic colour mixing '
• Brushwork Skills 1 demo: plotting and blocking in
• Lecture component: what qualities make for an effective still life? Finding answers and inspiration across art history.  

Weeks 3 to 5:

• Colour harmony and composition
• Brushwork Skills 2 demo: using expressive and directional brushstrokes
• Lecture component: what makes an effective portrait? Finding answers and inspiration across art history.  

Weeks 6 to 8:

• Demo: How to work from a photograph vs life 
• Understanding facial anatomy
• Colour mixing for skin tones 

Weeks 9 and 10:

• Using concepts from colour theory to enhance your portrait (chroma, value and hue)
• Problem-shooting for facial features: an emphasis on 1-on-1 instruction moving around the class
• Brushwork Skills 3 demo: working with detail, and laying down 'finishing touches'.
  
  

Materials

All materials are included, although you are welcome to bring your own. We will be using:

• Student-grade oil paints. The core colours are Flake White Replacement, Titanium White, Cadmium Red (hue), Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow (hue), Yellow Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Umber, and Ivory Black. 
• Oil pastel sticks by Sennelier, Van Gogh, and Mungyo Gallery (optional) 
• Willow charcoal sticks (for underdrawings)
• Refined linseed oil 
• A low-VOC solvent made by Jackson's called Pure-Sol
• A range of long-handled hog and synthetic sable brushes with round, flat, filbert, and bright tips.
• A3-size oil painting paper taped to a drawing board for studies.
• 2 primed canvas boards for completed paintings (one still life and one portrait)

If you wish to purchase your own materials ahead of classes please note that only low-VOC solvents are permitted in the studio: so, no turpentine or white spirits, instead I recommend Gamsol/ Pure-Sol, Liquin or Zest-It (see Materials Guide). While turpentine and white spirits are traditional some people are particularly sensitive to the toxic effects of these high-VOC solvents so they are not suitable for group classes.

This workshop focuses on gestural brushwork using a wet-in-wet technique.   

Learning how to create fluid, visible strokes, helps to convey spontaneity and capture the essence of a portrait subject with immediacy and vibrancy, while retaining convincing realism.

Among the artists whose work we will look at are Frans Hals, Velasquez, John Singer Sargent, and Francis Bacon. 

Price: £35 (all materials included, or bring your own)

[Pictured below are two quick gestural studies I made of a friend, Clara] 

The use of a rather muted palette is a distinctive feature in much British art over the centuries (examples pictured below). Inspired by our rugged coastlines, industrial landscapes, periods of wartime austerity, and arguably reflective of British sensibilities, long associated with modesty and restraint, many British artists embraced a dunner palette than their continental peers, heavy on earthy browns and chromatic greys.   

Although associated with dullness, browns and greys when mixed well can create depth, realism, and emotional resonance. Understanding how to mix ‘chromatic’ rather than ‘neutral’ greys, which subtly retain hints of the vibrancy of the primary colours, is a great tool for developing harmonious and atmospheric compositions.

It is, of course, not fair to say that there is one definitive ‘British Palette’, as there is great variety in British art, but muted palettes have been influential and merit close study. Even the Scottish Colourists often took a different approach when painting Scotland, to when painting Southern Europe, embracing our maritime climate and the overcast, diffuse light and precipitation we so frequently enjoy here. 

Come prepared to complete colour studies that will push you out of your comfort zone!  

Price: £35 (all materials included, or bring your own)