No matter where you’re at on your creative path, a strong foundation in painting will help you make your best work. In this beginner-friendly class, students will develop a strategy for observational painting from a live model. Students will learn to identify light, form, perspective, composition and color temperature as well as to develop confidence with the materials of oil painting.
Week One: Drawing – Every good painting starts with a drawing. The instructor will demonstrate best practices for capturing the contours of the figure.
Week Two: Transparent Underpainting – Building on the drawing foundations of the previous week, students will begin to block in the first layer of their paintings using a warm, transparent tone and the white of the canvas.
Week Three: Closed Grisaille – Week three starts with a discussion of value, the properties of light and shadow and a demonstration on how to “close the grisaille”. Students will paint from the model with the goal of solving any lingering drawing issues and developing a foundational underpainting ahead of our color units.
Week Four: Mixing Color – Color can stump any artist. In week four, students develop a reliable strategy for working with color. The instructor offers a demo on mixing the full color wheel using a limited palette. Students lay in their first pass of color.
Week Five: Finishing Touches – As our five-week pose draws to a close, the final class will be spent making finishing touches on each individual’s painting. Every artist moves at their own pace, and in week five we’ll take a tailored approach. One-on-one feedback will be developed with each student to help them move as far forward in their painting as possible.
You may store your painting on site for the duration of the course.
In order to keep costs down for students and to prevent any toxic solvents – we will provide odorless mineral spirits and a glass coil jar for cleaning – for all students. We will also provide a disposable grey paper palette for everyone. We have paper towels for you to us as well.
You will need to bring:
Canvas: 18×24 and a variety of bristle brushes.
Drawing Supplies: HB pencil, kneaded eraser, sketchbook.