Classical Painting

Organising your palette, colour theory and mixing, dry brush method, and edge quality will also be covered, discussed and demonstrated. This course offers a straight-forward step-by-step procedure for painting any subject in oils.

You will receive detailed study notes and image references each week, and I will give one-to-one support and feedback to each student. Each class will comprise theory and discussion, demonstrations and practical work, all of which will guide you through the oil painting process.

MONOCHROMATIC PAINTING

Light, Value and Form

The first steps in painting make no use of colour – instead, they focus on a technique known as grisaille, which uses only monochrome tones (usually of grey, hence the French, “gris” in “grisaille”). This technique allows you to become accustomed to the unique characteristics of the oil paint medium, how to work with it (and your brushes) and how to mix, understand and apply values and render form.

You will work on several exercises including matching a value strip, turning the form of an object, and copying a Renaissance master painting in grisaille.

COLOUR STRATEGIES

Organising, Mixing & Applying

You will learn the basics of colour theory, and how it translates to several different palettes – including the Zorn palette – that can be used for various subject matter. One of the toughest challenges for students is achieving realistic skin tones, and we will spend a considerable amount of time troubleshooting this area. Hue, value, chroma, and temperature will be studied in detail, and how best to employ these aspects of colour. We will be paying special attention to Titian’s use and application of colour as well we Turner’s glazing technique.

Organising your palette, colour theory and mixing, dry brush method, and edge quality will also be covered, discussed and demonstrated.

METHODS & TECHNIQUES