Oil Painting Techniques PRO Online Course

Unit 1

Rome / Roma

Beginning in Rome, we will start by learning the painting practices and techniques of Raphael (1483-1520) and copy a small extract from one of his paintings on wood panel. We will focus on a specific canonical mode from the Renaissance that is still in use today: Unione. You will also learn the special qualities and conditions of edges in this first unit, reflecting Raphael’s unique approach and response to Leonardo’s sfumato technique.

The brushwork technique featured in this unit is layering: opaque, transparent and opaque-transparent layers of paint.

You will then be shown how modern and contemporary artists utilise these same techniques, such as:

• Giacomo Balla
• Kazimir Malevich
• Piet Mondrian
• Paul Klee
• Robert Delaunay
• Mark Rothko
• Barnett Newman

In terms of materials, not only will we consider Raphael’s use of wood panels, we will also look at their use and usefulness today. Pigments, specifically reds, yellows and blues, will be explained, and you will learn about the most important ones to have in your toolbox – their properties, similarities and differences, pros and cons. For instance, comparing Cobalt Blue to a mixture of Cerulean Blue and Phthalo Blue.

Unit 2

Florence / Firenze

For this unit, I will be travelling to Florence, visiting the Uffizi Gallery and investigating the ‘Florence School.’ One of the hallmarks of this Renaissance school of painters was their devotion to drawing (or disegno).

We will look at the work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who spent a lot of time there but also who worked in Rome. Leonardo’s renowned use of sfumato will help us to understand and employ this technique in our work. You will also copy a section from his Portrait of an Unknown Woman (La Belle Ferronière) (c.1490). Given Florence’s historical attachment to drawing, we will pay close attention to this aspect of the painting process.

The brushwork technique, or paint application, featured in this unit will be juxtaposition: hatching, dots and macchia.

As this unit is based in and around Florentine painting styles and techniques, I will also introduce you to the group of 19^th-century Italian Impressionists painters known as the Macchiaioli, from which the term and technique macchia originates. We will then look at later artists whose style – either entirely or partially – was built on the employment of these paint application techniques:

• Divisionists
• Futurists
• Tachisme
• Georges Seurat
• Vincent van Gogh
• Paul Signac
• Camille Pissarro
• Henri Matisse
• Pablo Picasso
• Roy Lichetenstein

While I’m in Tuscany, I will also be researching the earth pigments from that region as well as Umbria (Burnt and Raw Umber) and Sienna (Burnt and Raw Sienna). The materials in focus will be solvents and mediums and how they differ and have evolved from the Renaissance to the present day.

Unit 3

Venice / Venezia

Following a gap of one week for the studio workshop in Rome, I will set off to Venice to explore the Venetian School of the Renaissance, which contrasted and competed with the Florentine School. The artist in focus will be Titian (d.1576).

A third canon from the Renaissance will be added to your repertoire: Cangiante. This is appropriate also for this unit, as the Venetian School’s characteristic style was ‘colorito’ (or ‘colour’), in which they prioritised colour and a looser approach to drawing and composition.

Similarly, we will focus on the third and final paint application technique of blending: tesserae, mosaic and press.

We will consider the following modern artists’ use of these painting techniques:

• Vincent van Gogh
• Paul Signac
• Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

I will be visiting and sharing with you masterpieces from the Galerie dell’Accademia in Venice.

The other famous city in the Veneto (region around Venice) is Verona, where Veronese Green Earth pigment comes from. Venice is also credited (by the Venetians!) as being the city where canvas was first used for oil painting. But more importantly, it was most important as a port that first began to import many pigments from the East, which as we know, shaped the development of colour in painting in Europe from the Renaissance onwards.

Unit 4

Rome / Roma

For the final unit, I will return to Rome to add to my research of Caravaggio (1571-1610), looking at the work he produced there from 1595 – 1606. This brings us into the early Baroque period.

Naturally, we will study and practise the fourth painting canon of the Renaissance: chiaroscuro, and also Caravaggio’s heightened application of this, known as tenebrism. Our focus will be on lighting and value in this unit – relationships, distribution, effects and contrasts.

We will consider the Caravaggisti – those artists who followed in Caravaggio’s footsteps, and modern and contemporary painters who are still influenced by him. It was only in 1951 that Caravaggio’s work was really resurrected and an appreciation for it was forged amongst the art world and the public.

From a material point of view, we will study grounds and imprimaturas (or first paint application).

Finally, you will learn how all of the painting practices and techniques are used in combination.