The course aims to help you start to paint simply, effectively and confidently

Exploit the qualities of the classic artists’ paint shared by Rembrandt and van Gogh, with practical tips on selecting a suitable range of colours, useful equipment for the studio, health and safety and how to look after your materials. Tony will explain the main techniques and methods used today including classical and modern approaches to working with oils.

Course Content

This is a beginner friendly course that is also suited to artists of all levels who want to revisit the fundamentals of oil painting. This course will cover topics such as how to transfer what you see onto your painting surface; how to use still life as a learning genre; exploring colour selections; What to look out for when painting outdoors; how to capture a likeness in portrait painting

In addition, this course will demystify the chemistry and terminology, and answering questions like - what is fat over lean? what does ‘alla prima’ mean? when might you use impasto or a palette knife and what is the difference between glazing and scumbling?

  • In depth exploration of materials and colour mixing

  • Tips on measuring, checking and ‘squinting down’

  • Demonstrations in still life, landscape and portrait

This course will be delivered over a number of installments.

Studio and materials

  • Credits

  • Introducing the course

  • My studio and materials

  • Paints, Mediums, Brushes & Palette Knives

  • List of starter materials for this course

Colour Mixing

  • Introduction to Colour Mixing

  • Colour mixing demo 1

  • Colour mxing demo 2

  • Opaque vs. Transparent Colours

Still Life Demo

  • Composing your still life

  • The importance of drawing

  • Drawing the composition in charcoal

  • Drawing challenge

  • Blocking in demonstration