Starting from reference drawings, develop your vision into a unique abstract visual language

This course is ideal for anyone looking to transition from creating representational artwork to abstract or semi-abstract work.

While this course complements and extends the 'In your View - Drawing' course picking up where that left off, this course can also work independently as long as you have a series of source drawing material to work from.

Course Content

This course provides a structure for you to develop a body of new work, starting from reference drawings. You will learn how to take these beyond strict representation by quickly developing a series of small thumbnail studies.

From there, you will scale up to develop a selection of these into finished paintings working with various ways of making marks and layering up on different surfaces.

  • Explore colour by developing a palette from a restricted set of colours

  • Explore colour and composition through thumbnail studies

  • Develop your compositions into finished paintings on paper, canvas, panel and recycled wood

This course has been designed to give a structure to help you evolve as an artist, with opportunities to receive regular personalised feedback from Julie.

Introduction and materials

  • Credits

  • Introduction to course and reference drawings

  • Overview of the course structure

Materials and colour palette

  • Paints, brushes and surfaces

  • Materials list

  • Selecting a palette

Thumbnail studies

  • Setting up thumbnails

  • Marking in the compositions

  • Painting your thumbnails

  • Painting challenge

Painting preparation

  • Painting warm up exercises

  • Painting surfaces

Painting on Paper

  • Painting demo on paper

  • Example paintings on paper

  • Painting challenge

Book a call with me!

  • Book a call with me!

  • Book a call with me - set session goals

  • Confirmation Page

More about this course

We have tried to answer some common questions about this couse to help decide if it is suitable for you

  • What media will be used throughout this course?

    All painting demonstrations are with acrylic paint, however the same techniques could be used for gouache, oils or alkyd paints. We will be applying the paint using not just brushes but also other tools to achieve different results.

  • Is this course suitable for beginners?

    This course will benefit artists of all levels who are looking to have fun with painting. This is not an 'academic' course, making it very accessible to beginners. If you are a beginner you will benefit from some good practices that will help you develop a style that is fluid and based on the process of painting itself.

    If you are more experienced, this will benefit you in other ways, allowing you to 'let go' of certain expectations you may have about an end result. By following this course you will hopefully surprise yourself countless times with 'happy accidents' that you can then develop and work over with intention and purpose.

  • When does the course start and stop?

    There is no schedule for this course. You can start and stop any time you want. We would recommend however that you try to maintain continuity and avoid breaks between work of more than 1 or 2 weeks if possible. Since you can take this course at your own pace, you will not be part of a group of students that meet together. Therefore it is important that you are motivated to follow the course yourself.

  • Is this course only for artists interested in abstract painting?

    This course encourages you to develop paintings by working directly with colour, shape, line and composition without attempting a realistic representation of the source subject. How far you want to take this appproach is completely up to you. You may want to create paintings that play in a middle space between abstraction and representation. If so, this course is also very much for you.

  • Can I get feedback on my work from Julie?

    There are several opportunities to upload your work for feedback from Julie. Take advantage of this and don't be shy to upload work that you are unhappy with. All student uploads are confidential and will not be seen by other students. Julie will give you objective feedback and this could very well help you make the breakthrough you need.

    Try not to have a fixed idea about how you expect a painting to come out. This course is very much process driven. Try to embrace and not stand in the way of unexpected results. These can spark your imagination to take the work further than you might have thought possible.

  • Do I need to complete the 'In Your View - Drawing' course before starting this course?

    This course is very complementary to the 'In your View - Drawing' course. All reference images used in this course were developed in the drawing course. While we would recommend that you follow Julie's drawing course first to obtain the drawing that will be used in this course, it is not necessary to do that course if you already have a suitable series of drawings to start from.