Foundation of Oil Painting
Foundation of Oil Painting – 5 Day Course
Dates: March 23-27]
Time: 10am - 4pm, Mon - Fri
Skill Level: All Levels Beginners to Advanced
Materials: All materials provided – oil paints, brush starter set and canvases
Price: €690 - Early Bird price €590 (Until Feb 11th)
Course Overview
Build confidence, technical skill, and personal expression in this immersive introduction to oil painting. Working in our large French-style atelier, you will learn the fundamentals of oil painting, from preparing a canvas and setting up a palette to understanding brushwork, colour mixing, and classical painting processes. Students will study both classical and contemporary approaches to painting, using our extensive studio library to take inspiration from artists such as Goya, Velázquez, Sargent, Monet, Picasso, Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon, Marlene Dumas and Peter Doig. Students can work in portraiture, landscape, or the figure, and are encouraged to develop a personal direction, including working from their own drawings and reference images.
Over 5 full days, you’ll progress through structured studies and guided practice:
- Introduction & Materials Demonstration – learn how to prepare a canvas, set up a classical palette, understand different brush types and their uses
- Underpainting & Grisaille – explore classical underpainting methods, sketching in paint, tonal block-ins, and grisaille painting to build strong structure, light, and form before colour
- Introduction to Colour & Limited Palettes – learn colour mixing, temperature control and harmony using an Old Master limited palette
- Painting Techniques – create studies inspired by artists such as Sargent, Velázquez, Monet or Freud while learning about edge quality, transitions, wet-on-wet and glazing
- Personal Project – develop a painting based on your own interests (abstraction, portrait, figure, landscape), integrating the techniques learned, with individual feedback and guidance for continued study
* Please Note all bookings are non-refundable and non-exchangeable