Oil Painting Summer School

The Oil Painting Summer School is a new initiative from the author of the popular series of oil painting workshops “Oil Painting for beginners” that cover different aspects of alla prima (wet-in-wet) portrait painting. The Oil Painting Summer School is a 24 hour, four part, fortnightly summer course that covers the traditional oil painting processes, techniques and tools employed by classical portrait artists such as John Singer Sargent, Johannes Vermeer, Pablo Picasso and many more.

Over the four fortnightly Sunday sessions you will learn all about mediums, processes, fundamental principles, anatomy, colour theory, how capture a likeness and most importantly how to elevate your portrait into a piece that works as art, above and beyond a likeness.

23/07 Week 1: Sketching : Proportions, anatomy and preparing your painting.

Welcome! Upon arrival, we’ll take a look at the importance of working with good reference and how to get the most out of a model. We’ll look at some useful resources for trouble shooting anatomy and explore some useful approaches for establishing a sketch, before transferring it to our painting surface. Good painting will never rescue a bad sketch, so we’ll spend this week setting you up for success in the painting stage.

06/08 Week 2: Underpainting: Establishing light and form.

This week’s lesson will focus on the importance of focusing on lighting and sculpting form before thinking about colour, by working up the under-painting with burnt umber and white spirit. A lot of the foundation of a great portrait is done at this stage with colour simply laid in over, but good value work will always result in fantastic colour work that produces dramatic portraits. We’ll also explore ways of speeding up the drying process to work with colour in the next session.

20/08 Week 3: Blocking and blending - Flesh tones for oil painting.

In this week’s lesson, we’ll look at fool proof colour palettes to create stunning skin tones, explore facial banding and how to make the skin look lifelike. Explore ways of applying and layering the oils, and how to control and soften your edges to create beautiful blends between your skin tones.

03/09 Week 4: Colour Theory & glazing - refining and finishing your painting

In the final lesson of the course, Liam will guide you through the process of working “fat over lean” with the oils, how to use glazes to work in shadows, and how to balance details to create strong focal points within your portrait work. We’ll be rounding up with a demonstration on varnishing as well as advice and guidance on framing your portrait.

Throughout the course, you will recieve direct feedback as well as ongoing critiques and resources to help with the development of your painting, including skin-tone mixing charts, anatomy worksheets and multiple demonstrations to break down different parts of the process. 

Spaces are limited so booking is essential.