Course Description

Investigate and experiment with colour, tone and texture, using acrylic paints and mediums to develop your unique visual expression. Use a variety of tools, painting surfaces and approaches to encourage freedom and spontaneity in mark-making.

You will learn to playfully experiment with materials which will increase the elements of chance and the incidental in your painting. Through this intuitive process, you will allow the form and composition of your subject to be teased out as you add and remove paint, using techniques of thin washes and thick impasto. You will work both from memory and inspirational images or objects as you allow your subject to emerge. The tutor will offer one-to-one support and guidance towards finding your own process and expression. You will explore what brings a painting to life, considering contrast, focal points and perspective.

By the end of the course, you will have gained confidence in your use of colours, marks and textures, to create exciting and dynamic paintings. You will have gained an insight into the processes and materials that inspire freedom of expression and un-bounded mark-making in your work, taking home a number of experimental painted studies and/or completed paintings.

Timetable

Arrival Day - this is the first date listed above

Courses start early evening. Residential students to arrive from 4pm, non-residential students to arrive by 6.45pm.

6.45pm: Welcome, followed by dinner (included).

8 - 9pm: First teaching session, attendance is essential.

Daily timetable

Classes 9.15 - 5pm, lunch is included.

From 6.30pm: Dinner (included for residential students).

Evening working - students may have access to workshops, but only with their tutor's permission and provided any health and safety guidelines are observed.

Last day

Classes 9.15am - 3pm, lunch is included.

Residential students are to vacate their rooms by 10am please.

(This timetable is for courses of more than one day in length. The tutor may make slight variations)

Course Materials

Included

• Acrylic MDF primer
• Acrylic flow improver
• Acrylic Liquitex Modelling Paste
• 3 x MDF 6mm boards 30 x 30cm each
• Light stick masking tape
• Small rubber kidney
• A3 Seawhites acrylic pad
• Seawhites Baker brushes size 20, size 50
• Fine sand paper

What students need to bring

• Please bring any of the materials listed on the available to buy list below that you may already have, plus:
• Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cyan, or Cerulean Blue, Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, Magenta, Paynes Grey, Titanium White and Black, (this is a basic list, please bring other colours you enjoy using)
• Makes:- Rowney System 3 - good for experimentation if using a lot, especially white
• Winsor and Newton Artist’ - good professional quality
• Golden heavy body, and or fluid - excellent professional quality
• (The College Shop stocks a good range of Schminke acrylic paint in the above colours and Seawhite acrylic paint in black and white)
• Containers/receptacles with lids, these can be jam jars, yoghurt pots, etc, for mixing and storing runny paint, 3 – 4 would be useful
• Large flat palette (could be plastic table mat or rubber tile) (Perspex available from shop)
• Pointed implements for scratching through paint, e.g. empty ball-point pens, pottery scrafitto tools
• Large Flat Palette, could be a plastic table matt or large plastic floor tile
• Rubber or surgical gloves (optional)
• Small water spray bottle
• Suitable clothing for working with acrylic paint
• J cloths
• Inspirational items (the tutor will bring some visual resource material). Please bring :-
• Photos of landscapes, small details within the landscape which could be natural or man-made.
• Any natural/man-made forms which have inspirational marks, textures or colours.
• Paper or fabric colour swatches.
• Any items suitable as a stencil, nothing literal, e.g. hessian, wire mesh, paper doilies, flat pieces of metal with holes (optional)

Available to buy

• Available from shop:
• Acrylic paints, suggested colours: Schminke
• Acrylic medium – gloss and matt
• 2 x 30 x 30cm min canvas (larger sizes also available)
• Acrylic paper pad A2 or A3 or sheets
• Flat brushes (not decorators as too thick) Seawhites Baker Brushes are great for texture, buy a variety of sizes from 10 to 50
• Drawing materials, pencil, charcoal, wax crayons
• Fan brush, palette knife.
• Rigour brushes, two different sizes
• 2 palette knives
• Small sketch book (optional)
• Flat Perspex palette