Oil Painting after the Masters with Michelle Hiscock
Discover the fundamental techniques of oil painting and build your own beautiful collection of masterpieces by artists such as, Raphael, Velasquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Leonardo da Vinci. Michelle Hiscock guides you in this practical investigation of classical painting techniques with expert demonstrations of methods and materials including preparation of supports, coloured grounds, tonal underpainting, the palette, colour mixing and structuring oil paint in layers. You will have the opportunity to choose your painting from over 100 works in Michelle's resource library.
Each masterpiece has been carefully selected from the great museums of the world such as the National Gallery of London, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Metropolitan in New York, or the Prado in Madrid, with ultra-high resolution images for you to zoom in and enjoy (feel free to bring an iPad/tablet).
Each student could choose from any of the following paintings, or explore the range of artworks in Michelle's digital collection at your first session:
Vermeer’s Woman Reading a Letter
Leonardo’s Virgin and Child
Caravaggio’s Boy Bitten by a Lizard
Chardin’s The Young School Mistress
Rubens’ The Three Graces
Zubéran’s A Cup of Water and a Rose
Claude’s The Enchanted Castle
Velasquez’s Las Meninas
Michelle Hiscock takes a special interest in the history of painting materials and techniques and their application to contemporary practice. She is widely known for her lectures and masterclasses on drawing and painting at the National Art School and the Art Gallery of NSW. She is represented by Australian Galleries, Sydney, and has exhibited nationally for the past 30 years.
What to expect
All students will gain a thorough understanding of approaches to classical oil painting through transcriptions of master paintings.
learn about tonal underpainting
coloured grounds
having the opportunity to explore a range of genres including still life, landscape, figure, portraiture
learn about colour and colour mixing and setting the palette
structuring oil paint in layers including stumbling, glazing and retouching
Students will work on paintings over several weeks, and depending on the complexity of your choice, will paint 2-3 full-scale fragments from the paintings across the term.
Is this course right for me?
Michelle welcomes serious beginners to this class as well as experienced students who wish to develop or consolidate their oil painting skills. What matters is a curiosity and desire to learn about classical techniques of the great artists of the past Beginners will enjoy learning step by step, following Michelle’s clearly articulated methods and demonstrations. Students with prior experience will have the opportunity to practise advanced techniques and extend their skills. Art teachers will also benefit from joining this course.
Materials list
Materials are not included in the course fee. All students will need to bring the following:
Palette knife (diamond shaped like a trowel)
Palette (flat, without ridges or indents, e.g. plywood, plastic, Perspex or glass)
Tube of white acrylic paint (Matisse ‘Structure’ is recommended)
Paper and pencil for note-taking
Cotton cloth rags (old sheets are best)
1 rectangular take-away container
Refined linseed oil at least 250ml
Small glass jar with lid
Glad wrap
Masking tape
Scissors
Note: Do not bring solvents or mediums. A low-odour painting medium will be provided.
Painting Supports
One support will be required for the first class, approx. 10 x 12 inches, 20 x 30 cm or A4 size - this can be plywood, sanded masonite or stretched canvas. Abandoned/unfinished paintings may also be ‘recycled’.
(I do NOT recommend MDF, canvas boards and canvas paper.)
Brushes
Please bring all the brushes you currently own. Ultimately, it is preferable to have 5 or more of each brush you like to use rather than a whole lot of completely different brushes. If you are buying brushes for the first time we recommend the following as a minimum:
Oil paints
We are using a low-toxicity approach. Do not bring cobalt, chrome, cadium or lead-based pigments.
The following is a suggested list of colours. The exercises you choose to do might only require a limited selection of colours so please bring the paints you already have and discuss with Michelle before purchasing additional paints.
Titanium white (professional grade only; e.g. Old Holland, Winsor and Newton or Art Spectrum)
Bright yellow (e.g., Winsor yellow, Spectrum yellow – not cadium)
Bright red (e.g., Winsor red, Spectrum red – not cadium)
Yellow ochre or mars Yellow
Venetian red or red earth
Raw Sienna
Raw umber
Burnt Sienna
Burnt Umber
Alizarin crimson
Ultramarine blue
Pthalo Blue
Ivory black
About studio classes
Our class sizes are small, ensuring you receive the individual tuition you need. We have a maximum of 12 students per class.
Art Est Art School is located at 10 Hill Street Leichhardt, on the corner of Hill Street and John Street in the 'east village' precinct of Leichhardt.
Parking
There is no on-site parking. Please allow time to find parking in the surrounding streets. Please respect our neighbours and do not park outside our premises as this section of Hill Street is a narrow, dead-end street with resident and commercial business parking only. Thank you.
Public Transport
If taking Public Transport, take the 470 Bus to Moore Street Leichhardt and alight at John Street.
If travelling by train, it is a good 20 minute walk from Stanmore Station via Young Street.
The closest Light Rail stop is Lilyfield. Cross the City West Link and walk along Catherine Street and turn left at Hill Street. Allow 15-20 minutes walk time depending on your pace.