Painting without Limits | Painting Studio with Mathew Lynn

Join award-winning painter Mathew Lynn as he guides you through a transformative journey in your painting and art-making process! This course is open to artists of all levels, from beginners to more experienced painters, and welcomes a variety of media including oils, acrylics, watercolour, gouache, and drawing. Whether you're eager to experiment boldly or refine specific aspects of your practice, Mathew is here to help you gain deeper insights into your artistic goals.

Students are welcome to explore landscapes, still life, portraiture and more. Mathew's painting studio is a supportive environment where each session begins with a group discussion followed by personalized exercises tailored to your needs. This is your opportunity for creative exploration without limitations on your choice of medium or subject matter. Mathew will also recommend additional studies and techniques to enrich your artistic repertoire.

Feel free to bring your own reference materials—be it photographs, ongoing paintings, or sketches—as you embark on this enriching artistic journey with Mathew Lynn. Whether you're just starting out or looking to enhance your skills, this course promises to be a rewarding and inspiring experience for all artists.

What to expect

Expected course outcomes

• Learning how to look and ‘see’ your subject.
• Learning how to discuss this (and your work), and to know what suggestions are valuable.
• Learning about composition: how to evaluate, how to develop, how to use reference materials such as photos, other sketches etc.
• Learning about paint: dynamics, colour, tone, energy, mark making, the respective qualities of each colour.
• Exploring the tension between representation and non-representation
• Having an understanding of what has come before in the works of great artists, in any genre, and how to use these lessons in your own work.

What you will achieve

Students will:

• Work towards completing several paintings on canvas or board
• Learn how to use their own preparatory drawings, paintings, photographs or other source material to develop ideas
• Learn about composition
• Discuss formats for laying out a painting/drawing
• Learn about colour selection, colour mixing and transparency and opacity
• Refine their style and improve foundation skills.

Is this course right for me?

This course is suitable for beginners through to more experienced artists wanting to expand their skills.

Material List

This course is open to all painting media - oils, acrylics, watercolour, gouache.  I would recommend that all students not only bring their main materials set-up, but also a supplementary setup for making studies and process works. Perfect also if you've got various mediums you don't know how to use.

If unsure, just bring what you have to the first session and you can work through things with Mat. 

For quick studies:

• Sketchbook or paper, drawing board if necessary, bulldog clips
• Pencils, charcoal, any drawing materials you like, gouache, acrylic, ink etc.

For painting:

• Palette, disposable palette, acrylic or gouache palettes
• Rags, for wiping and clean up 
• Spare containers, water containers
• Anything you like using, like palette knives
• Canvases and boards, a range of sizes. For Gouache bring heavy water media paper, and if you’re using watercolour.

Brushes a guide:
Oil basic - rounds in cheap Hog Bristle #12x2, #10x2, #8x2, #6x4, #4x4, #2x2, #1x2. 
Acrylic - your acrylic brush set up may be different, I would use the above, but you may prefer synthetic options 
You can also bring anything that will make experimental marks including any other type of brush, or brushes you normally use like flats, also sponges, rags etc.
Gouache (and watercolour) - standard synthetic sable in a range of sizes, for large areas and fine work, rounds and flat

Colours:
Basic - Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, Indian Red (red ochre), Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Cad Yellow Light (or equiv), Cad Red (or equiv), Alizarin Crimson (or equiv). You can also add – Phthalo Blue, Phthalo Green, Magenta, Cad Orange etc. for some strong and punchy colours, and please bring any other colours that you like to use. 
You will notice a big difference between Student and Professional quality paint, so get what you can afford!
The colours are fairly universal, Gouache may have some different names but refer to the oil colour for reference.

Mediums and Solvents:
Oils - we will be strictly using an odourless system, my personal favourite is Galkyd Medium and Gamsol Solvent. I would recommend a quick drying medium (odourless), but you can also use linseed oil with the awareness that your painting might not be properly dry for the next week. I recommend taking your brushes home wrapped in glad wrap to clean and wash. Clean brushes with solvent and then wash with soap AFTER EVERY SESSION. Try not to come to class with hard brushes! Quick drying mediums are very hard on brushes.
Acrylics – can be a basic Acrylic Painting Medium, Gel Medium, Impasto Medium etc. I personally like to use just water, like gouache.
Oil painters should wear disposable gloves, Nitrile are better, and stronger over longer periods.

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.

Unless otherwise noted, prices *exclude* art materials. Click here to see a list of local art supply retailers.

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