Developing your Painting with Sally Mowbray | Painting Studio for Beginners and Beyond

Do you want to learn how to paint or work on your painting or drawing projects, but would like the guidance of a tutor? Would you like to learn how to develop an idea into a finished work or refine your artistic style? Then this is the open studio class for you. Whether you are a beginner or more experienced, you will learn much in this course. Sally has a choice of drawing techniques, introduction to colour, and other projects to get you started.

Under the guidance of experienced tutor and artist, Sally Mowbray, learn as a class group and individually how to develop painting or drawing projects from ideas to finished artworks.

What to expect

• Students will be working on individually devised projects for which they will need to bring their own source material (e.g. colour printouts, objects, sketches etc.) Working directly from your phone is not ideal so please be sure to bring hard copies too.
• Students can bring in a variety of source material for discussion with the tutor who will then suggest certain approaches and extended art references.
• The class will spend time in a group discussion at the conclusion of some sessions and can expect to be introduced to a broad range of visual art practices.
• If some students want to accelerate their drawing practice or would like to focus on extending their colour theory we can organise breakout groups within class time.

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. 

Material List

Your materials list will depend on your individual project however, see the recommended list below.

For the first session, you can work from a still life project devised by the tutor (drawing or painting - your choice) OR you can begin work from your own subject matter. If you are undecided on whether you want to use oil or acrylic, just bring drawing materials for the first session and the tutor can discuss paint options with you before you buy materials.

You will need the following for the first lesson:

• A sketchbook A4 or A5 or some loose sheets of cartridge paper
• A drawing pencil in the 2B to 5B range
• A canvas (approx A3 size or smaller)
• 2-4 large bulldog clips
• A palette knife with a metal blade
• Disposable Painting Palette
• Paint rags cut down to about 15 cm pieces and a roll of kitchen paper
• Variety of brushes- Selection of at least 4 brushes in or around these sizes 1/4 inch 'flat' and 'round' 1/2 inch 'filbert' and 'round'. Note: check with staff at the art shops that the brushes you are buying are suitable for your choice of oil or acrylic.
• Paints: Students may use oil or acrylic in this class. Please bring your preferred paints.

The following is a basic colour guide for oils and acrylics: Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, French Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue Viridian Green, Raw Umber.

Note: We recommend buying ‘artist quality’ paints (Matisse Derivan Acrylics, Art Spectrum oils and Liquitex Acrylics are good and reasonably priced brands). Alternatively, any brands that are ‘student quality’ (e.g. Winsor & Newton) will be suitable too.

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.

To learn about our studios, amenites and how to get there, click here.

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