Course curriculum

  • 1
    Week 1 — Exploration is the Work
    • We open by dismantling the myth of the finished painting — and setting a new intention for the six weeks ahead.
  • 2
    Week 2 — See the Shape, Not the Thing
    • The shift from recording to seeing — reading a still life as an arrangement of shapes, edges and light rather than a collection of named objects.
  • 3
    Week 3 — Breaking the Hold of the Photo
    • Practical strategies for loosening the grip of the reference photograph
  • 4
    Week 4 — Colour as Expression
    • Using the three properties of colour — hue, value and chroma — as expressive tools rather than accuracy targets.
  • 5
    Week 5 — The Living Surface
    • Oil paint's capacity to hold history — and how to use it. Layering, scraping back, wiping out, sgraffito, and glazing over whole paintings
  • 6
    Week 6 — Regularity, Ritual and the Long Game
    • The final session brings everything together. The demo moves freely across all the paintings made during the workshop