This is a structured opportunity to gain fundamental drawing and painting skills, whilst blurring the boundary between drawing and painting by using both wet and dry materials together. Throughout the week, students will be using a limited pallet keeping the focus on tonal painting. By looking at still life, interior/exterior and portrait, students explore various ways of seeing, increasing their understanding and confidence to draw and paint. Topics include linear drawing, tonal drawing, composition, sketching outdoors, expressive drawing/painting, study of natural forms and portrait painting. A fun and intensive course that will leave students with the knowledge and inspiration to start their own artworks.

This is a structured opportunity to gain fundamental drawing and painting skills, whilst blurring the boundary between drawing and painting by using both wet and dry materials together. Throughout the week, students will be using a limited pallet keeping the focus on tonal painting. By looking at still life, interior/exterior and portrait, students explore various ways of seeing, increasing their understanding and confidence to draw and paint. Topics include linear drawing, tonal drawing, composition, sketching outdoors, expressive drawing/painting, study of natural forms and portrait painting. A fun and intensive course that will leave students with the knowledge and inspiration to start their own artworks.

A fun and intensive week of life and portrait painting appropriate to all skill levels. Less experienced students will enjoy an introduction to portraiture and figure painting while more advanced students benefit from a refresher in figure work from an experienced artist which will progress their practice. The emphasis will be on learning practical skills as well as bringing out intuitive ability. The course will cover planning a painting and executing two types of portrait: head and shoulders and a full figure composition.

This figure painting course is designed to develop the intermediate or advanced painter, enabling you to capture the spirit of the figure with intensity, gesture and rhythm. You will work from a model (with a ratio of one model to eight students), exploring the figure in a series of long and short poses through a variety of mediums including charcoal, graphite, and oil paints. You'll look at proportion, dynamism and accuracy, as well as exploring tone and temperature changes under different light conditions. The week will combine all these techniques into a two-day pose with dramatic lighting, before engaging in a group feedback session. Your expert tutor will be on hand to provide individual and group guidance throughout the week.

Under Alan’s guidance, students will concentrate on developing the relationship between life drawing and painting whilst considering mark-making, colour and the handling properties of paint. These elements will be fused together over the five day course by firstly making several drawn studies in both dry materials and oil paints, followed by a one day oil painting and finally, a more developed three day painting in oil. The consideration of accuracy of observation and measurement will be looked at in relation to freedom of expression, exploration of materials and engagement with an expressive and individual painterly language. Students will receive regular one-to-one guidance throughout the course.

A well-structured and systematic course for those who have never painted before or want to start from the beginning. Students learn to see colour, shape and tone and relate all these elements together through composition. This course aims to foster self-confidence and enjoyment of painting in a stimulating community environment. There will be work from both still-life and life models. Students will learn how to handle oil paint and understand different ways of approaching painting. Throughout the course students will learn from works of many artists to improve their development. There is plenty of guidance from the tutor and the course is fun and relaxing.

This is a fun course that offers the fantastic opportunity to paint in and around London’s urban landscape. The Art Academy is just a short stroll from the Thames, conveniently situated in the historic Southwark London Bridge area which will feature as the main focus of this course. Working with quick sketches in oil or acrylic, students will practice how to efficiently and accurately capture tone and colour in the outdoors. Creating loose and vigorous paintings, we will look at how to capture a sense of light and atmosphere at different times of day. Looking at the works of other artists we will discuss different ways of composing a painting in an urban setting. Basic painting techniques such as tone, colour and texture will be addressed, as well as creative expression in the application of paint. Painting outside of the studio is always an exciting experience and students of all levels are sure to enjoy painting outdoors.

An exciting and well structured course for all skill levels wishing to learn how to use paint in a variety of techniques while also stimulating creative expression. The course explores the use of line, colour, tone, composition and the application of paint media while also developing expressive qualities within a composition. Sessions include painting from a life model, working from still life as well as more loosely structured creative painting using simple but effective exercises. Using other artists’ works as a source of inspiration students will explore creative methods of expression. Students then combine all these skills to create a portrait painting and a nude figure painting.

This course is a packed week covering a range of ways to paint the human figure in different types of spaces, and is a good introductory course or works as a refresher for those with painting experience. We start by painting the life model in the studio space, focusing on perspective and placing the figure in the room. The next day we look at a technique used by contemporary painters and the old masters, of working from miniature models as a way of working out interesting compositions. Days 4 and 5 are one project – gathering information collected from outside, and then constructing your own compositions in the studio, incorporating 3 figures into the space as a way of suggesting narrative. Oils and acrylics both welcome.

This is a well structured course with an emphasis on learning to understand the construction of the head and its features and using these skills to better create more intense, expressive portraits. Working with oil paints students will develop a series of artworks, from short expressive painting sketches, to longer more detailed pieces. The students will also be encouraged to work intuitively and expressively in tandem with an emphasis on accuracy of observation. The class has the benefit of 1:8 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist, James Bland. Students will receive one-to-one guidance throughout the course, and James will be on hand to give regular feedback and constructive advice. He will also be demonstrating and painting alongside the students.

This is a well structured course with an emphasis on learning to understand the construction of the head and its features and using these skills to better create more intense, expressive portraits. Working with oil paints students will develop a series of artworks, from short expressive painting sketches, to longer more detailed pieces. The students will also be encouraged to work intuitively and expressively in tandem with an emphasis on accuracy of observation. The class has the benefit of 1:8 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist, Charlie Schaffer. Students will receive one-to-one guidance throughout the course, and Charlie will be on hand to give regular feedback and constructive advice. He will also be demonstrating and painting alongside the students.

For some artists the portrait can be about purely formal aspects, with no relevance places on the character of the sitter. Under the tuition of Andy Pankhurst you will be encouraged to explore and discover what you personally want to "paint about", working from a model throughout the week. Starting with preliminary drawings on day one you will be introduced to the concepts of measurement and proportion, form, tone, space, composition and pictorial structure. The focus will then be on producing a colour oil sketch from the portrait model with a particular emphasis on colour and temperature. The final three days of the course will be spent on a large-scale portrait painting of a sustained pose. This exciting course is an intensive five days that offers a high level of tutor contact time.

This three-day portrait course will offer an opportunity for intensive study under the tuition of Tim Benson. The class has the benefit of 1:6 model to student ratio, as well as tuition from a talented professional artist. Students will produce at least four oil sketches on the first day and at least one more 'finished' painting by the final day. Under Tim’s guidance, students will concentrate on tonal painting allowing the emphasis to be on the form. During the course of the painting there will be an in-depth look at how to mix up colours. The tutor will also be working alongside the students demonstrating a 'wet in wet' technique. This exciting course is an intensive three days that offers a high level of tutor contact time.