OIL PAINTING
Academic Oil Painting develops colour perception through sustained work from life. The course treats oil paint not only as a material to control, but as a way of studying form, materiality, portrait, figure and composition through colour relationships.
Programme
Colour perception is developed through direct work from life throughout the course. Students study colour theory together with the practical behaviour of oil paint, learning how colour relationships, tonal value and temperature contribute to the construction of form. Painting techniques are studied as practical working methods, not as isolated effects, so technical decisions remain connected to observation and to the visual problem being solved.
Portrait and figurative studies extend this foundation into more complex subjects. Students work with proportion, light, material qualities and the relationship between figure and surrounding space, using paint to describe both physical form and differences of surface. Regular work with a live model keeps these decisions grounded in comparison and correction, while encouraging greater sensitivity to colour, edges and the organisation of the painted surface.
Composition brings the individual skills together. Colour, technique, portrait, figure and materiality are no longer handled as separate topics; instead, students are asked to coordinate them within complete pictorial tasks. Each painting becomes a process of observing, testing and revising relationships, leading toward a more reliable command of oil paint and a stronger ability to organise colour and form within a fully resolved image.
What You Will Learn
- understand colour relationships and colour theory
- work with different oil-painting techniques
- describe material qualities through paint
- develop portrait and figurative studies
- build a coherent painted composition
- work directly from a live model
How You Learn
Students work with a live model and build paintings through observation, comparison and correction. Technical questions — handling paint, building colour, describing material and controlling edges or tonal relationships — are studied inside complete pictorial tasks, not as detached demonstrations.
Outcome
A stronger command of oil paint and a more systematic understanding of colour, form and materiality, supported by experience in portrait, figure and compositional work from life.