About the Course
Explore the wonder of painting the Still Life with Sophie Newnham. Working with oils over the 12 week course we will be learning a range of techniques to get the best out of this beautiful medium. Suitable for beginners and beyond. Taking inspiration from the beautiful botanical world, plants and flora.
We will learn
- Drawing from life and understanding line, tones and mark making, when drawing plants.
- Gain an understanding of proportion and perspective, to create realistic images.
- Shading, tuning the eye into tonal differences. Where does the light come from? Learning about negative space, where to plot objects. Vertical spacing vs horizontal.
- Botanical plants will be our inspiration.
- Preparing the canvas and mixing the palette.
- Painting in oils, building a series of layers, we will cover how to strengthen tonal gradients and create volume through shadow and light. Mixing a both a monochromatic and earthy tones.
- Composition - learning how to plan out, measure and place several plants within a space. Measuring angles, heights, widths and understanding negative space.
- Understanding colour theory and mixing the palette from marking out with thin layers to adding thicker layers of rich buttery oils.
- Gain confidence with colour application.
- Building up colour through impasto application. Learning how to create depth and definition with oils.
- Fine-tuning and balancing out our paintings, looking at background vs foreground. How can we create highlights and add depth. Creating an overall balance to each composition.
- creating a series of paintings from several compositions over the weeks.