This six-week class, held on Monday nights, explores figurative work in depth, whether you’re trying it for the first time, or want to build on the figurative painting you’ve already done. It covers everything I teach in a Limited Palette workshop, and more besides. Working in acrylics, you’ll mix every colour you need from a limited palette of four Golden paints (plus white), and discover the freedom of using a single brush for everything from blocking to washes to fine details. You’ll practise gridding, an ancient technique to make drawing quick and simple, and you’ll find out how washes can transform your work. You’ll also learn how to compose a painting, handle a photo shoot with a live model, and chose the best images from that shoot. Students are encouraged to paint at home between classes if they wish (if you run into a roadblock while working at home, you’re welcome to call me for help). You’ll have a finished work at the end of the class, and a variety of tricks and techniques to make your painting appear more three-dimensional.

Here’s the week-by-week breakdown:

1. Week 1: A primer on composition
   

2. Week 2: Photo shoot with model
   

3. Week 3: Slide selection and practical demo of what we talked about regarding composition on the first night
   

4. Week 4: Drawing, using the time-honoured technique of gridding to transfer your image
   

5. Week 5: Painting - use of the big brush, mixing every colour under the sun from a limited palette of four colours (plus white)
   

6. Week 6: More painting, plus washes - and completion of your work
   

Materials required:

1. •30 x 40-inch stretched canvas, painted black with either Mars black or black gesso
   

2. •White water-soluble pencil (I use Lumocolor or Aquarel, and regular watercolour pencils work, too)
   

3. •Golden acrylic paints: cadmium red light, cadmium red dark, cadmium yellow medium, pthalo blue (either shade), titanium white. Note, Golden makes a line of slow-drying acrylics called Golden Open. Avoid these like the plague - at least for this class.
   

4. •Corona Sabre 1 1/2-inch sash brush (available at some Benjamin Moore paint stores, and at my studio)
   

5. •Bucket
   

6. •Paint rag
   

7. •Large sealing container (roughly 9 by 13 inches and maybe 2 inches deep, to be used as a palette. Tupperware works, but you should be able to find something way cheaper and just as useful at the dollar store, in the kitchen section)
   

Tuition:  $310 + GST

Time: 7 - 9:30 each Monday night

Registration: Call 778 426 0150, or email me.

Six Week Comprehensive