The class is very friendly and informal. Beginners are very welcome.

In this practical introduction course you will be guided step-by-step as we learn to create a traditional oil painting using the same process as the old art masters such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio for example!

The process:

We begin our journey by preparing the canvas and creating an underpainting. During this stage, we will be focusing on building up lights, middle tones and the shadows in-between layers of glaze. This is a key part of this painting technique, where you have an interplay of light and dark in the subject matter. In Italy, this term is called chiaroscuro, (chiaro, “light,” and scuro, “dark”) finding the light from out of the darkness in other words!

We follow this by adding colour to our painting and learning how to make oil paint from traditional pigments and applying the paint between layers of glaze.

By the end of the five session course, you will have acquired the skills to replicate this at home and apply this technique to all sorts of different subject matters.

A maximum of 5 places are available per course.

The art studio is located in Nettlebed, near Henley on Thames where there is free parking nearby.

*Please note that the art studio is located up one flight of stairs.