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Introduction to oil painting landscapes for beginners
For beginners and those returning to oil painting, this course is divided into six easy-to-follow lessons that you can take at your own pace. Your tutor, Lucy Smallbone, is an experienced teacher of oil and acrylics at Art Academy London who has a passion for gestural landscape painting. She will explain why she enjoys painting with oils, introduce you to the concepts of tone, colour and colour-mixing, show you four different techniques for applying oil paint and explain how you can plan your own projects and develop a style of your own going forward.
Students need to purchase their own materials for this course. We are not able to provide our painting pack for this course.
What level is this course?
This course is suitable for students at our Beginner level.
Beginner
Choose a Beginners course if you are looking for a broad introduction to the medium you are studying. Students spend time learning the very basics of the taught medium, for example, how to mix colours, use different tools, set up an easel. Our Beginner courses are suitable for students with no prior experience, they tend to follow a more structured path than our other courses, ensuring each student receives the guidance they need from the tutor.
Other course levels include:
Beginner +
Choose a Beginner + course if you are looking to hone your skills, focus on a specific subject area and build your confidence. These courses are suitable for those with some basic skills in and knowledge of the taught medium, but still follow a structured path with guidance from the tutor.
Intermediate
Our Intermediate courses are suitable for students who have considerable prior knowledge of the taught medium or have completed a Beginners/Beginners + course with the Art Academy. These courses tend to be less structured and instead are tailored to the classes’ needs and the direction they want to advance in. Choose an Intermediate course if you are looking to improve your skills and have more critical discussions around the work you produce.
Advanced
Choose our Advanced courses if you have considerable knowledge in the taught medium. You are expected to be able to work independently and have critical discussions around your work. Our Advanced courses include our Masterclasses.
All attendees must be aged 18 or over.
What materials will I need?
The following materials are required to complete the lessons:
- A set of bristle brushes, both flat and round
- One tear-off palette (9”x12”)
- One palette knife
- One bottle of Zest-it (250ml)
- One 10″x12″ canvas board
- One 10″x14″ canvas board
- Two 12″x16″ canvas boards
- Eight Daler Rowney oil tubes of Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, French Ultramarine, Coeruleum Blue and Burnt Umber
- Two clean empty jam jars with lids
- Kitchen towel or old rags
- Newspaper/bin bag or plastic sheeting to create a clean painting area
About Your Tutor
LUCY SMALLBONE
Lucy Smallbone is a graduate from the Slade School of Fine Art Master’s program who specialises in modern landscape painting. Her work looks at the merging of fictional and real space and questions the part that memory and the mind can play in altering a view of a place. Picture plains tilt upwards and vivid colours grow across the surfaces, images are distorted by a rigorous sketchbook based drawing practice, taking them from realistic figuration into semi abstraction. Smallbone is a recipient of such prizes as the Haworth trust grant(2011), the David Balladie travel prize(2009) and travelled to Chernobyl thanks to th eDuveen Travel Prize(2016).
This course features on our online learning portal, that hosts prerecorded courses and tutorials from our Academy tutors. Learn from the comfort of your own home, follow along and take each lesson at your own pace.
Lesson 1 – Introduction
In this introductory lesson, you will meet your course tutor, Lucy Smallbone, who explains why she loves oils and what it is about teaching and painting with oils that she enjoys. She will share some of her work with you, discussing her own painting style and why oil painting as a medium inspires her so much. Lastly, you’ll discover how the course is structured and what to expect in each lesson.
Lesson 2 – Materials and Getting Started
In this lesson, Lucy runs through all the materials and equipment you’ll need to complete this course – what each item in your toolkit is for, how you use them, as well as other available items. You will then learn how to set up your workspace to avoid mess, as well as some useful tips to prepare for each painting session. Finally, you’ll complete your first exercise in mixing and applying paint using a variety of styles.
Lesson 3 – Introduction to Tone
In this lesson, you will be creating a tonal still life. Taking what you learned in the previous lesson about mixing and applying paint, Lucy will begin by showing you how to choose objects for a still life, apply a tinted ‘ground’ to your canvas board and sketch out your composition. You will then use the different paint-application techniques your learned last lesson to capture different tones and textures.
Lesson 4 – Introduction to Colour
In this lesson, you will be painting a colourful still life. Lucy will introduce you to basic colour theory, how to mix primary and secondary colours, which colours contrast well with each other and how to tint and tone colours to match the objects in your set-up. Then, moving on from last week, you will sketch out your composition and choose which paint-application techniques to use for each object.
Lesson 5 – Painting the Natural World
In this lesson, Lucy will introduce you to her love… gestural landscape. You will start with a simple, five-minute exercise to discover how gestural mark-making can influence the look and feel of your work. You’ll then learn some useful rules of thumb about using colour to create perspective in a landscape and how to emphasise key areas of your composition, before putting brush to canvas and producing a landscape painting of your own.
Lesson 6 – Developing Your Style
In this final lesson, you will be taught how to use everything you’ve learned in the course so far to develop your own style and plan and execute future projects. Lucy shares her tips and techniques for building up a portfolio of ideas and imagery to draw from in your paintings. She explains that ideas for artworks can come from anywhere… even on your own doorstep. After the lesson, you are encouraged to create a final project based on these techniques.
Please note: Access to the course is not immediate, it can take up to 48 hours from purchase to be enrolled on the online portal in order to access the course material.
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Introduction to Oil Painting – Online (VA107 Spring)
Learn how to paint successfully with oil paints in this live, interactive online introduction to oil painting techniques course. You will learn a wide array of skills and explore themes of portraiture, still life, landscapes and Master Copy painting.
What you will learn on this course
During this course you will be introduced to the art of painting successfully with oil paints, learn about portraiture, still life, landscapes and Master artists. You will also learn the following skills.
- Preparing and priming your canvas
- How to transfer your drawings on to canvas
- The technique of fat over lean
- How to lay out an organised palette
- How to work with limited colours
- Laying down tonal ground
- Under painting
- Value studies
- Colour mixing
This is a live, interactive online course using Zoom, taught by professional artist and art tutor, Peter Tinkler. The course will be taught through a combination of demonstrations and examples, practical tasks and work on individual projects. The tutor will provide guidance and assistance based on your individual needs and aims. On completion of this course, you can expect to have a gained an understanding of how to approach oil painting.
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for adults aged 18+ years. It is open to learners of all levels. Beginners who have no oil painting experience will be taught the basics. Students with previous oil painting experience can develop their skills further.
The course is accessible for people with disabilities who can undertake practical drawing activities. A support worker or a carer may assist. Carers must book a complimentary ticket if attending a course to provide support. The room is wheelchair accessible. Please contact us to discuss your specific situation and needs.
What equipment and materials do I need to take part?
As this is an online course, you will need to provide your own materials and equipment. We recommend the following items for the course:
- A set of oil painting brushes (student quality will be fine)
- A small container of Liquin Original (which is similar to Linseed oil),
- Artists White Spirit (please note regular DIY white spirit can damage brushes)
- A palette (although an old dinner plate can work)
- A set of oil paints including Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue (optional), Cadmium Red, Permanent Rose (optional), Cadmium Yellow, Burnt Sienna, and Yellow Ochre.
- An Oil paper pad – ideally A3 size.
Who teaches this course?
We hope you enjoy your course. Please note that the course ticket is non-refundable or transferable, please refer to our full Terms & Conditions here, thank you.
