Harrietsham Drawing and Painting Exhibition

Learners from our Drawing and Painting course in Harrietsham have created these impressive works of art. The course was designed to introduce learners to painting with oils and to help them learn about the different techniques and mediums they could use to create still life paintings on a range of different surfaces. Learners chose to paint on canvas, oil paper, canvas board and panel.

The intent for this course was:

• To introduce and embed good practise in oil painting
• To enable learners to develop a variety of work in oil painting
• To encourage learners to experiment and test techniques, materials and tools when working with oils

The class had expressed an interest in learning to paint with oils, but they were all new to this medium. The tutor chose still life as the subject as it can incorporate everything from form and tone through to colour, composition, light and shade and more. Our tutor says "Working from still life in oils produces work with a beautiful patina and quality, using familiar items."

Through the still life studies, learners gained an understanding of different mediums that extend, slow or dry the oil paint, how to work with thinners and a range of brushes. They learned to make their initial drawing without the use of pencil and paint more confidently directly on their canvas. They learned that oils take time to dry but that changes can easily be made, using techniques such as scumbling, impasto (which uses cold wax medium), also working Alla Prima, which means making a painting all in one go so it is finished during class. Throughout the course, our tutor demonstrated the different techniques to help learners understand what they were aiming to achieve. The tutor also prepared exercises for them and sent slideshows and images of individual artists who have worked with oils and still life, as well as providing reference sheets on the different aspects of using oil paint. To reinforce the class's learning and understanding of how oils can be used, the tutor also worked on several of their own paintings throughout the course, so learners could see the changes the tutor made as well as sharing photos of the tutors work as it progressed, so they could see the in-between stages.

Congratulations to our learners on their achievements.