Life in Colour I Acrylic Still Life Painting Course

If you are interested in learning how to perceive and handle colour, then this is the course for you! You may have a fear of colour and colour mixing, Denise will help guide you through this complex subject. If you are already familiar with the basics of colour and the colour wheel, please consider the "Life in Colour II" course.

In the Ways of Seeing life drawing course we learn about perception of line, tone and shape. This course aims to tackle the deeper subject of colour and colour perception. The aim of the course is to attain a greater awareness of colour and how to capture it successfully in paintings and drawings.

The aim of this course is to improve your colour perception and rendering abilities. At the start we make a Colour Wheel and understand how to use it. We progress though basic colour mixing skills to understand how paints mix. We then develop our abilities to perceive and mix complementary colours.

The course uses the medium of acrylic to work with.  These dry quickly enabling students to work faster and they have the lovely quality of being able to be watered down and used like watercolours and used more opaquely to have more of an oil painterly feel to the work we produce.

With guidance from Denise students work from a series of still life set ups, all based on the Colour Wheel and the theories of colour relating to them. As the weeks progress, the still lifes get more challenging and the colour mixes more subtle.

​Colour is such an exciting subject and one which Denise believes is such an important part of our everyday vision, but at the same time can be difficult to see and record in painting.  By the end of this course students should have gained a greater understanding of colour and how to use it to the best advantage in their work.

The exact itinerary may change according to the needs and requests of the students, but it will still cover as many of the basics of learning to observe and paint what we see.

Some areas covered by the course:
  • Complementary colours: What they are and how to use them.
  • ​Analogous Colours:  Again what they are and how to use them.
  • Warm and cool colours.
  • Mixing and using greys and neutrals.
  • Making black.
  • Working from the figure.
  • Possibly working outside from the landscape. (This depends on the unanimous decision of the class and the weather!)
All materials and tea and coffee are provided. You just need to bring some suitable clothing and/or apron.
Course Tutor
Denise Slattery

Available Dates
The studio and art school is closed until further notice.
1:1 tutoring is available if that is of interest.
​Price
​£250
Testimonials
"Denise is great. Many thanks for a very intesnsive and interesting course"

"Friendly, creative and convivial atmosphere. Not too much criticism which was good."

"Good balance between instruction, suggestions and time to work alone."

​"I enjoyed the entire course, it was great, thank you!"
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School Mission
• To help students "rediscover their sense of wonder" though the practice of observational drawing & painting
• To help artists improve practical skills with tuition whilst preserving their unique artistic voice.
• To provide a fun, nurturing, peaceful and loving environment in which to create art.