Expressive Painting Summer Edition

Discover the joy of painting with acrylics and bring your creativity to life through colour, tone, and composition.

In this short course, we will explore how to use the acrylic medium and cover the most important aspects of painting:

• Composition
• Tone/value
• Colour

We will study the work of Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edgar Payne, Arthur Streeton, and other influential artists, as well as contemporary painters who inspire us. Shelly will provide reference images for each session, but suggestions from participants are always welcome.

We will start by learning the basics through studying and recreating paintings that move us, then build toward developing your own original masterpieces.

Week 1: Introduction to Acrylics - surfaces, mediums, brushes, paints. Practice tone and value through tonal painting.
Week 2: Colour - create a colour chart, practise mixing, and paint a still life.
Week 3: Composition - explore thumbnail sketches and create a landscape painting.

Small to medium canvas, primed MDF board or canvas paper suitable for acrylic painting

Sketchbook (A5-A3) for notes and drawings

Brushes - mostly synthetic, plus a few hog hair brushes:

• 3 flat bristle brushes (approx. 15mm, 10mm, 5mm)
• 3 filbert brushes (approx. 15mm, 10mm, 5mm)
• 1 wide 3–4 cm cheap hog hair brush
• 1–2 small round brushes for detail

Acrylic paints (recommended brands: Atelier, Matisse, Golden, Liquitex):

• Titanium White
• Ultramarine Blue (warm blue)
• Pthalo Blue (cool blue)
• Cadmium Red (warm red)
• Alizarin Crimson (cool red)
• Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue (warm yellow)
• Lemon Yellow (cool yellow)
• Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, Viridian

Mediums: Clear painting medium, acrylic drying retarder, acrylic impasto medium (optional)

1 palette knife with a pointy tip for mixing paints

1 large flat plastic palette

Masking tape (optional)

If you’re not a beginner and prefer to use oil paints, please bring a jar with odourless solvent (no turps). Note that solvents must be taken home after class, as there is no disposal available in the art room.