Painting Course in Saint-Lambert with Eric Vanasse

Wednesday 1 pm to 4 pm - Start anytime!

Oil or acrylic painting (all levels)
Flexible attendance
$355 +tx for 10 sessions of 3 hours

Course description

Student will have a choice of developing a personal project using photographic references, to copy a painting from a Master, or to do a still life that we will set up in the gallery.

We will use several techniques and tools to help develop your perception of forms, proportions, values and colours that are the foundation of painting. Most of the techniques can be applied to oil or acrylic paint.

Each student will follow a personal path and choose topics that will fill in gaps or give a better structure to build on.

Students will see all the stages of creating a painting, concept, composition, execution using a variety of classical and modern techniques, up to the final touch.

We will discuss different ways to add interest to your paintings using linear and tonal composition, choice of colours, transparency and opacity, thin and thick paint application, brushwork, glazing and scumbling, and edge work.

Prerequisite

None. Students without drawing experience will be able to develop their eye by doing mass studies, using grids or wipe-outs.

For beginners, we recommend to start with simple forms in monochrome paint and to progress toward more complicated subjects using a limited palette in order to develop a good control of values.

Materials

We provide the easel and the pleasant atmosphere!
Please bring your paint (titanium white and the three primaries, red, blue and yellow), towels or rags, 2 palette knives, canvas, a few brushes, 12x16 palette paper. For acrylic, also bring retarder medium. For oil paint, also bring linseed oil, odourless solvent and small containers for oil and solvent.

Teacher

Eric Vanasse: Works, teaching approach and artistic statement

Topics (adapted to each student)

  1. Materials
    1. Paint, solvents, mediums, varnishes
    2. Supports, sizes and grounds
    3. Brushes, palette and other tools
  2. Choosing the subject
    1. The concept
    2. Reference photos
    3. Combining several photos
    4. The importance of lighting
    5. Cropping and proportions
    6. Using a computer monitor
  3. Composition
    1. Linear composition
    2. Tonal composition (notan)
    3. 12 basic composition principles
  4. Setting up the palette
    1. Colour wheel
    2. Transparent and opaque paint
    3. Mixing colours
  5. From drawing to painting
    1. Sketching the subject
    2. Wipe-out method
    3. Grid method
    4. Transferring a drawing
  6. Values
    1. How to see and compare values
    2. Tonal scales
    3. Colour-value
  7. Colour
    1. "Cooler" and "warmer" colours
    2. Hues and intensity
    3. Colour theories and harmonies
  8. Block-in method
  9. Alla Prima method
  10. Grisaille method
  11. Glazing method
  12. Scumbling and drybrush methods
  13. Edges and blending
  14. Finishing a painting
    1. Reinforcing lights and darks
    2. When to stop
    3. How to fix an unsuccessful painting
    4. Reviewing the concept
  15. Philosophical issues
    1. Finding one’s own path
    2. Becoming an Artist
    3. Setting goals and succeeding
See the full list