Craft a striking layered oil painting that evokes depth and volume through the masterful use of texture, colour, and chiaroscuro.

This is a fantastic opportunity to explore the oil painting techniques of the 17th Century masters, with experienced artist Emily Roberts. Emily specializes in working from both life and imagination, having taught atelier-style drawing and painting techniques in studios across Cornwall and Europe for over ten years.

The English term ‘still life’ derives from the Dutch word ‘stilleven’, which came into use in around 1650. Still life painting allowed artists to showcase their skills in painting textures and realistic lighting, presenting unique challenges with various foods, silver cutlery, and intricate details of tablecloths and flowers. In our Porthmeor studio we will set up three still lifes, within shadow boxes, each with a different colour palette and a variety of textures for you to draw and paint from.

During the course, Emily will guide you through the works of notable artists such as Willem Kalf, Caravaggio, Juan Sanchez Cotan, and Adriaen Coorte. You will explore how each of these artists skillfully navigated the challenges of capturing the interplay of light across diverse surfaces and textures. This experience will deepen your appreciation for their artistic techniques and enhance your understanding of light in art.

Emily will demonstrate oil painting techniques, and thoroughly discuss the nature of the pigments used as well as approaches to mixing colours using a limited palette. Students will start designing their compositions by completing a ‘lay-in’, a thin layer of paint covering the whole board. Learn how to build up the paint body in the lighter areas and maintain translucent layers in the darks. Techniques such as wet into wet softening and scraping back will be explored. Focus on strategies for accurately matching the colours in your compositions, helping you create harmonious and visually appealing pieces.

On the final day we will discuss glazes, further deepening the colour in our compositions and exploring impasto in the highlights. We will also look at ‘finish’, helping the eye move around the work through use of accents, variation of edges and building background ‘atmosphere’. 

What will I learn?

1. A thorough grounding in oil painting techniques such as glazing, scraping back, wet into wet.
2. Observation methods from life that can be applied to any subject.
3. How to mix colours to match your compositions.
4. How to create drama in your painting, characterised by intense light and dark shadows.

Who would this course suit?

This workshop is taught comprehensively in a step by step process, making it suitable for all levels of ability and experience, but would especially suit those wishing to increase their technical knowledge of painting in oils. The workshop is suited to those with reduced mobility, but would not suit those with severe eyesight impediments.  

What to Bring

Timings and Breaks