You will learn about the proportions of the face and how to obtain a likeness by making preliminary sketches and tonal drawings before preparing your canvas and making a tonal under-painting. You will begin with colour preparation and mixing, then applying paint using brushes and palette knife. It will be a chance to explore various techniques and approaches to painting in acrylics and in capturing a likeness in your portrait. Acrylic paints are extremely versatile and can be used watered down and applied as thin layers of colour or applied thickly as impasto. The methods and techniques demonstrated on the course could also help when progressing to oils.

Materials Required:

• A stretched canvas/canvas board. Preferred sizes- 16 x 20”, 12 x 16” or square, 12 x 12” or 16 x 16”
• A standing easel or desktop easel
• Acrylic paints - preferred:-
  • Burnt Umber
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Cadmium Yellow Light
  • Alizarin Crimson
  • Titanium White
  • Yellow Ochre
  • Raw Umber
  • Ivory Black
  • Cadmium Red
  • Phthalo Blue
• Long-handled bristle or artificial haired brushes. One large flat-ended, one filbert and a finer pointed brush is required. Please bring whatever brushes you have too. The tutor can provide suitable brushes if required
• A flexible palette knife or knives. Metal or plastic is ok. The more flexible the blade the better
• Mixing palette and two water containers/cups
• A long ruler, 2B pencil and eraser
• Please bring a photograph, printed image or digital image on an Ipad or tablet from which to paint from Printed images should be printed no smaller than A4 and be a high resolution image

Materials Cost:

£6 per person to include:-

• Palette paper and masking tape
• Charcoal and paper
• Acrylic mediums
• Drawing boards

The tutor will also make available an allsorts array of paints if required.