Actual course footage
Oil painting courses for beginners
Oil painting made easy in just 8 lessons! Begin with Part 1: Oil Painting for the Baby Beginner, perfect for those new to oil painting, and progress to Part 2: Chaos to Beauty. Transform messy marks and expressive strokes into meaningful art with demos and exercises by Emily, while exploring techniques used by masters like Matisse, Cassatt, and Van Gogh. You'll learn color mixing, composition, palette knife techniques, and alla prima painting, all in a fun and accessible way.
What will I learn in Oil Painting for the Baby Beginner?
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Oil Painting for the Baby Beginner
Week One: Materials and color mixing
Color wheel, “Colors I Don’t Hate” assignment, gallery of works by great artists, baby color study, 4 ways to clean brushes, how to clean a palette
Week Two: Value
Create a 5 step value scale, Claude Monet value study, the power of squinting, make your own black, paint a sphere, gallery of values with Sargent, Van Gogh, and Matisse, extra credit paint a fruit, tints and shades worksheet
Week Three: Small Still Life
3 step process for making a painting, thumbnail sketches explained, block in values, refine and finish, overview of composition rules, demo of painting block in, warm and cool colors, gallery of lemon paintings, small still life assignment, how to sign your work
Week Four: Simple Flower Study
Explanation and gallery of alla prima painting, floral study demo, thumbnail sketch demo, blocking in demo, how to use a palette knife, tips for painting glass, how to take a good photograph reference, how to arrange a still life, Emily’s favorite Instagram floral painting follows
What will I learn in Chaos to Beauty?
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Chaos to Beauty
Week 1: Drawing for Painters
Sensory drawing, blind contour drawing, gallery of contour drawing, rules for ellipses, gallery of ellipses, draw a teacup, gallery of teacups, linear perspective and why it matters, draw a sphere, gallery of spheres, extra credit: paint a little still life, include a sphere, ellipse, and show perspective
Week 2: Explorations in Color
How to set up your palette, play with colors, how to mute colors, how to darken colors without black, lighten colors without white, monochromatic still life exercise, how to set up a still life, monochromatic still life demo, three steps to making a painting, Emily’s painting medium, gallery of still life painting, limited palette ideas
Week 3: Painting Mechanics
Tradition of master copies explained, looking at Van Gogh’s master copies, your master copy assignment, thumbnail sketch with 3 values, initial oil sketch, finishing your painting, tips for creating a focal point and depth, Waterhouse Lady of Shalott painting, looking at Van Gogh’s “Roses”
Week 4: Your Alla Prima Painting
Steps for creating your own still life painting, 3 value thumbnail sketch, still life demo, tips on framing, what to do when you don’t like your painting, how to see where you went wrong, creating an oil painting practice
Learn from the best
Emily has over 15 years of experience teaching in museum settings as well as at many notable Utah universities: Weber State, BYU, and Utah State. She is a knowledgeable instructor and professional artist with an active exhibition schedule.
FAQs
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Lifetime access. Live courses are recorded and uploaded weekly.
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These courses are designed with beginners in mind. Any prior painting experience helps, but is not required.
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The LIVE course, Chaos to Beauty, is taught live over zoom Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30pm MST, Jan 8, 15, 22, and 29. These classes are recorded and then uploaded to the course portal. You have lifetime access to them and can complete the course at your own pace.
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You will need some oil paints, a palette knife, brushes, and a palette. A list of supplies is emailed to you upon signing up, and supplies are listed in the introductory lesson of each course (along with amazon links to purchase easily).
