Painting set free
Weekend-long practical course
3 November 2018 10.30am - 5.30pm4 November 2018 10.30am - 5.30pm
The Clore Learning Centre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts
£480. Includes all materials, lunch and a wine reception at the end of the first day.
Terms and conditions
Artist Virginia Verran leads a course focused on experimenting with oil paint, using light, transparency and fluidity of expression to explore creative responses to paintings on postcards.
Working from the ‘postcard project’ model, each participant will select a postcard from over 150 recognisable images of paintings from the Renaissance to the present day, provided by the tutor. During the course of the weekend, participants will be encouraged to fully explore their chosen image.
Participants will complete three tasks in response to the original image:
1. A complete response, showing either faithfulness to the original or a freer interpretation
2. A favourite detail
3. Adding a new element to the original image, or changing an existing one
Working on canvas or primed cartridge paper, participants will be encouraged to keep their surfaces wet using oil paints thinned with an extending medium. The intention is to manipulate this first thin layer and find the shapes and images within it, by removing paint using kitchen towels or rags. This will draw out the main areas, back to the light of the ground.
The aim is to ‘find’ the image through the experimental use of the wet medium, rather than drawing out the image from the beginning. Light, fluidity and invention are the important goals, rather than drawing an outline with a pencil. An exciting way of working which provides the freedom to make fluid changes, this technique is about discovery, open-mindedness and building confidence.
About the course
By fluidly applying oil paint mixed with thinners, then removing areas quickly from the wet ground, participants will explore working without an initial outline and the freedom this gives to make rapid changes to an image or form.
Day one
Participants will spend the first morning working from their selected postcard, finishing a complete painting on canvas showing the whole image. In the afternoon they will choose a detail from the original image to copy, working at a smaller scale on paper. The day will finish with a short presentation of paintings which are relevant for the second day, which look at the appropriation or interpretation of one artist’s work by another.
Day two
Participants will make a second attempt to respond to their chosen painting, removing something in order to introduce something personal, such as a favourite object, or to bring in a psychological element to change the meaning, such as changing a facial expression, the stance of a figure or the mood of a landscape.
Participants are advised to bring something to carry work home in, as there are no storage facilities available.
This course takes place in the new Clore Learning Centre at the Royal Academy of Arts.
This course is suitable for all levels, but participants will ideally have some prior experience of drawing, painting or other creative practice.
This course is for you if:
• You have some prior knowledge of drawing and/or painting and would like to extend your skills in the practice of working from direct observation.
• You would like a new perspective in your approach to drawing and painting.
• You would like the opportunity to develop your skills within a small group in the Royal Academy’s Clore Learning Centre.
• You have no prior experience of drawing and painting but have an interest in the history, theory and the practice of art more generally.
Minimum age 18
The number of participants is strictly limited to enable detailed feedback from the course tutor.
£480
Saturday 3 – Sunday 4 November 2018
10.30am – 5.30pm on both days
Includes:
• An introduction to the RA with particular reference to works from the Collection
• All specialist practical art materials
• Course learning materials and hand-outs
• Lunch and refreshments on both days
• A drinks reception at the end of the first day
• A certificate of participation upon course completion
About the tutor
Virginia Verran
Virginia Verran is primarily a painter who also makes drawings. She has exhibited in the UK, Europe, China and Japan.
Her work has won awards, including the Jerwood Drawing Prize, and is held in many public, corporate and private collections.
She has taught in many colleges and universities in the UK, including the Royal Academy, and currently works at Falmouth University and Chelsea College of Art and Design. She is exhibiting in the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize 2018.
Our courses and classes programme
Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.