Painting and drawing courses and individual tuition throughout the year
Non-residential courses are available throughout the year. Numbers are limited to about 6 people, in order to maximize the amount of
individual attention I can give.
I can address any specific areas you particularly want to focus on, from assisting in the understanding of formal composition to
mixing of colour, or in making drawing less fearful.
I am also able to offer tuition in two specialized areas, not often taught in this country: the sight-size drawing method,
as taught in the Charles H. Cecil Studio in Florence; and the indirect painting method as used by Vermeer and other
17th century artists, as well as later painters such as Raeburn, Reynolds and John Singer Sargent.
Sight-size drawing
The sight-size drawing method places the subject of the painting and the canvas, on the same plane and at a distance from the artist, who is then in a position to make a direct
comparison between the two This method trains the visual memory, while greatly improving observational skills. Two weeks of sight-size drawing will hone drawing
skills to a far higher level, than can usually be attained in attending a regular life drawing class.
Indirect painting method
The indirect painting method was used by Titian, Rembrandt and Rubens to achieve their extraordinary work. It is the technique of building up a painting from a transparent
under-painting with successive layers of opaque and transparent paint. The upper layers being used to modify, rather than to conceal, what lies below. This painting
method gives far more freedom and control to the painter than the more commonly used direct painting method, or painting alla prima. Later painters such as Modigliani,
Soutine and Paul Klee exploited the wealth of effects that the traditional painting method can give.