Course Programme

WEEK 1 — DESERT LANDSCAPE

Working from photographs of the previous week’s subject, create a series of small colour studies to explore and search for a suitable halftone ground or grounds.

Work first with acrylic and then with oil paint, using opaque paint. The colour studies will be used to investigate how colour can establish a sense of heat, atmosphere and distance.

Students will then begin working on a larger-scale painting, using aerial perspective to create a convincing sense of space and distance within the landscape.

WEEK 2 — DESERT LANDSCAPE

Continue and finish the painting begun in Week 1.

Focus on developing the sense of distance, atmosphere and heat through colour and aerial perspective.

WEEK 3 — STILL LIFE

Use a photograph of a still life as the starting point for a quick painting.

Apply ideas taken from landscape painting, particularly aerial perspective and colour space, to create a sense of depth within the still-life composition.

Explore how the use of colour can create space and atmosphere even within a smaller, more contained subject.

WEEK 4 — STILL LIFE

Continue developing the still-life painting.

Explore further how colour, light and reflected light can be used to create depth, atmosphere and a sense of space.

WEEK 5 — HOT ROADS

Work from photographs of roads in hot countries, including people and cars.

Create a series of colour studies, experimenting with shifts between warm and cool colours to create a sense of space, heat and distance.

Begin to introduce more reflected light, considering how light and colour are reflected from roads, cars, people and the surrounding environment.

WEEK 6 — HOT ROADS

Spend two weeks developing a larger painting based on the colour studies from Week 5.

Use the studies as a starting point for exploring colour, space, heat and reflected light on a larger scale.

WEEK 7 — FIGURES BATHING IN WATER

Work from images of figures bathing in water, such as forest ponds or rivers.

Experiment with ideas of reflected light on the surface of the water and on the figures.

Explore how reflections, colour and light can connect the people with their surroundings and create a sense of atmosphere and space.

WEEK 8 — FIGURES AND WATER

Use the studies from the previous week as a starting point for a larger painting.

Work with direct gestures of paint, allowing the application of paint to become an important part of the expression of light, water, colour and movement.

WEEK 9 — FIGURES AND WATER

Continue developing and finish the painting.

Focus on bringing together the ideas explored through the previous studies, particularly colour, reflected light, gesture and space.

WEEK 10 — SUNBATHERS

Begin a large painting of sunbathers, using the colour experiments and ideas developed during the previous weeks as a starting point.

Explore the effects of heat, strong light, reflected light and colour on the figures and their surroundings.

Spend three weeks developing the large painting, allowing the previous colour studies and experiments to inform the work.

WEEK 11 — SUNBATHERS

Continue developing the painting.

Focus on the relationship between the figures, colour, light, heat and space, while allowing the previous experiments with colour and paint application to influence the work.

WEEK 12 — SUNBATHERS / REVIEW

Finish the painting.

Review the work produced throughout the term, considering how the different subjects and experiments have developed ideas around heat, colour, distance and reflected light.