Painting Techniques Course

Lesson 1 • Painting Surfaces and Supports

Covers canvas, wood, paper, and board as painting supports. Students match surface texture and absorbency to intended media.

Lesson 2 • Primers, Grounds, and Sizing

Explains surface preparation to ensure paint adhesion and longevity. Students apply gesso, rabbit-skin glue, and acrylic grounds correctly.

Lesson 3 • Brushes and Applicator Tools

Identifies brush shapes, hair types, and specialty applicators. Proper tool selection directly affects mark quality and technique execution.

Lesson 4 • Studio Setup and Safety

Establishes ergonomic workspace layout and safe handling of solvents and pigments. Reduces health risks and improves workflow efficiency.

Lesson 1 • Mixing Strategies and Mud Prevention

Teaches systematic mixing sequences that preserve chroma and avoid muddy results. Builds clean mixing habits essential for all painting media.

Lesson 2 • Optical Mixing and Color Interaction

Explores how adjacent colors influence each other visually without physical mixing. Prepares students for broken-color and impressionistic techniques.

Lesson 3 • Value, Saturation, and Temperature

Distinguishes lightness, chroma, and color temperature as independent variables. Students control each dimension separately in paint mixing.

Lesson 4 • The Color Wheel and Relationships

Introduces hue families, complementary pairs, and analogous groups. Provides the vocabulary needed for all subsequent color mixing decisions.

Lesson 1 • Grip, Posture, and Arm Movement

Establishes correct physical mechanics for brush control and endurance. Poor posture and grip are the most common sources of stiff, labored marks.

Lesson 2 • Wet-into-Wet and Wet-on-Dry

Contrasts blending into wet paint versus applying over dried layers. Students choose the correct approach based on desired edge quality.

Lesson 3 • Loading and Unloading the Brush

Controls paint quantity on the brush to achieve consistent coverage or texture. Proper loading prevents blobs, skips, and unintended transparency.

Lesson 4 • Stroke Types and Pressure Control

Catalogs flat, round, drag, and stipple strokes with pressure variations. Each stroke type serves specific descriptive and textural purposes.

Lesson 1 • Compositional Frameworks and Formats

Introduces rule of thirds, golden ratio, and dynamic symmetry as layout guides. Format choice—square, portrait, landscape—shapes compositional energy.

Lesson 2 • Line, Shape, and Visual Flow

Uses directional lines, shape repetition, and implied movement to lead the viewer's eye. Students design entry points, paths, and resting areas within the picture plane.

Lesson 3 • Value Structure and Notan Design

Reduces compositions to two-value notan patterns to test visual strength before painting. Strong value structure is the backbone of any successful composition.

Lesson 4 • Thumbnail Sketching and Planning

Develops rapid small-scale compositional studies before committing to full-size work. Thumbnails save time and prevent compositional errors on the final surface.

Lesson 1 • Masking, Lifting, and Reserving Whites

Preserves light areas using masking fluid, tape, and lifting techniques. White paper is the primary light source in transparent watercolor.

Lesson 2 • Watercolor Materials and Paper Preparation

Selects appropriate paper weights, pigment grades, and brush types for watercolor. Proper stretching and wetting prevent buckling and uneven washes.

Lesson 3 • Flat, Graded, and Variegated Washes

Builds foundational wash skills that form the base of most watercolor compositions. Mastery of washes controls value and atmospheric depth.

Lesson 4 • Layering and Glazing in Watercolor

Builds luminous depth through sequential transparent glazes over dried layers. Students plan layer sequences to achieve rich, complex color effects.

Lesson 1 • Blocking In and Underpainting

Establishes composition, value structure, and color temperature in early layers. A strong underpainting guides all subsequent opaque and transparent work.

Lesson 2 • Texture and Mixed-Media Integration

Incorporates collage, sand, fiber, and found materials into acrylic surfaces. Expands expressive range beyond conventional brushwork.

Lesson 3 • Opaque and Semi-Opaque Application

Covers direct, alla prima, and layered opaque painting strategies. Students build form and light using thick, confident paint application.

Lesson 4 • Transparent Glazing with Acrylics

Uses diluted or medium-extended paint to create luminous, jewel-like color layers. Glazing over dried acrylics produces depth impossible in a single layer.

Lesson 1 • Classical Underpainting Methods

Covers grisaille, verdaccio, and imprimatura as foundational oil underpainting approaches. Each method establishes value or color temperature for subsequent layers.

Lesson 2 • Glazing and Varnishing Oil Paintings

Applies transparent oil glazes to deepen shadows and enrich color after layers dry. Final varnishing protects the surface and unifies sheen.

Lesson 3 • Blending, Sfumato, and Soft Edges

Exploits oil's long open time to achieve seamless tonal transitions and atmospheric softness. Students blend flesh, sky, and shadow edges convincingly.

Lesson 4 • Fat-over-Lean Layering Principle

Explains the rule that each successive layer must contain more oil than the last. Violating this principle causes cracking and delamination over time.

Lesson 1 • Seeing and Simplifying Complex Subjects

Trains the eye to identify large shapes, value masses, and color temperatures before details. Simplification prevents overworking and preserves freshness.

Lesson 2 • Still Life Setup and Lighting

Arranges objects and controls light direction to create clear value patterns and interesting shadows. Setup decisions determine 80% of a still life's success.

Lesson 3 • Using Photographic Reference Effectively

Teaches critical evaluation of photos to avoid copying flat, distorted, or overexposed data. Students extract useful information while making independent artistic decisions.

Lesson 4 • Figure and Portrait Fundamentals

Introduces proportional landmarks, skin tone mixing, and gesture capture for figure work. Accurate proportion and warm-cool skin temperature are the primary goals.