Painting

Great art has and will always be rooted in a strong foundation. We will explore portrait, figure, still life, and landscape as you work to gain valuable insight on how to approach these major areas of study. The painting program will lay out a course of study taking you from time tested techniques of the past master’s to ultimately helping you to unveil your own personal vision with strength and integrity.

  • Portrait Phase I Preview

    This phase will introduce you to several monochromatic palettes.  This means you will not be venturing into the realm of color as of yet. Instead, monochrome will give you ample time to focus on more important concepts: manipulating edges and values in oil paint.  You should start cultivating an acute awareness of value judgment and… Continue reading →

  • Figure Painting Phase I Preview

    In this phase we will again be placing the emphasis on limited palettes. We will start almost all first phases in painting this way.  The goal will be to familiarize yourself with value control, shape recognition, and edge control. Students will work from photos of the male and female casts, both front and back, as… Continue reading →

  • Still Life Phase I Preview

    Basic composition, staging, and limited palettes will be the emphasis of this phase.  The phase begins with one object rendered in each of the 3 palettes: Burnt Umber Pick-Out, Burnt Umber White, and Phthalo Blue Black and White. You will then work up to two (and ultimately three) objects. Instructor Jeff Watts will go over… Continue reading →

  • Still Life Phase II Preview

    You are now ready to study some of the key patinas you will need to paint in your artistic career.  In this phase Jeff Watts has selected five of the patinas he has had the most calling to do in his career, as well as ones that were the most challenging.  Watch in the following… Continue reading →

  • Portrait Phase II Preview

    Now, after grounding yourself in the foundation of portrait in oil, it’s time to open up your palette range a bit. First we will jump into the “Zorn” palette, named after famed Swedish painter Anders Zorn. This four color palette is truly amazing. You will learn to premix this palette, then Jeff will introduce you… Continue reading →

  • Figure Painting Phase II Preview

    Having gotten familiar with navigating the human form from the major angles, and using controlled palettes, you are now ready to open the range a bit. In this phase you will again be working from photos of the male and female figures taken from the major angles. However, now you will be using the Burnt… Continue reading →

  • Gouache Phase I Preview

    In this phase Jeff Watts introduces you to his second favorite medium after oil: gouache. He will demonstrate this medium using a traditional approach that is rarely taught in contemporary art schools. It will be instrumental to your future growth. Jeff refers to this technique as “tiling”, but you can think of it as shape… Continue reading →

  • Gouache Phase II Preview

    Now that you have successfully completed the Phase I gouache you can open up your palette some more, to a warm/cool palette. This will allow for a full treatment of color. We will again be working up our paintings through the chain of values, but now we will have a greater opportunity to use a… Continue reading →

  • Landscape Phase II Preview

    Now that you have begun to understand the basics of landscape composition, let’s break apart various concepts within landscape and learn to tackle them. In this phase Jeff Watts will be introducing you to a fabulous limited palette–similar to the Zorn palette–but more ideally suited to the landscape painter. It features four colors: cadmium yellow,… Continue reading →

  • Landscape Phase I Preview

    The goal of this phase is to introduce you to the fundamentals of landscape composition.  Jeff will go over 13 different compositional “stems” used throughout history by some of the great landscape painters.  He will then use black and white gouache to do several small thumbnail paintings of each compositional stem, while explaining each one… Continue reading →

  • Portrait Phase III Preview

    In this phase we will be exploring the individual features in three palettes.  We will work from both male and females and utilize photo reference as well as master studies.  It is essential to Familiarize yourself with each feature from as many different types and angles as possible.  This will prove very beneficial as we… Continue reading →

  • Gouache Phase III Preview

    Painting from the master’s was an instrumental learning tool for Jeff as a student and still plays an important role in his current training regimen. In this phase Jeff picked a few of his favorite illustrators to emulate. Each one possess certain qualities that he feels will help cultivate your design skills, color harmonies, edge manipulation and much more.

  • Landscape Phase III Preview

    In this class Jeff Will walk you through breaking down Landscape paintings from some of his favorite painters.  Emphasis will be on picking up the chosen artist’s brushmanship, color harmonies, compositional choices, and shape design. Jeff will work from 4 artists; noted seascape painter Frederick Judd Waugh, Northern Californian impressionist painter Percy Gray, California Impressionist… Continue reading →

  • Still Life III Preview

    In this course, Jeff will show you how to approach still life painting with shorter, more gestural techniques.  This course focuses on the “direct” approach, and understanding how to paint wet into wet.  Watch as Jeff teaches you how to add life and vibrance to your still life pieces by keeping a quicker pace and… Continue reading →

  • Portrait Phase IV Preview

    This course will expand upon your portrait painting foundational skills, and introduce you to the loose style and expressive edge work of gesture portrait painting.  These lessons will help you understand color and color mixing in a more instinctual way, as well as help hone your understanding of edge work and your ability to push… Continue reading →

  • Figure Painting Phase III Preview

    This course will expand upon your figure painting foundational skills, and introduce you to the loose style and expressive edge work of gesture figure painting.  These lessons will help you understand color and color mixing in a more instinctual way, as well as help hone your understanding of edge work and your ability to push… Continue reading →

  • Figure Painting Phase IV

    In this course will feature Jeff painting from various masters and demonstrating how they approached rendering the figure in oil.  These lessons will help you focus on your observational painting, applying your knowledge of anatomy, and sharpen your sense of design by differing to the masters.  It will cover a wide range of stylistic interpretations,… Continue reading →