Back to the Basics in 2024

What you’ll gain

• A deep understanding of color and value - I go further than any other fundamentals course I’ve seen and I’ll customize it as best I can to support your needs

• Many ways to practice - lots of exercises

• A repeatable, step-by-step painting process

• Confidence with your materials

• Inspiration for where you could go if you keep showing up 

• The ability to take any all-levels course out there and be fully prepared! 

• Guidance on how to be your own teacher, and create your own path/learning plan as you go beyond the fundamentals. 

What’s included

The Program includes a monthly demo and lesson, painting feedback, community group chat, and private coaching.

• MONTHLY LIVE DEMO: I’ll assign a monthly lesson around a specific topic and do a live demo. Each demo will be 2-4 hours depending on the topic, the number of students, and the amount of discussion needed. These will be recorded and you'll have access to them forever.

• PAINTING FEEDBACK: I’ll give you feedback on the work you do as you go. I’ll give unlimited asynchronous feedback on any work you do. Each month, I’ll also offer a deeper investigation of feedback in the form of a painting boost. You’ll choose one painting from the month that you want critiqued (or “boosted”) and I'll send back audio and visual feedback. 

• PRIVATE COACHING: We’ll meet virtually for 45 minutes to discuss a variety of topics related to painting. We can go deeper into any topics covered in the course, we can review your painting feedback, or brainstorm ways for you to achieve your painting goals. This is your chance to ask whatever you want and talk about whatever you want. After we meet, you’ll receive a recording of the session along with relevant homework activities.

• COMMUNITY GROUP CHAT: I’ll provide an informal messaging space for students in the group to ask questions to me and each other, discuss homework and painting technique, and share their work. You’ll also be able to message me directly. The platform we’ll use is TBD.

MY APPROACH
I believe that painting mastery comes from grit and determination. Even the most naturally “talented” painters still have to show up, despite discomfort and uncertainty, accumulating hundreds of thousands of canvas miles before mastery is achieved.

So many students spend hundreds of dollars, take class after class, watch demo after demo, and read book after book — hoping the next thing is going to be the answer to all their canvas frustrations. And while all of these are helpful, the reality that no one wants to hear is: there is no quick tip, no one-time class or workshop, no book or demo that’s going to get you the results you’re looking for. The only thing that will get you there is YOU — showing up every day, accepting that you don’t have the skills, making paintings you don’t like, and feeling uncomfortable most of the time. All while trusting that you DO have what it takes, that the potential IS there. You just have to get in front of your easel and paint.

I teach patience and slow progress. It starts with you and your mindset, one skill at a time, and lots of room for practice and failure. This keeps success within reach, develops a healthy mindset and practice, and actually (eventually) leads you to the confidence and freedom that bring you joy in painting. YOU are the teacher, an I’m here to give you tools, structure, feedback, and accountability. Eventually, you won’t need me.

WHO IT’S FOR
This program suits students whose objective is to achieve painting results and freedom through skill mastery and slow, methodical practice. While it’s designed for the absolute beginner oil painter, it’s a great way for experienced painters to revisit the fundamentals and go deeper than they ever have before. The only pre-requisites are some prior drawing experience and 2-3 hours per week to devote to painting.

If you don’t have 2 to 3 hours a week to devote to painting, then this

What we’ll explore

This program will progress slowly through the skills you’ll need to establish a strong foundation in oil painting. By slow, I mean one topic at a time, but we will be quick to paint and paint A LOT. Each topic will build on the previous topic and will move forward at a pace that’s ideal for the overall group. 

The timing and pacing of the topics will follow the needs and interests of students. Each topic and the supporting lessons are designed to be covered in approximately one month, but some may extend over several months or condense into less than one month. I’ll default to moving slow and steady with lots of room for practice, especially with more challenging topics. Below is a rough idea on how the topics will flow.

Note: don’t expect to master any of these topics in the amount of time it takes for us to cover them. What takes a month to cover may take 5+ years to master. Be patient. 

Topic 1: Preparing for oil painting

• Get your supplies

• Prepare your space

• Learn how to setup and light a still life

• Play with your supplies

• Get in a learning mindset

Topic 2: Drawing with paint

• Practice sketching shapes of light and shadow on an iPad or with a pencil/markers

• Learn how to start a painting

• Learn to mix neutral paint with a palette knife

• Learn to prep your palette and canvas

• Get comfortable putting thinned paint on your canvas in a variety of ways

• Practice drawing shapes of light and shadow accurately with thin paint

• Learn how to assess and adjust your drawing as you go

Topic 3: Shapes of light

• Learn about value hierarchy and the purpose of value in painting

• Practice sketching value hierarchies on an iPad or with pencil/markers

• Learn how to determine what values you see and their relationships to each other

• Learn how to mix values with light and dark paint; palette knife mixing and brush mixing

• Practice putting thick paint on top of thin paint in a variety of ways

• Practice painting big average value shapes accurately

• Practice assessing and adjusting your drawing and values as you go

Topic 4: Light to form

• Practice breaking down big average value shapes into smaller more nuanced value shapes.

• Practice painting with different thicknesses of paint.

• Learn about the different types of edges and how to achieve them.

• Explore ways to keep your paintings looking fresh, simplified, and effortless as you increase the level of detail.

• Learn how to keep your palette fresh and organized as you paint.

• Explore different brush sizes / paint application techniques to achieve different levels of detail or abstraction.

• Learn how to make decisions about the level of detail vs abstraction that you want.

• Learn how to keep your palette fresh and organized as you paint.

Topic 5: Form to finish (with values)

• Explore different decision making methods for finishing a painting.

• Explore different qualities of finish or final mark-making.

• Practice bringing value paintings to a level of finish you’re happy with.

Topic 6: Understanding and mixing color

• Learn about color theory for oil painting

• Learn how to set up your palette for painting in color

• Practice mixing color with your 3-primary limited palette

Topic 7: Shapes of color

• Learn how to start a painting in color

• Practice identifying the color shapes you see and relating different color shapes to each other

• Learn to mix a set of average color piles that relate to your subject

• Practice painting big average color shapes accurately.

• Learn how to assess and adjust the accuracy of your color as you go.

Topic 8: Color to form

• Practice breaking down big average color shapes into smaller more nuanced color shapes.

• Learn how to leverage different levels of saturation, complementary colors, and temperature shifts to enhance your color harmony.

• Practice keeping your palette fresh and organized as you paint.

• Practice assessing and adjusting the harmony of your color as you go.

Topic 9: Form to finish (color)

• Practice finishing paintings in color.

• Practice different qualities of finish and final mark-making.

• Practice bringing color paintings to a level of finish you’re happy with.

Pricing

The program will run in quarter increments and will cost $675 for the first quarter. After that, I’ll evaluate the offering and continue with a rate that makes sense for everyone. Note that because this is somewhat of an experiment, the structure, the offering, and the pricing is subject to change as I learn more about what students need. My hope is that you’ll offer regular, honest feedback so I can improve it. Here’s what I’m thinking for the first quarter: 

• 3x live group sessions 2-4 hours in length each (live or pre-recorded demos)

• unlimited feedback and answers to questions on the assigned homework

• 1x painting boost on any painting homework you’ve done in the quarter. Read more here.

• 3x private coaching sessions 45-60 mins in length to discuss anything related to painting that you want

• group chat space where students go to ask questions from me, each other, upload their work, etc. The platform is TBD but something like Slack, Telegram, or chat like Facebook or IG.