Painting courses in London
At City Lit, we offer a variety of painting courses, from complete beginners with a focus on building essential painting skills, to more experimental approaches that include working at a larger scale or with a more abstract focus. Delivered in one of our bright, modern and relaxing painting studios, students will have access to all basic art materials and resources as part of their course.
Our wide range of studio-based courses and workshops offer students a practical, hands-on guide, from setting up your painting workstation, working with watercolour, acrylic or oil to more technical processes including experimental approaches and use of colour and working with painting mediums. We also offer a range of life painting courses and encourage students to work across and between the areas of drawing and painting to continually develop their ideas and work.
We host exhibitions throughout the year at City Lit Gallery where our students showcase their amazing work.
To arrange a conversation with our painting coordinator about your interests, options and courses available, please contact our Visual Arts team at visualarts@citylit.ac.uk
9 courses available
Watercolour painting: mixed media techniquesWatercolour has a rich tradition - this course will explore the more experimental ways of using this pleasurable medium and will present new possibilities for producing exciting new work with mixed media. Make inventive combinations of media to draw from your own found imagery, photographs and sketches.Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00- Contemporary painting studio
Develop your own ideas in painting with reference to the work of contemporary artists and experimental processes on this higher level course. Ideal for students who have completed Painting 1, Painting 2 or equivalent painting courses. Please note: THURSDAY iterations of this course uses water-based oil paint. See 'How will I be taught? for details.
Full fee £1,049.00 Senior fee £839.00 Concession £682.00 - Introduction to painting portraitsAn opportunity to paint and draw from the life model focusing on portraiture. Basic observational skills will be explored as well as advice on how we can convey mood, character and tell a story through a portrait, inspired examples of artists portrait drawings and paintings.
Keeley Street
Sun 20 Sep 2026Luke JonesFull fee £349.00 Senior fee £279.00 Concession £227.00 - Painting 3
Following on from the course Painting 2, enhance your paint handling skills to further understanding of the dynamics of a painted surface. Through a series of set projects and short critical discussions, examine the role of painting tools, marks and scale in building a painting.
Full fee £479.00 Senior fee £383.00 Concession £311.00 - Painting from plants and flowersExplore a variety of creative approaches for painting flowers from observation. Discover the rich history of this genre while taking inspiration from artists who use flowers as their subject matter.Full fee £349.00 Senior fee £279.00 Concession £227.00
- Colour mixing for painters
A concise study of colour usage. Investigate colour perception and how colour interacts. Explore a range of observational and expressive painting projects, relate colour theory to practice and develop confidence using colour in painting.
Full fee £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Portrait painting: two session poseDevelop a portrait from life: a structured course to build skills towards making a convincing portrait where the model keeps the same pose over 2 sessions to enable a sustained piece of work.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00
- Watercolour painting studio: urban landscapesBuild your confidence and skills in outdoor watercolour painting in a variety of central London locations. You will be introduced to watercolour mixing and mark making in relation to painting the urban landscape. This course can be seen as a refresher or for students who have had a minimum amount of watercolour experience.
Keeley Street
Fri 9 Jul 2027Hilary RosenFull fee £359.00 Senior fee £287.00 Concession £233.00 - Introduction to life painting: summer school intensive
This 4 day intensive course is a great introduction to painting directly from the life model, where you will make great progress in understanding how to paint from life. Using simple structured projects, you will explore different approaches to represent the human form in paint, with encouraging, helpful guidance from an experienced tutor and taking inspiration from the work of other painters. Suitable for beginners in painting who have some previous life drawing experience.
Keeley Street
Mon 26 Jul 2027Desmond HaughtonFull fee £379.00 Senior fee £303.00 Concession £246.00
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