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.
Courses available both in-person and online
We offer a range of courses allowing you to choose between online and in-person learning. All our courses are live, interactive, and taught by expert tutors. No matter how you prefer to learn, you’ll receive the same great City Lit experience. See our guide to online learning for more information about accessing our live online courses.
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
- Watercolour painting: mixed media techniquesCourse start date: Tue 9 Apr 2024 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth BrisonWatercolour 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 £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Painting: colour mixingCourse start date: Tue 7 May 2024 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
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. An emphasis on colour mixing using acrylics and oil paint.Full fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Picture framing and mounting for beginnersCourse start date: Tue 9 Apr 2024 (and 11 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Esther HeyhoeLearn picture framing and mounting skills for the home or workplace. Using professional framing tools and equipment you'll be taught all the skills you need to work in a busy studio or alternatively how to set up your own small scale practice from home.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Portrait painting: two session poseCourse start date: Sat 8 Jun 2024 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Luke JonesDevelop 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 £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Watercolour painting studio: urban landscapesCourse start date: Thu 13 Jun 2024 (and 3 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hilary RosenBuild 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.Full fee £339.00 Senior fee £271.00 Concession £220.00 - Watercolour painting: summer school intensiveCourse start date: Mon 15 Jul 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hilary RosenCondense your learning on this intensive course. Working from still life explore a variety of application techniques such as layering, masking-out and creating textures to gain a grounding in the rich possibilities of the watercolour medium.Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Portrait painting: summer school intensiveCourse start date: Thu 1 Aug 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Desmond HaughtonDevelop 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 £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Painting: oil techniques and mediumsCourse start date: Mon 22 Apr 2024 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Oil paint is a luscious medium with a long historical tradition. It is capable of heavy impasto effects and delicate transparent colour films. Working practically, in the studio, this course will expand your understanding of approaches to building a variety of surfaces in your paint working with mediums and expanding your use of texture and glazing.Full fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00 - Introduction to painting portraitsCourse start date: Sun 13 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Luke JonesAn 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.Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Introduction to painting still-lifeCourse start date: Tue 5 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Learn the essentials of Still Life painting from paint handling and colour theory to composition.
Dedicate some time to developing your painting in a series of controlled steps. Learn to select and prepare surfaces and materials, build a composition around still life objects and make supplementary studies to guide your colour application. For absolute beginners.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Oil painting: focus on portraitureCourse start date: Sun 2 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Brian SayersLearn to draw and paint portraits using traditional methods of observation, composition and mark making. Working from a variety of professional portrait models you will start with pencil and charcoal and progress on to oil painting. - Painting: mixing for skintonesCourse start date: Thu 13 Mar 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
This course will teach you the skills you need to paint naturalistic skin tones when working from life which will make your figure and portrait paintings more convincing.Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00
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