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
- Painting for beginnersCourse start date: Mon 15 Apr 2024 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda BrackenExperience the joy of painting. Through simple exercises you'll explore colour, painting techniques and the expressive qualities of painting. The perfect way to start painting.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £119.00 Concession £119.00 - Painting: oil techniques and mediumsCourse start date: Fri 7 Mar 2025 (and 5 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Oil paint is a medium with a long historical tradition, 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 This course is for all levels – both beginners and more experienced painters.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Introduction to oil paintingCourse start date: Sun 15 Sep 2024 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Desmond HaughtonOil paint is a medium, capable of delicate transparency and rich impasto effects. It holds many challenges for the beginner, but this course will offer a clear, structured way into the essentials and beauty of oil painting. will develop a feel for paint handling which will build skills and feed progress in oil painting.Full fee £319.00 Senior fee £255.00 Concession £207.00 - 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 - Watercolour painting studio: still-life
Course start date: Thu 18 Apr 2024 (and 3 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Hilary RosenA stimulating opportunity to explore the essential elements of still life painting using watercolour. Suitable for beginners as well as a refresher course for those with previous experience of the medium.Full fee £339.00 Senior fee £271.00 Concession £220.00 - Oil painting: focus on light and shadeCourse start date: Fri 19 Apr 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Lindsay PickettThis oil painting course takes inspiration from the moody and luminous imagery of classic Film Noir such as ‘The Third Man’. Students will explore composition, tonal transition and contrast to enhance their pleasure in oil painting and create strong and powerful paintings.Full fee £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Oil painting projects Course start date: Sun 28 Apr 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Desmond HaughtonOil paint is a uniquely luscious and sensitive medium, which can be used to create expressive and complex images. This course is for oil painters with some experience who want to develop their own individual painting projects, with expert tutor guidance.Full fee £409.00 Senior fee £327.00 Concession £266.00 - 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 - Painting for beginners: intensiveCourse start date: Tue 10 Dec 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Learn and develop essential painting skills over consecutive days. Each session will focus on an aspect of painting, covering key concepts including colour, tone, composition and brushwork. Ideal if you have little or no painting experience.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Drawing and painting portraits: traditional techniquesCourse start date: Thu 16 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Steve WrightThis structured course introduces traditional approaches to drawing then painting portraits from observation of the life model. Suitable for all levels but some previous drawing experience an advantage.Full fee £299.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £194.00 - Life painting: a contemporary approachCourse start date: Thu 6 Feb 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Steve WrightThis course introduces contemporary contexts for life painting using acrylic paints to explore different creative approaches using the imagination alongside observation of the model. Suitable for all levels but some previous life drawing experience an advantage. - Oil painting: focus on portraiture
Course start date: Sun 2 Mar 2025Location 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 - Painting: colour mixing for artistsCourse start date: Mon 24 Mar 2025 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda BrackenA 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 £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Abstract painting weekendCourse start date: Sat 22 Jun 2024 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda KnightLearn how to develop original abstract ideas from simple starting points and build confidence using a variety of painting approaches in acrylics. Explore the power of line, colour and texture in a lively weekend of structured project work.Full fee £189.00 Senior fee £151.00 Concession £123.00
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