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
- Painting for beginners
Course start date: Mon 8 Sep 2025 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Amanda BrackenExperience the joy of painting. Through simple exercises you will explore colour, painting techniques and the expressive qualities of painting using acrylic paints. The perfect way to start painting.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - Introduction to painting portraits Course start date: Sun 21 Sep 2025
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. - Introduction to oil painting Course start date: Sun 28 Sep 2025
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. - Oil painting: focus on light and shade Course start date: Fri 2 May 2025 (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 £229.00 Senior fee £183.00 Concession £149.00 - Painting: colour mixing for artists Course start date: Tue 18 Nov 2025
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 £209.00 Senior fee £167.00 Concession £136.00 - Life painting: experimental approaches Course start date: Thu 1 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ruth BrisonExplore imaginative, dynamic approaches to painting the figure using a variety of approaches: be inspired by new ways of seeing and access innovative ways of approaching your life painting.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £155.00
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