Painting: Studio Practices (Non-credit)

Pre-requisites for enrolment

Some previous drawing and painting skills essential.

Special Information

Materials and equipment provided for students as part of the course and included in course fee:

• Studio easels, tables, chairs and drawing boards

• Life model and still life set ups

Essentials materials and equipment students will need to provide themselves:

• Students must bring source material in the form of drawings, photographs, sketchbooks etc.

• A1 cartridge paper

• Willow charcoal

• Eraser

• Fixative (odourless hairspray)

• Pencils

• Masking tape

• Some chalk pastels

• Small tube black block printing ink

• Brushes (no particular size)

• Paints (acrylics or oils)

• A4 or A3 sketchbook

• Craft knife

• A range of prepared canvases or other painting surface

• Rags

Additional recommended materials and equipment students can provide:

• Colourless oil bar

• Sponge

• Palette knifes

Content of Course

Over the weeks the course will cover:

1. Planning compositional studies from personal visual ideas.

2. Preparation of surfaces. Explore coloured grounds and range of materials and make small studies.

3. Explore palette and mark making tools.

4. Focus on one or two pieces for thorough development.

5. Make a series of resolved personal paintings.

Teaching method(s)

This course will be based and delivered in specialist art studios or workshops and will typically include a range of practical exercises, introductions to techniques, processes and concepts, and set projects which lead to more focused and personal exploration.
Each week, students’ progress will be monitored and supported by the tutor who will negotiate and agree a ‘directed study plan’ for work to be undertaken out with the class hours each week. This will include researching a range of suggested artists or designers and their associated movements to engender a contextual awareness of the discipline being taught as well as how to annotate and evidence this within a sketchbook and practical outcomes.
Teaching will include practical demonstrations, one to one tuition, group discussions and critiques.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, through attending classes and engaging in directed and independent study, students should be able to:

• Use a visual sketchbook/journal to reflect and record the process of planning and preparing a series of paintings.

• Prepare suitable painting surfaces and make a series of ambitious paintings in the studios which consider personal research, composition, surface and uses of painting.

• Select, edit and present a coherent body of visual studies, and paintings that show an informed and individual response to personal research.

Sources

Core Readings

Recommended:

• HICKS, N., 2005, Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing, London: Phaidon

• CARIOU, A. and TOOBY, M., 1996, Christopher Wood: a painter between two Cornwalls, London: Tate Gallery Publishing

• COHEN, D., 2001, Jock McFadyen: A book about a painter, Aldershot: Lund Humphries

• DOIG, P., 2008, Peter Doig, London: Tate Publishing

• FOWLE, F., 2008, Impressionism & Scotland , Edinburgh : National Galleries of Scotland

• GRAHAM DIXON, A., 1994, Howard Hodgkin, London: Thames and Hudson

• HOCKNEY, D., 2012, David Hockney : a bigger picture, London: Thames and Hudson

• LOCHNAN, K., 2004, Turner Whistler Monet : impressionist visions, Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario in association with Tate

• MCCONKEY, K., 2010, Sir John Lavery: a painter and his world, Edinburgh: Atelier Books 1996, Vincent Van Gogh drawings, Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum ; London: Lund Humphries

• MORRIS, E., ed., 2000, Constable's clouds : paintings and cloud studies by John Constable, Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland; Liverpool: National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside

• PEARSON, F., 2007, Joan Eardley , Edinburgh: Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland

• SCHWABSKY, B. 2005, Triumph of Painting: The Saatchi Gallery, London: Jonathon Cape

• GORDON, l., 1989, The Figure in Action, London: Batsford

• KALLIR, J, 2003, Egon Schiele, ,drawings and watercolours, London: Thames and Hudson

Web Sources

Specific web resources will be determined by course tutors.

Class Handouts

Course information will be provided on enrolment and hand-outs during the course.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email COL@ed.ac.uk or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.