Oil painting is an ancient and endearing medium that has allured artists with unparalleled color, flexibility in painting process, and versatility to capture incredible detail. Artists have been painting with oil since the 7th century and from that long tradition emerged master artists who manipulated the medium to create windows into other worlds, like Caravaggio, or stir-up controversy, like Picasso. Some of your favorite artists, van Gogh, Monet, da Vinci, Sargent, Kahlo, and many others, are well-known for their oil paintings. So, it’s no surprise that young artists show interest in this classical medium! 

But… oil painting is one of the most expensive, time-consuming, and difficult paintings to do. From the vast number of materials and tools to technique, color, brushstroke, and more, oil painters have a lot to contend with. This semester long oil painting course aims to clear the thorny path of painting with oils by breaking down processes and techniques into easy, anyone-can-do steps. We will learn about oil painting materials and proper workspace set-up, how to create various brushstrokes or marks with our paint, basic color theory, how to mix and match colors, how to paint textures, basic rules of composition, and so much more. At the end of our course, we will produce two beautiful still life oil paintings! These classes combine lecture periods, worksheets, and free-hand painting time to ensure learners understand the material and get ample practice time. 

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE: 
Young artists interested in this course should have basic drawing skills, such as the ability to draw simple forms and objects, understanding of the parts of a shadow, how to vary line quality, and depict textures. If learners do not have these skills, this course may be too difficult!

LESSON SUMMARY:
Lesson 1: Materials, Set-Up, Clean-up
Our first lesson will be an introduction to the course, to oil painting materials, setting up a dedicated work area, and how to clean up oil paints and byproducts safely. Firstly, I will introduce myself and the course. Then, we will go around the room and young artists will provide introductions for themselves. I will lead young artists through a PowerPoint presentation that will introduce oil painting materials including paints (and how to read them), mediums, brushes, palette knives, palettes, surfaces, gesso, and cleaning supplies. During the lecture, I will encourage young artists to play, make marks with, read, feel, and otherwise investigate their art supplies.

Lesson 2: Drawing Fundamentals
Before an artist can paint, they must be able to draw. Drawing introduces important, fundamental concepts that oil painting expands on. I will start by explaining the five different types of line variation and encourage young artists to draw along with me. Our first exercise will be a series of three blind-contour drawings at various intervals which will help young artists develop their observational and hand-eye coordination skills. Once our hands and eyes are warmed up, we will proceed to practicing drawing the basic forms of spheres, boxes, and cylinders. During the third exercise, I will discuss basic drawing processes such as incorporating line variation and shading into a work. Throughout this class, learners should follow along with my demonstrations, draw out exercises themselves, and take notes where they find it necessary. 

Lesson 3: Basic Brushstrokes & Mark-Making 
Our third lesson will be dedicated to creating a reference sheet of the different kinds of brushstrokes brushes and oil paints are capable of. When learners first learned to write, they might recall first learning how to draw straight lines, curves, and other “strokes” the make up the letters before shaping the letters themselves. By learning about the various brushstrokes one can create and practicing them so that the hand gets used to the paint and the brush, young artists should find it much easier to begin applying paint to canvas. In this lesson, young artists will learn how to hold and load the brush, how to wield a palette knife, and nine different brushstrokes including: flat stroke, edge of brush stroke, impasto, flip-flop, stipple, dry brush, scumbling, inky strokes, and sgraffito. 

Lesson 4: Basic Color Theory & Palette Set-up 
In this lesson, our primary focus will be a PowerPoint lecture on basic color theory. We will cover important color vocabulary - such as hue, value, saturation, and temperature, discuss the color wheel, and bust some common color theory myths. We will also review our paint colors and how to read them. Once young artists are comfortable in their color knowledge, it should be much less intimidating for them to interact with their paintings. After our color theory lesson, we will discuss how to set up an oil paint palette.

Lesson 5: Color Mixing Strategies 
Our fifth lesson will start by returning to the color wheel we discussed in our previous lesson. I will show learners how to use this color wheel to figure out how to easily predict what will result when two colors are mixed. Then, I will guide learners through painting their own version of this color wheel, using colors directly from their Spilt Primary Palette to create a more accurate reference and to get learners to practice mixing colors. Once our color wheel is complete, we will also paint several value scales.

Lesson 6: Mixing Blacks, Changing Chroma, Matching Colors 
In the sixth lesson, I will begin with a short lecture on controlling chroma and value while mixing colors. Young artists should paint along as I do, to note the process of find, match, add. Throughout our color lessons together, learners will have heard me mention how adding black to a color can decrease its saturation, and to avoid using those neutrals when possible. But, how can one paint without using black? By mixing compliments, learners can create adequate blacks that can be used much more successfully and easily in their paintings! The rest of the lesson will be spent matching the colors of random objects and painting swatches on their paper.

Lesson 7: Macro-Abstract Painting 
Before we take our colors to canvas, we need to learn four basic oil painting techniques: glazing, underpainting, alla prima, and impasto. These different techniques are what make oil painting so versatile and fun! We will learn these techniques by painting fun, easy subject matter where the small details don’t matter. For this lesson, young artists will need to come into class with several macro-abstract reference photos. Macro-abstract depictions are extreme close-up shots of subject matter, to the point where the subject becomes abstract or clear. 

Lesson 8: Orange Painting
Our first simple form object painting will be that of a round or ball shaped object, in this case an orange, or another piece of citrus. Not only are fruits, particularly citrus, a common element within still life oil paintings, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Still Life with Basket and Six Oranges (1888), the color orange has a large color family and will allow young artists to begin to investigate texture. 

Lesson 9: Mug Painting 
The second from object painting lesson will be a bit trickier of an object, this time, learners will be asked to conquer a painting of a mug. This mug should be present on the opposite setting of our orange painting, on a darkly colored surface with a light-colored background. The mug can be any color, but preferably it is not black or white. 

Lesson 10: Book Stack Painting
Our final from object painting will likely be the most difficult: a stack of books. Learners will arrange a stack of at least three books however they see fit. Using the same processes as before, we will paint the book stack together. They will be encouraged to continue to use their references while we paint. Once we have completed all three object paintings, learners will be able to tackle a painting of whatever objects or subjects they like. After all, most things are only made up of three simple forms: spheres, cylinders, and boxes! 

Lesson 11: Glass & Metal Objects
Texture is an extremely important element of still life painting as it gives objects interest, helps establish contrast and distinguish between objects, and create a more realistic scene. While some textures are easy to paint, such as the surfaces of the objects we have painted so far, others can be much more complex. Our 11th lesson will begin with an introduction to textures- the sense of how something feels. To create texture, an artist uses a combination of line and value successfully. Together, young artists and I will practice painting texture swatches using our paints. Once we have practiced making six different textures with our paint, we will move on to painting some of the trickiest textures with the help of objects.

Lesson 12: Basic Composition 
Our 12th lesson combines an interactive PowerPoint lecture and in-class practice time to teach students the basics of composition through the lens of still life. Our lecture will begin with the two most fundamental decisions an artist has to make when they begin thinking about how to compose their piece: orientation and whether the piece is opened or closed. After our conversation about those two decisions, I will outline various methods of arranging objects and thinking about composition, such as the eight elements of successful composition. Once the lecture is complete, students will have the rest of the time in class to work on four composition sketches.

Lesson 13: Practice Still Life 
This lesson will ask learners to paint a themed still life with at least three objects in it. Young artists can pick whatever theme and corresponding objects they like, though they may consider keeping it simple for our first, practice still life. Our first still life is not intended to be completed, rather it is an exercise in practicing the first, and most important steps in a painting. We will work through every step in the oil painting process.

Lessons 14 & 15: The Final Still Life
Our final two lessons will be dedicated to our final project: a themed still life with at least five objects of various size, shape, color, and texture on canvas. Young artists may pick any theme they like, but it should be clear and engaging. They will curate at least five objects of various sizes, shapes, textures, and colors that fit their theme.