Oil and Cold Wax: Painting Atmosphere (Online Course) Fall 2024 w/ Nicki Heenan
November 14 to December 12 (Thursdays), 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/FWboqN3MA_4
Course Description
For this course we will be extending our knowledge of Landscape painting to push the boundaries of translating spatial depth and atmosphere using CWM. The class will be most suited to those with some experience of using CWM. The fundamentals of optics and perception including the use of photography will be explored in 4 sessions.
Course Outline
Week 1 - Painting Weather – Seas and Skies
Coastal weather changes very quickly – we will look at contemporary artists such as John Virtue, Louise Balaam, Doug Fryer and work by Turner, Hokusai, Strindberg amongst many, to look at the effects of atmosphere using low chroma and contained color. Your thoughts and views on what feels most emotional to you in the seascape and how to approach painting these atmospheric conditions will be the focus of session one.
I suggest researching a few artists before the class starts and building a journal for this course.
Week 2 – Painting Fog and Mist
This must be the most asked question I get sked about my paintings. We will dissect the layers required for painting mist and how to create spatial depth through paint surface differentiation.
Suggested reading – ‘Mist’ by Walter de la Mer.
Week 3 – Painting Land, Foliage
Having a feel for the structure and shape of trees, grass and how color is confusing is the story of green. From my extensive notes on Green, we will pick out some key points as to how and why green foliage can pose an issue when seeking to paint the accurate tonal range for foliage and the demands of mark making on diffuse structure. There will be some small drawing exercises to help articulate the points in this session.
Week 4 – Photography and Abraction
Photography has changed the way we see the world and we as painters can use the process of photography to build layers and manipulate tonal range to create mood and atmosphere. As a bonus in this session I will also demonstrate photo transfer techniques useful in cold wax painting.
Course Materials List
Ampersand gesso board 12’ x 12’ or similar
Arches Oil paper
Lino printing roller - such as Inovart soft roller 4"
Gamsol
Gamblin Cold Wax
Oil Paints – 3 primary colours:
Red Naphthol Crimson
Hansa Yellow
Ultramarine Blue
Plus Black, White, Pthalo Turquoise (as a starting set)
Add other colours to your range as and when needed
Broad brushes in various sizes.
Gloves that you can work in.
1 x roll of greaseproof paper or an A3 tear o" palette paper
Tissue paper – for blotting
Messermeister 4’ silicone blade or similar
Palette Knife - square tip
Baby wipes.
Jam jar (for solvent, with lid).
Dry pigment, marble dust
Masking tape
Linseed oil (small amount)