Portrait painting in oils – complementary pairing

About

You will develop an understanding of colour theory and the terminology of painting: tonal values, colour temperature, hue and saturation. You will develop techniques in colour mixing and brush control to create lively and characterful portraits using colour. Colour mixing and paint application will be demonstrated by the tutor.

Learn how the imaginative use of colour can inform the emotion expressed in observational work. Use of specific colour palettes will be explained and demonstrated by your tutor, but also explored by looking at painterly examples by John Singer Sargent, Pierre Bonnard, Henre de Toulouse-Lautrec, Chaïm Soutine, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, Gwen John, Duncan Grant, Alice Neal, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Imra Stern and Richard Diebenkorn.

Complementary pairing: Tone and Colour Temperature

Using a complementary pair (and white) is a great way to challenge colour mixing skills. The session will begin with making a colour mixing chart to familiarise you with the complementary palette and to practise mixing tonal values.

You will develop your ability to make colour substitutions based on the relative tone and colour temperature you observe on the model.

In this session, the tutor will demonstrate the process of pre-mixing colours with the palette knife and the process of tinting with white.

The series of 6 courses exploring the foundations of portrait painting in oils comprise the following one day courses that focus on different colour palettes: Week 1 - Monochrome palette: tone and structure Week 2 - Complementary pairing: tone and colour temperature Week 3 - Earth palette: colour substitution (tone, hue and temperature) Week 4 - Cadmium palette: saturation (blacks, greys and colour contrast) Week 5 - Limited primary palette: transparency and opacity Week 6 - Extended primary palette: accuracy in colour mixing

The courses can be booked as a group or individually.