Service Description

Discover the expressive world of portrait painting in our one-day workshop "Learning from Freud: Portraits." Inspired by the intense observation and painterly approach of Lucian Freud, you will explore how to build character and depth in a portrait. Freud built up his paintings over a long period of time. We will look at adapting some of the techniques to a one-day painting workshop, working from thin to thick paint. You can choose to work in traditional and/or water-mixable oils. We will focus on observation, brushwork, and layering techniques that bring a face to life. This workshop is open to all levels, from beginners to experienced painters, and offers a supportive space to experiment, learn, and develop your own expressive portrait style. During the morning session, we will work with a limited palette inspired by the portraits of Lucian Freud, who mostly used earth colours: umbers, siennas, Naples yellow, and flake white. After lunch, you will be encouraged and guided to apply what you've learned in the morning and personalise the influence of Freud in your own painting styles and techniques. Materials / what you need to bring: 1. Hog hair brushes (If you have none, you can use some of ours) 2. Painting surface. Either of these is fine - choose your preferred one: canvas paper, canvas panel/board or canvas. 3. Palette knife (or borrow ours) 4. Paints. Either traditional or water-mixable oils in the following colours: • Umbers • Siennas • Yellow ochre • Flake white or mixing white (titanium will do if that's the only one you have) What we provide: easels, rugs, palettes. Group size: 5 students maximum. Having five students maximum on each workshop guarantees you will receive personalised tuition and feedback tailored to your needs and level. We will break for 45 minutes to 1 hour for lunch. Regardless of the particular theme, all our Saturday workshops will help you: - build your technical confidence - move beyond any creative or technical rut you may have found yourself in - sharpen your understanding of your strengths and your way of working - provide a closer look at composition and colour, how to arrive at a compelling painting - answer your particular questions regarding paints, mediums, and/or professional development