Course Description:
One of the most common difficulties for beginning and intermediate painters is finishing a painting. Starting a painting is simple enough, but understanding how to organize that start into a coherent, finished illusion of reality is the most difficult aspect of naturalistic painting. This class will teach you a step by step procedure to methodically navigate through a full figure painting. We start with a precise line drawing, then transfer it to a toned canvas, and lastly finish part by part, moving top to bottom in a process referred to as “window shading” by the 19th century masters. Having some familiarity with life drawing is recommended as a prerequisite for this class, although you don’t need to have painted before.
Week 1: Drawing and Transferring
Week 2: Color Mixing and First Layer
Week 3: Managing Details and Part by Part Rendering
Week 4: Finishing the Painting
Class Schedule: April 8, 15, 22 and 29th
from 6:30 – 9:15 pm
Please note: Because we limit our student count, if you miss a class, a critique of your last work can be offered the next session. That is the benefit of small classes.
Materials List
-18×24 inch canvas
-18×24 inch sheet of paper
-2b graphite pencil
-medium vine charcoal
-kneadable eraser
-variety of sizes of synthetic or sable filbert brushes and one small round brush
-paper towels
-linseed oil
-medium cup
-brush cleaning soap (I use a bar of regular ivory soap)
-oil paint (I use all Gamblin professional grade and I’m not picky about the exact colors but I use Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Light, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, and Ivory Black).
-raw umber acrylic paint
My name is Aidan Barker-Hill and I’m a fine artist and fine art instructor living and working in Brooklyn, New York. I was born in Reno, Nevada. My grandpa is an architect and would take me sketching when I was a child. He showed me artists like Rembrandt and Andrew Wyeth. This early exposure instilled in me a love of realistic figurative art, and at 18 I chose to go to art school at Laguna College of Art and Design. The program had a heavy emphasis on developing technical skills, and my favorite subject was portrait and figure painting from a life model. The exhilarating experience of trying to accurately capture another person directly in front of you is something I will never tire of.
I went to graduate school at the New York Academy of Art. The MFA program introduced me to a much wider spectrum of contemporary art and the broad, eclectic art world of New York as well as the numerous world class museums made the city the most exciting place I’ve ever lived. I have a studio in my apartment in Brooklyn and am building a body of work promoting the idea that masculinity can coincide with beauty, aestheticism, and sensitivity. I am enormously fortunate to teach life painting classes at NYAA and I’m represented by Arcadia Contemporary in Manhattan.
Our beautiful studio is located within the historic National Arts Club on Gramercy Park South. The 24 doorman will direct you to our space. We limit our class to 8 students.
We are a screen-free environment!
Students are expected to focus on their work for the duration of the session. We play low classical music during class.
Discussions of student work with the teacher take place during class.
Gender neutral restrooms are located near our room.
Our room has a security camera for everyone’s safety.
