Fridays, 2pm - 5pm | 9th January - 20th March (mid-term break 13th February)
Explore the art of portrait painting from life.
Portrait Painting in Oils is a 10-week journey through light, colour, and structure. Open to all levels, though best suited to those with some prior drawing or painting experience.
This course provides a structured, practical introduction to painting the portrait from life. Working directly from professional models, students explore proportion, structure, and colour through a progressive sequence of paintings and exercises.
The course begins with monochrome studies to establish confident tonal control, moves to warm-and-cool colour relationships, and culminates in full-colour painting with a limited palette.
Emphasis is placed on direct observation, understanding structure and anatomy, and developing expressive, confident paint handling. Suitable for all levels, though best suited to those with some prior drawing or painting experience.
Classes are taught in a small group of no more than eight students, allowing for focused individual guidance.
All materials provided – just bring brushes and palette knives.
Artist Biography
Lewis MacKenzie (b. 1981) is a contemporary impressionist painter based near Glasgow in Scotland. His work features in numerous private collections and has appeared in exhibitions by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Royal Glasgow Institute and the Paisley Art Institute, as well as in several private art galleries in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. Most recently, he has appeared on Sky Portrait Artist of the Year, been shortlisted for the Inaugural Scottish Landscape Awards (2023), and was awarded the Murray and McGregor Prize at the Scottish Prize for Fine Art (2023). An art school drop-out, Lewis trained as a biologist and worked for several years in a cancer lab before rekindling his life-long love of drawing and painting in the early 2010s. He draws influences from the masters of past eras, such as Velázquez, Vermeer, Guthrie, Sargent, and the Boston School Impressionists. His interests range from portraiture to still life and landscape.
