Have you always dreamed of being able to paint like an Old Master?
 
Through using the Sight-Size method as a visual tool, you can! Award winning, Florence-trained oil painter and Marlborough College's Artist in Residence, Grace Payne-Kumar, teaches the methods of Titian, Van Dyke and Velasquez by which the subject is placed beside the canvas and viewed at a distance. This allows the artist to see the overall light effect, training the eye to perceive form without distortion. 
 
Grace will work alongside students of all abilities as they create their own still life painting, training them to measure dimensions, create accurate light and shadow effects and master colour matching. Students will finish this course with a portfolio of 1-2 highly refined paintings, depending on their speed. 
 
By looking back to the methods of the Old Masters before the 19th Century, we learn to truly see what is in front of us. In the digital age, artists are often encouraged us to paint from photography, however, by painting from life, students can understand form and achieve greater realism, depth and atmosphere in their paintings. 
 
This rigorous course is suitable for adults and teens of all abilities. Grace strongly believes that given the correct guidance, anyone can create a masterpiece. Students will gain confidence using oil paint and refine their skills with one-to-one assistance according to their ability, with critiques throughout the day. 
 
Testimonial from first time oil painter, Vittoria, at Grace's Edinburgh Drawing School 2023 summer painting course: "Grace is an encouraging and meticulous teacher. I would have never been able to create the painting I have without her help. I will be setting up my own sight-size paintings at home from now on!” 
 
Day One - Composition and Proportion 
Students will set up their still life scenes, creating contrasts of height, texture, light and dark. Grace will work with each student to create a harmonious composition, providing exemplary paintings to analyse and objects of inspiration to choose from. Contrasting different textures such as fabric, metal, ceramic, wood, glass, or natural matter (fruit, veg, flowers) is often a visually interesting route. 
 
The Sight Size Method - The subject is placed beside the canvas and viewed at a distance. This allows the artist to see the overall light effect, training the eye to perceive form without distortion. The sight-size method was used by Titian, Van Dyck, Velasquez and most notably John Singer Sargent. 
By the end of the day, students will have created an oil sketch mapping out the basic heights and widths of the objects using this method. 
 
Day Two - Light to Dark Transitions 
  
Students will study light, shadow and half tone shapes, training the eye to see what is present in nature. The brain is prone to creating visual shortcuts, but by studying form from a distance, students can understand the planes of objects and reduce them to light and dark tones. 
From here, we will work on softening edges and transitions, seamlessly blending from one tone to the next. 
 
Day Three - Colour 
Students will learn how to mix accurate colours, understand colour theory, layer paint and separate cool and warm hues. 
By simplifying objects into planes, we may understand colour and light transitions better. This is achieved by squinting, careful observation whilst stepping back and using the mirror as a tool to refresh the eye. 
The eye becomes tired from looking at the same image for extended periods of time. By looking at both your painting and subject in a mirror, the image is flipped, allowing a fresh perspective on shapes, colour and tone. 
 
Day Four - Highlights and Depth 
  
Grace will assist students in finding points throughout the composition of highlights and darkest darks. 
Softening edges is important to create a sense of form moving away from you - for example, in spherical objects. 
This is also an important day to reassess proportions, making sure the "big shapes” have not been compromised after applying lights, darks and colour. 
  
Day Five - Accents and Atmosphere 
 
Up until this point, students will have been encouraged to soften any edges. The final day is the time to create accents. This allows the viewer's eye to be lead around a painting, guiding them to the focal point. 
Points of high contrast between lightest lights and darkest darks will lead the eye as the most prominent point of the painting. We will also discuss colour motif. 
Atmosphere can be achieved by sfumato background effects and darkening large shadow shapes. 
 
Reading List:
On Sight-Size Portraiture by Nicholas Beer 
Velasquez by R.A.M. Stevenson