Scale of Art – large scale botanicals – acrylics course

Scale in art – one of the most important elements when deciding on your composition. An artist can chose to make an object larger or smaller, to emphasise importance or to give the viewer a different perspective.
In this acrylics painting scale of art course we will focus on enlarging elements or a single subject. Taking inspiration from Georgia O’Keefe’s Flower Paintings and other artists.
Weekly videos guide you through a series of exercises, from drawing to finishing touches.  Learn how to use a grid effectively, colour choices, drawing and detail on a large scale, and tackling a larger canvas without fear!

Please use the following passwords to access your video content, please note they are case sensitive:

Project 1 Charcoal Drawing: Monochrome (Video length:140 mins)

Project 2 Negative Drawing : Highlight (Video length:95 mins)

Project 3 Tulips : Bloom (Video length:150 mins)

Project 4 Magnolia : Spring (Video length:140 mins)

Project 5 Palm Tree Part 1: Leaf (Video length:52 mins)

Project 5 Palm Tree Part 2: Bark (Video length:45 mins)

Don’t forget to watch the video on full screen! Enter your password then click on the square icon(bottom right) to enter and exit full screen mode.  You may need to turn the sound on – roll over the top right of the screen and the sound button will appear.

Week 1

Charcoal Drawing

Large scale drawing in charcoal – for this first week, a loosening up exercise. Practise drawing big, using tone and generally getting a feel for the larger scale.

Drawing with shadow.

Week 1 part 2

Negative Drawing using Highlights

Week 2

Magnolia – this week we will be working in a more impressionist style, practising light with colour. Drawing big with a brush, setting a background, colour mixing.

Week 3 

Tulips –  This week we will crop and scale up using a grid, practising drawing forms.  Then use a tonal underpainting, adding strong colour in layers, and using an element of  complementaries.

Week 4 – *Longer Zoom Session* 10.00 – 11.30 Weds 19th May

For this week, there will be a longer, interactive zoom, so please have your materials ready if you’d like to paint along. Preparing for the final painting, I will demo preparing a canvas board with gesso primer, using a grid, preparatory paint sketches. If time a semi abstract painting exercise.

Week 5 video 1

The final painting! Using all the techniques learnt, create a composition of your choice, chose one of our beautiful flower photographs or even a real flower from the garden!

Week 5 video 2

The final painting! Using all the techniques learnt, create a composition of your choice, chose one of our beautiful flower photographs or even a real flower from the garden!

Acrylics colour mixing

An introduction to colour mixing using acrylic paint. Guidance on choosing colours and how to use then effectively. Suitable for beginners or anyone wanting to brush up on their techniques.

Basics of acrylic painting

Knowing where to start can be confusing! This reference video has lots of useful information, explaining and demonstrating acrylic paint from the very beginning. Suitable for beginners or anyone wanting to brush up on their acrylic techniques.