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Adult Art Courses and The Seasons Art Class® Structure
Our 14-week art courses for beginners and improvers consist of four modules that cover the most widely used mediums in art.
Our course structure is progressive, and tuition develops week-on-week. As you work your way through our syllabus, we build on teachings from previous classes. This ensures that your artistic skills grow as you go on.
Our returning students to our adult art courses also go on to explore new projects and other mediums.
Drawing
Module 1: Drawing
Overview: Our 14-week art beginners course begins with a step-by-step drawing module in which we cover the fundamentals of creating art.
During the drawing module, we’ll look at different grades of graphite pencils and the effects that they achieve, what paper students should be using and practice mark-making for different textures and styles. We also look at tonal values, observation and sighting, enlarging with grids, perspective, portraiture and figurative drawing. Soon you’ll be viewing everything as an artist would.
The drawing techniques continue to be developed throughout the course and beyond. You’ll learn to use simple shapes to construct an object, create initial sketches and balanced compositions, and make under-drawings in preparation for raw paintings.
Module 2: Oil pastels
Overview: Our next module focuses on colourful oil pastels. Oil pastels are a stepping stone between pencil sketching and using a wet painting medium.
Oil pastels were designed by Henri Sennelier, when Picasso asked him to create this versatile new medium. Oil pastel is a more portable and practical version of oil paint. We opted for oil pastels because oil painting is not practical for our classes, due to both toxic smells and extended drying times. The oil pastel is a wonderful alternative and has delighted our students who often assume they were like crayons… until they were taught how to use them!
This module is an opportunity to introduce mixing and blending pigments. We also look at the colour wheel, we also explore colour theory and colour harmony and how pigments look on an array of coloured papers. We also explore the different effects achieved with tools, such as rubber-tipped blending sticks and tortillons.
Oil Pastels
Watercolours
Module 3: Watercolours
Watercolour paints are known for their transparent and luminous quality. Watercolour is a popular medium because it is highly portable and versatile.
During our watercolour module you’ll learn how to prepare your paper and use a variety of tools and techniques to get different effects.
We explore the tools of the trade and the many techniques to create a range of effects. We also continue to build on the drawing element, as our students learn how to plan and create underdrawings for their compositions.
Module 4: Acrylics
We end our beginners art course on a high note with acrylics. This versatile medium is our final module, which has one extra session because of the complexity and range of the medium.
As with all of our modules, we begin acrylic painting at the grassroots. This includes learning about the medium, surfaces, various tools and application techniques such as impasto.
There are four painting lessons – one of which is often dedicated entirely to the use of palette knives. We start with a simple painting to get students used to the huge difference in consistency and behaviour between this medium and the last.
In this module we also look at aerial perspective (instead of the linear perspective we covered in the drawing module). We cover abstract painting as well as painting foliage, culminating in a landscape that uses all of the techniques learned in the previous lessons.
By the end of this module, you will have a wide repertoire of techniques and tools at your disposal. The carefully curated order of the abstract lessons has been done strategically so that students can explore the different techniques and develop a style of their own.
Acrylics
Week 14 – Final Exhibition
At the end of our 14-week art courses for adults, we hold an exhibition to celebrate your progress and achievement with your new friends and all those you invite along – we’ll give you tickets!
The exhibition is promoted to the local community and is a wonderful way to get used to the idea of displaying your artwork and having the confidence to do so. We have found these exhibitions have also opened up opportunities for some of the more serious students who wish to take commissions.
Why Choose a Seasons Art Class®
Our founder, Gen puts it so beautifully:
“This is more than ‘just’ an art class. It’s your new hobby, it’s your new set of friends and local support network. It’s your enjoyment in and outside of class – a skill you get to take away with you and continue to enjoy, long after class is over. It’s midweek coffee and chats with like-minded pals who live nearby. It’s your favourite day of the week. It’s creating artwork that your family and friends will treasure. And more than anything, it’s being part of something bigger and knowing that you’re so welcome here!”
As well as the main four types of media, our course curriculum covers a broad range of challenges. Varied subject matter appeals to individual interests and also ensures that we get the very best out of our students.
Our students have the opportunity to explore different types of subject matter and styles to find what resonates with them and where their natural affinities and talents lay.
We supply all the materials – apart from pencils and paper – which allows our students to experiment with our kit before investing in their own art supplies. This saves them from potentially purchasing the wrong things.
With an extensive curriculum to cover, our classes are a full three hours to ensure our students have enough time to really achieve something good during the lesson. We also give our students full-colour handouts at the end of each class that they can collect and keep, as a reminder of what they were taught in class that day.
If you’re interested in our art courses for adults, please contact us or click here to find your nearest Seasons Art Class®