Art and Crafts

Gustave Klimt is one of my all-time favourite artists and his popularity with the public is enduring. In this course I will show you different facets of Klimt's work.

The course is designed to be informative and great fun. It is suitable for painters of all abilities, and for people who have never used oil paints before.

I will start by teaching you some basic oil painting skills and techniques. We will cover some basic colour theory and some art history, but the emphasis will be on painting studies of two or three Klimt masterpieces.

We will paint, a landscape, garden or lakeside view. We will paint a classic Klimt subject with pattern and gold work.

All of these will start with a drawing, but do not worry if you can't draw, as I will demonstrate some tracing and projection techniques to make this part easier. We will then use tried and trusted oil painting methods which I will demonstrate step by step. I will also show you the tricks that were typical of Klimt and his pupil Egon Schiele.

We will experiment with textures and with various types of gilding to create some of the magical effects that Klimt used in his later golden paintings such as "The Kiss” and the "Portrait of Adele Bloch Bower”.

The emphasis is on having fun and working a little outside the comfort zone.

All materials and equipment will be provided but if you could provide a couple of empty jam jars with their lids that would be helpful. Wear an apron and/or old clothes as oil paint does tend to spread especially onto sleeves.

Please bring a re-fillable water bottle as the studio does get hot and you will need to stay hydrated. I discourage cups and glasses in the workplace as it is easy to dip your brushes into these by mistake.

Paul Minter

BA Hons PGCE

About Paul

Paul returns to Marlborough this year. He is a very experienced teacher and tutor who has taught for institutions as diverse as the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Helsinki University and until recently was Head of Art at Pinewood school.

He is an associate tutor with the Norfolk Painting School and writes articles on oil painting for Leisure Painter magazine.

His classes are always popular, entertaining, packed with art history, highly instructive and practical.