Here at Hotcourses we’re passionate about learning and every member of the team takes a ‘hot course’ – either to improve their skills, enjoy a new hobby or just to try something completely different. Paul Foxton from Hotcourses’ web team tells us about his life painting course...

Name: Paul Foxton
My hotcourse: Life Painting
Institution: The Heatherley School of Fine Art

Having been interested in painting for some time and painting still-life subjects regularly at home, I fancied trying my hand at something a little more ambitious. I first heard about Heatherley’s from a painter friend of mine, who had been studying there for some time.
 
One of the hardest things for someone who paints as a hobby and wants to work from the figure is finding a room large enough to be able work properly and finding someone willing to sit for you.  I also knew I wanted long poses that would give me time to work more on each piece. With four different poses over a 12-week period, the Thursday evening life-painting course at Heatherley’s seemed to fit the bill.

Time to relax
Heatherley’s is housed in a purpose-built art school in Chelsea. Easels are supplied, but students need to bring the other materials themselves. There’s a reasonably priced on-site shop, so any materials required – paint, brushes, panels and stretched canvases – can be purchased before the class.

The first three-week pose was life painting, followed by a three-week portrait pose. Long poses like this are quite rare and it was this that interested me most about this course. With set-up time and breaks allowed for, each pose was a total of around six hours.

Helping hand
The teacher, Allan Ramsey, is an experienced working painter. He started each session with a short talk on various aspects of painting from life, ranging from practical ordering of the pigments on the palette to measuring and blocking in the drawing.

He would bring in books to illustrate the points he was making, showing how painters like Sargent, Uglow and Degas handled colour, form and composition. Occasionally he’d stop the class to demonstrate something – the initial lay-in of the figure perhaps, or finding the main angles of the body. He also would move around the class and give helpful advice as we painted.

The students in my class ranged from complete beginners attempting their first life painting to people with some experience who wanted to improve their technique. I think the long poses were helpful, as students who worked quickly were able to complete more than one piece from the same pose, whilst those who prefer longer poses (like me) got a chance to stretch themselves.

The facilities at Heatherley’s are excellent, as you would expect  from a purpose-built art school.  The students were friendly and  the atmosphere was open and not in the least bit intimidating.  I’d recommend this course to anyone who fancies trying their hand at life painting for the first time and also to more experienced painters looking for practice.