This structured 8-week course gives you the knowledge, skills and confidence to create your own oil paintings from scratch. Starting with the fundamentals and building steadily week by week, you’ll develop a genuine understanding of how to represent the world around you in paint — not just copying what you see, but understanding why it works.

You’ll begin with three-dimensional form and how to render it convincingly on a flat surface, before exploring the three elements of colour — hue, value and chroma — alongside the behaviour of light, the importance of edges, and the colour of shadows. You’ll also receive practical guidance on paints, brushes, surfaces and mediums, so you know what you’re working with and why.

The course centres on still life — starting with simple geometric forms and building towards more elaborate compositions — with the option to explore how the same principles apply to portraiture. By the end, you’ll have a body of work to be proud of, and a solid foundation to keep painting independently.

Suitable for complete beginners and those with some existing experience alike.

David Thompson has been painting in oils for over thirty years, concentrating particularly on still life and figure painting. Largely self-taught, he has spent decades studying colour with real rigour and purpose — and brings that understanding directly into his teaching. He is a long-standing member of the Cambridge Drawing Society, exhibiting regularly, and a regular participant in Cambridge Open Studios. David’s conviction is that colour is the beating heart of great painting — and that learning the grammar of art is what allows that expressive potential to be fully realised. He’s an excellent guide for anyone who wants to understand not just what to do, but why it makes a painting sing. https://davidthompsonartist.com/

Places are limited — book early to avoid missing out. All materials are provided; but you’re welcome to bring your own materials and reference images if you prefer.

Please note there are no sessions on Monday 26^th October and on Thursday 29^th October.