This course teaches you how to paint with oils, emphasizing both the mastery of skills and also an understanding of the conceptual basis behind painting. We cover the basics of color theory and composition, paint mixing, medium, and clean up.

Students will be exposed to and learn techniques, styles and methods/processes, relative to representational images and abstract painting. You will learn to convey the illusion of visual experience by describing form, light/value, color, texture and spatial depth. You will learn to create images with both representational and emotive content. Additionally, you will develop analytical skills and critical awareness in relation to your own and others' paintings, and a vocabulary related to the discussion of critical issues. Finally, you will develop of a personal voice or style, through the selection and manipulation of personal imagery and content.

Discussion and use of various critical processes and positions pertaining to the appreciative and aesthetic problems of being both painter and observer. The student will be shown some historical and aesthetic aspects of painting through slides presentations, as well as museum and gallery field trips. Paint applications used include: glaze, layering, alla prima to scumble, preparing grounds for paint, gesso, building and stretching canvasses, the craft of painting with oil, rendering with paint, surface concerns, finish, markmaking, contemporary critical writing on painting, historical views of oil painting in Western culture. No art background or prerequisites are necessary.