Painting Metal and Glass Effects in Still-life Objects Workshop

In-person with Robin Adair

Course Description

Have you ever been curious how painters capture realistic glass and metaI effects in their still-life paintings? This is one of those techniques that many of my students find surprisingly manageable and immensely satisfying to do. In this workshop, I will walk you through how to draw three-dimensional objects, explore ways to use colour to express reflected light, and learn specific methods for glazing and textural effects. This workshop is for beginner and intermediate painters with some familiarity and experience with the acrylic medium. 

Course Fee: $140 (supplies not included)

Syllabus

  • Thumbnails and design
  • Underpainting: blocking the values
  • Learning colour relationships with temperature and saturation.
  • Understanding layers with transparency and opacity. 

Supplies

  •  Acrylic heavy body paint. Recommended Brands: Golden; Holbein; Tri-Art
  •  Pigments:
    • Titanium White
    • Ultramarine Blue
    • Primary Cyan
    • Cadmium Red Medium
    • Quinacridone Crimson or Quinacridone Magenta
    • Hansa Yellow Light or primary yellow
    • Cadmium Yellow Medium
  • Acrylic Brushes:
    • 2-3 square brushes (sizes 12-20)
    • 1-2 round brushes (sizes 10-14)
    • 2-3 filbert (sizes 12-18)
  • Acrylic gel medium: Golden GAC 100; or a small container of regular or soft gel.
  • Wet palette (12" x 16") You may buy one from a store or I will also teach you how to make your own wet palette. For this you will need a regular tray palette, paper towel, parchment paper, and bulldog clips.
  • Cotton rags
  • Masking Tape
  • Supports: We will make 2-3 studies over the course of the day. You may use either Bristol board, canvas, or canvas board (no larger than 9"X12" or 11"x14").

For a brief list of frequently used suppliers, please see Where can I purchase supplies? on our FAQ page.