In January I was very lucky to win a place on a ten week oil painting atelier with Elephant Academy, a company who offer online art courses. The oil painting course I was on was run by Rachel Levitas, an incredibly diverse artist who paints and prints amongst many other strings to her bow.
The knowledge I gained during the ten weeks was immense. I was very inexperienced with oil painting, having only completed a four day class during my art and design foundation in 2018. The course includes materials and I was sent a box of goodies including paint, oil, brushes, a palette knife and canvas boards.
Rachel was an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher, catering for the more experienced in the class as well as the frightened newbies. We were given tasks to get us into the swings of the new techniques we were shown and told about trade secrets that I shall take to my grave, as promised!
I have some work to complete on my final painting, a transposition of Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, however I am proud of how far I came in a short space of time. I have also managed to complete a ceramic transposition on a jug using sgraffito and slip, I will share the final piece once it is out of the kiln on Monday.
I feel very lucky and privileged to have taken part in the class and I would recommend anyone on the verge of getting back into painting to look into the course. If anything, if forced me to take the time, every Saturday at 10am to sit and listen and paint.
Check out all the courses they offer at https://elephantacademy.art