We have received a lovely write up from one of our students who has painted in oils for the first time, while working on the Drawing and Painting Diploma (D1). We hope that you find it inspiring and we would like to thank Evelyn for taking the time to write this for us!

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This was the first time I ever painted in oils, so it felt really daunting initially. I loved the smooth consistency of oils but struggled with the colors and trying to get the tones and hues I wanted. I found practice, experimentation and observation to really make the difference, not just with colors but with lighting and shadows, too.

Another thing that helped a lot was painting from life whenever possible. For example, when painting the grapes I put a big cluster of grapes beside me and based my colors on them, and when painting the carafe and glass jar I got a bunch of glassware from the kitchen and studied them to give me an idea of how to paint that translucent sparkle.

Painting with oils took much longer than I’d expected, but I enjoyed the results. I think one can achieve effects with oil paint that are hard to achieve with other mediums. I hope I’ll learn more about oil painting as I continue studying the course!