- Teacher: Lendy Hensley
- Course Length: 8 sessions
- Class Days: Tuesdays, starting February 4
- Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Struggle with color? Is your palette a mess? Are your mixes muddy? Or just don’t know how to start? This course gives you practical methods to organize your palette and make clear color decisions. You’ll learn how to start with confidence and build a palette that supports your painting from beginning to end.
Each week, you’ll tackle common problems:
- Disorganized palettes? Set up your workspace to stay efficient and focused.
- Muddy mixes? Keep your colors clean and vibrant with clear techniques.
- Impatient? Follow step-by-step exercises that simplify color mixing.
- Flat paintings? Use value and color studies to add depth.
- Too many or too few colors? Find the right balance for your palette.
- Uncertain color placement? Make intentional choices to unify your work.
Each week, you’ll explore palette methods ranging from simple 4-mix setups to more expansive arrangements, all with a clear structure. These adaptable approaches simplify the chaos, helping you create bold contrasts or subtle harmonies. Whether your goal is to convey a specific mood or explore new ideas, you’ll build a flexible toolkit that works across any style or subject.
Each session includes sketching, palette work, and focused exercises to strengthen your understanding of value, color relationships, and placement. Weekly homework reinforces these skills, giving you a solid foundation for efficient and expressive painting. By the end, you’ll have practical tools to refine your process and paint with more clarity and purpose.
Prerequisites: Beginning Painting at least once.
Materials List:
Artists will be creating drawings and paintings. If unsure, Day 1: bring drawing supplies and we’ll talk about the rest of the course. Expect to use good materials for each study, as many could end up to be artworks in their own right.
-
- Pencil and drawing paper (for studies).
- Colored pencils or a big box of crayons (for studies).
- Transfer Paper: Use for transferring shapes to your drawing.
- Folder or big sketchbook: For handouts and notes.
-
- Canvas Pad
- Watercolor Paper: For color studies
- Palette Knife: Plastic is ok, but metal, trowel-shaped palette knife is nicer for you.
- Palette Keeper: Sta-Wet Oil or Acrylic Palette Keeper (to keep paints fresh).
- Please bring – Paper Towels (Viva Signature Cloth highly recommended)
-
- Ensure you have warm and cool variations of primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and green.
- Medium for oil: M Graham Oil Color/Walnut/Alkyd Medium 4oz (supplied in beginning oil kit, replenish if needed)
- Medium for acrylic: Retarder to allow more working time.
Beginning Oil kit colors: (replenish if needed) Gamblin 1980
-
- Cadmium Yellow: Warm, orangish yellow.
- Napthol Red: Warm, bright red.
- Quinacridone Magenta: Cool, violet-leaning red.
- Ultramarine Blue: Warm, violet-leaning blue.
- Phthalo Blue: Cool, green-leaning blue.
- Burnt Sienna: Warm earth tone.
- Yellow Ochre: Muted, warm yellow
- Titanium White
Beginning Acrylic kit colors: (replenish if needed) Utrecht
Please note: this is an updated list for future Beginning Acrylic kits. If you have the previous kit some of these colors will be new.
-
- Napthol Crimson Red: Warm, bright red.
- Cadmium Yellow: Warm, orangish yellow.
- Lemon Yellow: Cool yellow
- Phthalo Green: Cool blue
- Phthalo Blue: Cool blue
- Ultramarine Blue: Warm blue
- Magenta: Cool red
- Titanium White
Recommended Additions to kit colors for Warm/Cool Variations: These are new colors to add (or replenish)
-
- Cool Yellow: Lemon Yellow (or Hansa Yellow Light) (new to oil)
- Cool Red: Quinacridone Magenta (new to acrylic)
- Bridging Cool Red: Quinacridone Red (new to oil and acrylic)
- Neutral Blue: Cerulean Blue (new to oil and acrylic)
- Cool Green: Phthalo Green (new to oil)
- Cool White: Zinc White (new to oil and acrylic)
