The Fundamentals: from Drawing to Oil Painting

Overview

  • Level: Beginner, Intermediate

  • Tuesdays: 18:00 - 20:00

  • Total Hours: 12 hours in 6 lessons

  • Cost: €210

  • Language: English and Italian

  • Instructor: Prof. Timothy Joseph Allen

Curriculum

There are four basic projects, executed in sequence, that will take you from drawing to oil painting:

  • A charcoal drawing of a still-life with a sphere and another object that is principally geometric
  • A pencil drawing of a Bargue plate
  • A charcoal drawing of a cast
  • An oil painting of a still-life with a limited palette that begins with a preparatory drawing in pencil

Students are invited to work at his or her own pace.  It is likely that no more than the first two projects will be completed at the end of a four-lesson session.

Once these four projects are complete, students may choose to continue the lessons working on either another still-life painting, a painting of a cast, a copy of an Old Master painting, or even a self-portrait.

I first created this course in 2017 after realizing that many wanted to learn to paint, but they didn’t know how to draw.  This course is designed to provide a drawing foundation and, in turn, serve as a bridge to oil painting.

Since its inception, I’ve found myself referring to this course as the ‘Karate Kid’ of drawing and painting: there is a lot of ‘sanding the floor’ and ‘painting the fence’, but all is necessary prior to tackling more challenging subjects like the portrait or the figure.

— Timothy Joseph Allen

Materials

Materials vary from project to project.  I will provide the materials needed for the first project.  After that, students are responsible for purchasing their own materials.

Terms and Conditions

A deposit of €110 is due at the time of registration.  €100 is due on the day of the first lesson.

There is no reimbursement for absences, nor make-up lessons.

Registration

Registration is managed through our Course Registration portal.  If you have any difficulties registering, please let us know via email or call/text via WhatsApp: +39 347 263 1033.

If the course that interests you does not appear on our Course Registration portal, it may not currently be offered.  Check the schedule of courses to confirm the dates.

If this course isn't on the schedule, but it interests you, let us know!

Video Highlights: The Fundamentals

Meet Your Instructor:
Timothy Joseph Allen

Founder and President of the Association of Social Promotion A.P.S. PADASOR (acronym for the Painting And Drawing Art Studio Of Rome), Timothy Joseph Allen is an American professional painter who has been living and working in Rome, Italy for over twenty years. He began his career in 1992, earning a BA in Studio Art at DePauw University and an MFA in Painting at Indiana University, Bloomington in 1998. He has also been teaching at The American University of Rome since 2006.

His medium is oil on canvas and his style and subject matter are principally inspired by the Renaissance and Baroque. Of special importance to his process is painting from life: “I enjoy painting most when the presence of the subject and the limit of time combine to bring a sense of urgency to my analysis, intuition and performance.”

In recent years his work has been pre-selected and/or selected in several international competitions including the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Mod Portrait competition at the MEAM museum in Barcelona, the Figurativas Painting and Sculpture Competition in Barcelona, the World Wide Kitsch online painting competition, and the BP National Gallery Portrait Competition in London.

To understand best what Tim can teach you, please have a look at his paintings and drawings.

If you would like to take private lessons with Tim, please follow this link.

Student Work and Testimonials

Testimonial: Fay from Greece

A review from a student who came to study with me last Fall, 2018. Thank you, Fay!

The Providence of Fundamentals – Learning to Draw Before You Paint Pays Dividends

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Okay, so you never stop learning to draw... but learning something about drawing before you paint can only make painting more rewarding. As I always say in reference to Velazquez: make the drawing tight to keep the painting loose.