Beginners Portrait Painting in Oil

with artist & tutor Alicia Coombs Fridays 10am - 12.30 pm

Starts 24 Apr 2026

340 British pounds

Great King Street

Available spots

Service Description

Materials: Students bring materials listed below. Dates: Dates: 24/04/26 - 12/06/26 Beginners Oil Portrait Painting: Some might consider this a daunting task, but this activity of portraiture, can be fundamentally simple in it's foundation, and a solid foundation is where you want to spring from! Working with only 4-5 colours to give an incredible range, Alicia will lead you through the basic steps of oil painting, colour mixing, composition, of looking at anatomy, proportion, light and dark (value relationships) This term Jamuary to March and then STII April to June will be spent, with students being able to join this course at any point where the same theory is taught throughout the year and where Alicia supports students as individuals as well as in a group setting. By the end of the course, students will have made 2 portraits over 3 weeks each, having used weeks one and two to become familar with a direct appraoch to oil painitng, where everyone will quell their 'fear of mistakes and perfectionism' but instead harness a liberating technique which then can become more refined. Please see images below. Alicia Coombs is a classically trained artist and director of the drawing school. She has many years and exposure to all manner of teaching methods, and once the class has settled and are all aquainted with one another will give formal but sensitive supportive critiques tailored for the individual student. Course structure - Weeks 1 & 2 loose fast and free oil sketching Weeks 3,4,5 - Portrait 1 Weeks 6,7,8 - Portrait 2 • SKETCHBOOK for note-taking • BRUSHES: A selection of good quality natural hog hair brushes in a variety of shapes and sizes. I recommend long flats, filberts and pointed round brushes. Make sure you have at least one medium sized (around 1cm wide) and one large (around 2.5 cm wide) brush (2 or 3 of each brush is ideal, but not essential) • PAINT: Ivory Black, Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White and English Red Oxide artist quality oils. • SUPPORT 2 Stretched canvases or painting panels approximately 60 x 50 cm in size, and one pad of oil painitng paper for sketches • SOLVENT: Artists odourless white spirit, eg: Kremer Shellsol-T (best value, available online from Atlantis Art Supplies and AP Fitzparick), Gamsol, Sansodor. Do NOT use turpentine – it's fumes are toxic • MEDIUM – cold pressed or refined linseed oil) • PAPER TOWELS or RAGS • x2 LIDDED JAR or POT for solvent and medium

Upcoming Sessions

Cancellation Policy

We will provide a 50% refund if you give written advance notice up to 30 days before the course start date. 0% refund 30 days before a course starts. Please note there is an administration fee of £5 payable in respect of such refunds to cover payment processing fees. You will need to inform a member of administration staff in writing by emailing EDS at info@edinburghdrawingschool.co.uk. Additionally, if you withdraw for any reason after the course has started you will not be entitled to a refund. We are a small business and we depend on every booking to ensure that classes can go ahead. If a tutor has to withdraw from teaching the scheduled course for any reason (medical/personal/professional) before the start of a scheduled course, during a scheduled course, if the course is 8 weeks long or scheduled as x3 terms of 8 weeks long each, The Edinburgh Drawing School will find a replacement tutor for the course designed by that tutor for The Edinburgh Drawing School. The course content will be the same as the originally booked course. A student will not be entitled to a refund should the school have no option but to find a replacement tutor. If a tutor leaves and starts work elsewhere, and a student prefers to take classes with them personally at the tutor's new workplace, that is at the discretion of the student and no refund is entitled to them or will be given. If a student is unable to attend a class due to medical/personal/professional reasons, then EDS must be informed immediately so that the tutor can be notified. If you are missing a class because you suspect that you have developed Covid-19, please let us know immediately so that we can alert fellow student and tutors. Non-attendance of classes/workshops does not automatically mean a refund, however EDS will assess the circumstance If a tutor cannot teach a class due to illness, the scheduled class will be covered by another tutor or the class will be postponed and rescheduled for the following week at the same time on the same day of the week. Make up classes are scheduled during the half term week, or in the week following the end of term. The Edinburgh Drawing School runs 8 week terms of scheduled classes, 9 weeks if including the half term and then 10 weeks to include a week at the end of term for any necessary make up classes. Thus, the business always completes it's contractual obligations of 8 scheduled classes to booked students. If a student cannot attend a make up class, no refund is due.