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Expressive Portraiture in Oil I Spring

with artist & tutor Joe Capps Thursdays 11am - 1.30pm

Starts 14 Jan 2027
360 British pounds
Great King Street

Available spots

Service Description

All Materials Provided No Class 18th February Over the course of 8 weeks, you will make 4 expressive oil portraits from a photographic reference, allowing the student to uniquely express from the base foundation of the provided image. The aim is to experience the portrait as a foundation to allow for imagination and ingenuity with colours and shapes, all the while maintaining initial drawing and observation. This course leans into Joe’s experience of creating 4-hour oil portraits for his prepartion for Portrait Artist of The Year, 2025. Joe made a series of 4 hour portraits in preparation for appearing on the program and has found this to be an effective time frame for decision making yet also for creativity and imagination. Expect vibrant colour, tips for quick refinement, and a masterclass in utilising reference images to improve likeness. The sessions provide an opportunity to complete several distinct portraits, experimenting with technique and time management to shed the usual inhibitions common in long-form work. Students will work on hand prepared gessoed board at table easels. Joe Capps is a working portrait artist living in Edinburgh. Through regular commissions and collaborations, Joe has aligned his work with other key interests, like music, in creating cover art for albums by acclaimed musicians, and film, in painting bespoke portraits for award-winning cinematographers. Having previously worked as an English teacher in the Lake District, Joe is a self-taught artist, whose practice has developed over years of media exploration and stylistic refinement. In 2025, he appeared on Portrait Artist of the Year on Sky Arts, which encouraged him to find new and expedient ways of working. We are delighted to welcome such a self motivated and inspired artist to teach with us at The Edinburgh Drawing School

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. E.D.S. runs make up classes in 1/2 term or during an additional week at the end of term. If classes cannot take place in the studios for any reason at 13 or 13a Great King Street, they will an in alternative venue. Thus, the business always completes it's contractual obligations to booked students. If a student cannot attend a make up class, no refund is due.

Contact Details

  • 13A Great King Street, Edinburgh, UK

    + 0131 556 0971

    info@edinburghdrawingschool.co.uk

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