Painting the Portrait in Oil (Online Course) Fall 2025 w/ Adrian Gottlieb
October 27 to November 24 (Mondays), 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/0ZIw4ujcpKA
Course Description
All levels
Painter and portraitist, Adrian Gottlieb, offers instruction in painting the portrait, beginning with the drawing in paint, stressing composition, proportion, structure, and expression.The second day addresses blocking in the colors to create a big impression. On days 3-5, students will model the forms to achieve a likeness and sense of light and volume. Gottlieb will cover the canons of proportions and head construction, and will cover medium, color theory, color mixing and palette organization. Students will work from the same photo reference that Gottlieb is using and will hand in homework at different stages of the process. Gottlieb will provide recorded digitally painted critiques in which he will paint over or alongside the student’s work to demonstrate the principles.
Course Outline
Week 1 -
Gottlieb will demonstrate drawing the portrait in paint. Covered will be composition, gesture, planes and the canons of proportion in order start with the strongest design and sense of likeness.
Week 2 -
The instructor will demonstrate the block-in of the head in color. The demonstration will cover palette setup and organization, color theory, and the order of colors to apply in order to arrive at a big impression and a strong roadmap for the next layers.
Weeks 3 and 4 -
The instructor will cover the second pass, which will entail how to achieve a sense of light, lost and found edges and paint modeling in order to achieve a convincing sense of volume and form.
Week 5 -
The instructor will cover the final touches on the painting, including glazing and scumbling.
Throughout the course students will do homework using the same source image as the instructor, who will provide critiques and corrections as needed digitally. These critiques will be recorded and available to all students.
Course Materials List
Notes:
1) We do our best to maintain the links to the correct products, but vendors frequently change links or delete them altogether. If you encounter a broken or nonexistent link, please let us know and we’ll correct it as soon as possible.
2) Please come prepared with your tools and materials for work in class. It is strongly advised that you be prepared with the materials from this list. You are free to substitute any materials of your own with the understanding that the results you get will not be the same as what we are looking for in class.
3) Lead white is flake white is Cremnitz white. These are all essentially different names for the same thing, though individual paint makers may prepare them differently for their own reasons.
From Blue Ridge Oil Colors
Titanium White is an inferior replacement for lead white. It is to be used when health concerns are present.
From Dick Blick
Palette knife (Blick Style #5)
Brush cleaner 20oz, ideal for travel
Permanent Alizarin Crimson 37ml
Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Paints and Sets | BLICK Art Materials
From Vasari
From Natural Pigments
Vacuum bodied linseed oil, medium viscosity, 8oz.
Pure red sable round brushes, Sizes 2-6, two of each.
Additional Artists tools
Nickeled Brass Double Palette Cup with Screw Cap, Large
Home Depot or Lowes:
Blue Workshop towels
Mahl stick (small lightweight dowel rod is fine)
Get the size that applies
An upright container such as a large coffee can for holding your brushes
A hat with a visor to keep the light out of your eyes
Palette
You will need to have an arm palette for the class. Here are two options.
Best Arm Palette. Lightweight, already finished, counterbalanced John Singer Sargent Palette
OR
Economy arm palette, not counterbalanced, New Wave Palette- Expressionist Confident- wood finish
NOTE: if a palette is for a right-handed person, it is to be held in the left hand. If a palette is for a left-handed person, it is to be held in the right hand. THIS DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT.
October 27 to November 24 (Mondays), 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/0ZIw4ujcpKA
Course Description
All levels
Painter and portraitist, Adrian Gottlieb, offers instruction in painting the portrait, beginning with the drawing in paint, stressing composition, proportion, structure, and expression.The second day addresses blocking in the colors to create a big impression. On days 3-5, students will model the forms to achieve a likeness and sense of light and volume. Gottlieb will cover the canons of proportions and head construction, and will cover medium, color theory, color mixing and palette organization. Students will work from the same photo reference that Gottlieb is using and will hand in homework at different stages of the process. Gottlieb will provide recorded digitally painted critiques in which he will paint over or alongside the student’s work to demonstrate the principles.
Course Outline
Week 1 -
Gottlieb will demonstrate drawing the portrait in paint. Covered will be composition, gesture, planes and the canons of proportion in order start with the strongest design and sense of likeness.
Week 2 -
The instructor will demonstrate the block-in of the head in color. The demonstration will cover palette setup and organization, color theory, and the order of colors to apply in order to arrive at a big impression and a strong roadmap for the next layers.
Weeks 3 and 4 -
The instructor will cover the second pass, which will entail how to achieve a sense of light, lost and found edges and paint modeling in order to achieve a convincing sense of volume and form.
Week 5 -
The instructor will cover the final touches on the painting, including glazing and scumbling.
Throughout the course students will do homework using the same source image as the instructor, who will provide critiques and corrections as needed digitally. These critiques will be recorded and available to all students.
Course Materials List
Notes:
1) We do our best to maintain the links to the correct products, but vendors frequently change links or delete them altogether. If you encounter a broken or nonexistent link, please let us know and we’ll correct it as soon as possible.
2) Please come prepared with your tools and materials for work in class. It is strongly advised that you be prepared with the materials from this list. You are free to substitute any materials of your own with the understanding that the results you get will not be the same as what we are looking for in class.
3) Lead white is flake white is Cremnitz white. These are all essentially different names for the same thing, though individual paint makers may prepare them differently for their own reasons.
From Blue Ridge Oil Colors
Titanium White is an inferior replacement for lead white. It is to be used when health concerns are present.
From Dick Blick
Palette knife (Blick Style #5)
Brush cleaner 20oz, ideal for travel
Permanent Alizarin Crimson 37ml
Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Paints and Sets | BLICK Art Materials
From Vasari
From Natural Pigments
Vacuum bodied linseed oil, medium viscosity, 8oz.
Pure red sable round brushes, Sizes 2-6, two of each.
Additional Artists tools
Nickeled Brass Double Palette Cup with Screw Cap, Large
Home Depot or Lowes:
Blue Workshop towels
Mahl stick (small lightweight dowel rod is fine)
Get the size that applies
An upright container such as a large coffee can for holding your brushes
A hat with a visor to keep the light out of your eyes
Palette
You will need to have an arm palette for the class. Here are two options.
Best Arm Palette. Lightweight, already finished, counterbalanced John Singer Sargent Palette
OR
Economy arm palette, not counterbalanced, New Wave Palette- Expressionist Confident- wood finish
NOTE: if a palette is for a right-handed person, it is to be held in the left hand. If a palette is for a left-handed person, it is to be held in the right hand. THIS DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT.
October 27 to November 24 (Mondays), 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time
**All sessions are live and will be recorded, students do not have to be present. All recordings will be available to students for 3 months after the final session, after 3 months the recording will be deleted.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
DEMO: https://youtu.be/0ZIw4ujcpKA
Course Description
All levels
Painter and portraitist, Adrian Gottlieb, offers instruction in painting the portrait, beginning with the drawing in paint, stressing composition, proportion, structure, and expression.The second day addresses blocking in the colors to create a big impression. On days 3-5, students will model the forms to achieve a likeness and sense of light and volume. Gottlieb will cover the canons of proportions and head construction, and will cover medium, color theory, color mixing and palette organization. Students will work from the same photo reference that Gottlieb is using and will hand in homework at different stages of the process. Gottlieb will provide recorded digitally painted critiques in which he will paint over or alongside the student’s work to demonstrate the principles.
Course Outline
Week 1 -
Gottlieb will demonstrate drawing the portrait in paint. Covered will be composition, gesture, planes and the canons of proportion in order start with the strongest design and sense of likeness.
Week 2 -
The instructor will demonstrate the block-in of the head in color. The demonstration will cover palette setup and organization, color theory, and the order of colors to apply in order to arrive at a big impression and a strong roadmap for the next layers.
Weeks 3 and 4 -
The instructor will cover the second pass, which will entail how to achieve a sense of light, lost and found edges and paint modeling in order to achieve a convincing sense of volume and form.
Week 5 -
The instructor will cover the final touches on the painting, including glazing and scumbling.
Throughout the course students will do homework using the same source image as the instructor, who will provide critiques and corrections as needed digitally. These critiques will be recorded and available to all students.
Course Materials List
Notes:
1) We do our best to maintain the links to the correct products, but vendors frequently change links or delete them altogether. If you encounter a broken or nonexistent link, please let us know and we’ll correct it as soon as possible.
2) Please come prepared with your tools and materials for work in class. It is strongly advised that you be prepared with the materials from this list. You are free to substitute any materials of your own with the understanding that the results you get will not be the same as what we are looking for in class.
3) Lead white is flake white is Cremnitz white. These are all essentially different names for the same thing, though individual paint makers may prepare them differently for their own reasons.
From Blue Ridge Oil Colors
Titanium White is an inferior replacement for lead white. It is to be used when health concerns are present.
From Dick Blick
Palette knife (Blick Style #5)
Brush cleaner 20oz, ideal for travel
Permanent Alizarin Crimson 37ml
Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Paints and Sets | BLICK Art Materials
From Vasari
From Natural Pigments
Vacuum bodied linseed oil, medium viscosity, 8oz.
Pure red sable round brushes, Sizes 2-6, two of each.
Additional Artists tools
Nickeled Brass Double Palette Cup with Screw Cap, Large
Home Depot or Lowes:
Blue Workshop towels
Mahl stick (small lightweight dowel rod is fine)
Get the size that applies
An upright container such as a large coffee can for holding your brushes
A hat with a visor to keep the light out of your eyes
Palette
You will need to have an arm palette for the class. Here are two options.
Best Arm Palette. Lightweight, already finished, counterbalanced John Singer Sargent Palette
OR
Economy arm palette, not counterbalanced, New Wave Palette- Expressionist Confident- wood finish
NOTE: if a palette is for a right-handed person, it is to be held in the left hand. If a palette is for a left-handed person, it is to be held in the right hand. THIS DISTINCTION IS IMPORTANT.