Alla Prima Portrait (Online Course) Spring 2026 w/ Al Gury

May 6 to June 3 (Wednesdays), 6:00 PM to 8:30 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. Our business hours are 10:00 AM through 5:00 PM. All course information and email correspondence will be sent during business hours. If students purchase a course, workshop, demo or recording outside business hours or during the weekend the course information or recording will be sent the following business day.

Course Description

This visually rich, hands-on course will present strategies for understanding and improving structure, color, getting a likeness and brushwork in portraits. Weekly video demonstrations by the instructor will be enriched by examples of the styles of many portrait painters, and discussions of painting and drawing methods, problem solving and developing your own style in Alla Prima portrait painting. Master copies, self-portraits and using photos will be among the many topics to be discussed. Weekly painting projects will be critiqued on Padlet by the instructor as well as during the course meeting on Zoom. Open to all media and levels of experience and interest.

Course Outline

Week 1 -

Introduction, materials, Q&A, Visual history of Portrait Painting, using photos, discussion of structure, tonality, discussion of the first project, Video Demos of an Alla Prima Brush Drawing. Project 1: limited palette brush drawing with highlights.

Week 2 -

Introduction, Q&A, visual examples, portrait structure, the Earth Palette and complexions, likenesses, tonality and the earth palette, Video demos. Project, Portrait 2, using the full earth palette.

Week 3 -

Introduction, Q&A, the full palette, portrait structure, visual examples, tonality and the full palette, video demos. Third 3, Portrait using the full palette.

Week 4 -

Introduction, Q&A, the self-portrait, using photos versus a mirror, self-portraits and expression. Project 4, a self-portrait.

Week 5 -

Introduction, Q&A, unique Portraits and expression, visual examples. Project 5, a portrait exhibiting personal point of view and expression.

Course Materials List

10 – 20 sheets of A4 or A3 cartridge paper.

3- 5 plywood/ MDF boards 20x20cm or bigger. Primed with 3 layers of acrylic gesso or oil-based wood primer.

Set of gouache or acrylic paints;

Hot and cold primaries

White

Umber/ Burnt sienna

And if you want to work in oils; (recommendations)

White

Raw Umber

Ultramarine blue

Cerulean blue

Cadmium red

Magenta

Lemon yellow

Cadmium yellow

Davy’s Grey

Range of brushes;

Flat with soft bristles, usually sold as ‘for acrylics’

2-3 old t-towels or cotton t-shirts to cut up for rags

Odourless White Spirit (for cleaning brushes)

Pure turpentine

Thixatropic fast-drying oil paint medium

3-4 old china bowls or glass jars for holding spirits

Large palette – old piece of light coloured formica, or white coated particle board.

Objects for Still-Life; jars, bottles, coloured fabrics,

Directional table-lamp