March 2025 art classes - Exploring the Human Body 12.30 to 14.30 

Day 

Exploring the Human Body in Oils (acrylic or water-based oils can be used too)

£60 for 4 weeks

 Potto Village Hall

we will have 2 sessions. The lunchtime classes will have a live model and the evening will not on the last session. 

12.30 to 14.30  (with live model on the last day)

Overview: This four-week course will explore the human form through various artistic styles and techniques. Each week, we will focus on a different approach to painting the human body, beginning with L.S. Lowry’s simplified figures in Week 1, followed by Henri Matisse in Week 2, Pablo Picasso in Week 3, and a live model in Week 4. The course emphasizes using oil paints to express both realistic and abstract interpretations of the human body.

Week 1: The Human Figure in the Style of L.S. Lowry

To explore the simplified and stylized representation of the human figure as seen in the work of L.S. Lowry.

• Introduce the work of L.S. Lowry, focusing on his depictions of industrial scenes with simplified, "matchstick" human figures. Discuss how Lowry used minimal detail to represent people and how his work conveyed a strong sense of mood and social commentary.
• Demonstrate sketching human figures in a simplified, stylized manner, keeping proportions basic and focusing on posture and movement. Show how to create a sense of space and atmosphere with minimal detail.

create their own oil sketches of the human figure inspired by Lowry’s style. Encourage them to simplify their figures and focus on capturing the essence of movement and group dynamics rather than realistic detail.

Week 2: The Human Form Inspired by Matisse

To explore bold colours, simplified forms, and the expressive use of shape, drawing inspiration from Henri Matisse.

• overview of Matisse’s use of colour and form, particularly in works like The Dance or The Blue Nude. Emphasize his ability to convey the human figure through fluid lines and simplified shapes.
• Demonstrate painting a simplified human figure in bold, flat colour fields. Explain how to create vibrant contrasts and allow the body to blend into the environment, as Matisse often did.
• create a composition inspired by Matisse, simplifying the human form and using bold, flat colours. Encourage them to focus on harmonious colour combinations and simplified body forms.

Week 3: Fragmenting the Human Form - Picasso's Influence

To understand how Picasso’s cubist approach broke the body into geometric shapes and different perspectives.

• Explore Pablo Picasso’s cubist works, such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Discuss how he deconstructed and reassembled the human body from multiple viewpoints, creating a fragmented yet unified whole.
• Show how to begin a cubist-style painting, starting with geometric sketches of a figure. Demonstrate the layering of different angles and perspectives within one image.
• create a cubist-style painting of the human body. Focus on breaking the body into shapes, playing with multiple perspectives, and using contrasting angles.

Week 4: Life Model - Realism Meets Expression

Objective: To apply the techniques explored in the previous weeks to a real-life model, allowing students to balance realism with expressive techniques.

• Discuss how the previous weeks’ lessons on simplification, colour, and fragmentation can inform a more realistic approach to painting the human body from life.
• Demonstrate setting up a life painting, focusing on proportion, light, and shadow. Encourage students to incorporate elements of Lowry’s stylization, Matisse-inspired colour, or Picasso-inspired fragmentation in their work.
• paint the life model using oils, aiming to merge realistic observation with their chosen expressive technique (simplified figures, bold color, or fragmented forms).
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• Materials Needed:

• Oil paints (primary colours, white, and black) (acrylic or water based oils can be used too) I'm happy for people to use watercolour too
• Brushes (variety of sizes, including flat and round)
• Canvas or canvas paper
• Linseed oil or other mediums
• Palette knives
• Easels if you have one
• Sketch paper and charcoal (for initial sketches)