New York Academy of Art

What is oil paint, anyway? What is a “odorless mineral spirit”? How do I clean my brushes? And how come all those Old Master paintings look like they glow?! This course is designed to take the mystery out of oil painting and build confidence in foundational techniques, with a focus on indirect painting methods that create rich, layered, and luminous results. The first half of the course introduces essential tools, materials, and methods through quick, tonal exercises and structured studies. Using plaster casts as a starting point, students explore classical techniques such as wipe-out imprimatura, open and closed grisaille, and monochromatic value studies. Working with a limited palette of titanium white, ivory black, and raw umber provides a strong foundation in proportion, structure, anatomy, and form. As the course progresses, color is gradually introduced through chromatic glazes and velatura, supported by a simplified warm/cool palette of the student’s choosing. This phase emphasizes temperature relationships, optical mixing, and subtle transitions of hue and value to create atmospheric depth and visual unity. In the second section, focused on figure painting, students move to working from a live model and explore a new set of challenges and opportunities. Inspired by the techniques of Rembrandt, the curriculum includes studies in ground preparation, light massing, and the expressive power of limited palettes. Students may choose to continue developing a single painting throughout the term or begin a second work in the later weeks using more chromatic, contemporary pigments. The course also highlights contemporary artists who are reinterpreting indirect painting in innovative and personal ways.