Oil Painting Foundation Courses
Oil Painting Foundation
A practical, welcoming introduction to oil painting for beginners and anyone who wants to build confidence with the basics. Through guided exercises, you’ll learn how to mix colour, work with tone and light, build a composition and handle paint and brushes with greater confidence.
The course gives you a strong foundation to keep exploring, while helping you find your own way of working with paint.
Berlin Bildungszeit ·
Intensive Oil Painting: Artistic Practice, Visual Research and Professional Image Development
Approved Berlin Bildungszeit · Recognition no. 136266
Daily hours: 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–17:00 (30 teaching hours across five days)
Fee: €675 per person · Maximum 7 participants · Materials included
Location: Kamminer Straße 9, 10589 Berlin · Language: English
Monday — Introduction and visual analysis; explore composition and make preparatory studies. In the afternoon, learn oil-painting methods and colour mixing through demonstrations and practical exercises.
Tuesday — Guided research and observation in a Berlin museum, including analytical drawing. In the afternoon, turn those observations into colour and composition studies.
Wednesday — Develop the museum research into an individual painting concept. Continue painting in the studio, with individual tutorials.
Thursday — Develop the painting through more advanced work on composition, colour and technique. Continue independently with tutor guidance and group discussion.
Friday — Complete and document the work. Present it to the group, take part in professional critique, and evaluate the process and results.
Across the week, demonstrations, guided exercises, museum analysis, observational drawing, individual tutorials and peer feedback support the progression from museum research to drawing and colour studies to an original painting. Participants practise visual analysis, independent project development, explaining their process, giving and receiving feedback, and presenting work.
Sketchbook tutorial with Louise Lenz: choosing a sketchbook and collecting ideas for your paintings.
Still Life in Oils with Hannah Turner Duffin
Saturday, 28 November 2026 · 10:30–13:30
A three-hour oil painting session working from a still life. Explore observation, composition, colour mixing and paint handling through demonstrations and individual guidance. Suitable for beginners and returning painters. All materials included.
Burnt Sienna studio · Kamminer Straße 9, 10589 Berlin
€90
Winter Oil Painting Foundation Course 2027
A structured introduction to oil painting for beginners and those returning after a break. Learn colour mixing, tone, composition, brushwork and how to develop a painting.
Practical demonstrations, individual guidance, all materials and individual evaluations before and after the course are included.
Six Saturdays · 10:00–13:00
9, 16 and 23 January; 13, 20 and 27 February 2027.
No classes on 30 January or 6 February.
Location: Kamminer Straße 9, 10589 Berlin
Fee: €650 · Solidarity price: €580
Tutors: Louise Lenz, Hannah Turner-Duffin or Emma Seach
Please bring a sketchbook, drawing materials and printed visual references. All oil-painting materials are provided.
Learn the art of indirect oil painting …
Burnt Sienna Berlin is an artist-led oil painting school shaped by 18 years of teaching experience and the traditions of the atelier. We teach the skills that can be hard to find space for today: careful observation, strong drawing, confident handling of materials and the patience to build a painting from the ground up.
Our Foundation course is practical and hands-on. You’ll work with charcoal and oil paint, study form, light and colour, and develop your own painting through structured exercises and individual guidance. We combine traditional methods with room to experiment and find your own way of working.
There’s also something special about giving your attention to one thing for a while. Put your phone on airplane mode. Mix the paint, work with your hands, look closely and see what happens. The studio is a place to slow down, concentrate and learn through making.
Our small-group teaching is led by practising artists, including teachers with training from the Royal Drawing School and classical ateliers. With close, personalised tuition, we’ll help you build technical confidence while supporting your own ideas and direction.
Join Hannah, Emma and Louise in the studio to learn the techniques and skills that are almost forgotten—and to discover what you can do with them.
Intermediate Oil Painting Course — Friday Evenings · Dec 2026–Feb 2027
Eight 3-hour Friday evening sessions, 18:00–21:00 ·· max 6 · all materials included.
4 December 2026–19 February 2027. No classes during Berlin school holidays: 25 December, 1 January,
29 January and 5 February.
For painters who have completed an oil painting foundation course or have equivalent experience. Develop an independent project with guidance, demonstrations, individual feedback and group critique. Taught in English; worksheets in German.
Oil painting foundation course EAST END
Monday evenings · 11 January–15 February 2027
18:00–21:00 · Venue details in your booking confirmation
€650 / solidarity €580 · Payment plans available on request.
Build confidence with oil painting through guided exercises, individual feedback and practical work on tone, colour and composition. Suitable for beginners and returning painters.
Paintings in London exhibition at Bischoff/Weiss by Louise Lenz
Two portrait - oil painting on canvas by Louise Lenz
About the Fine Arts Foundation
This programme spans a 12-week calendar and meets for 10 Saturday sessions in the Charlottenburg studio. Across 40 guided hours, you will build drawing and oil-painting skills together, from careful observation and composition to colour, paint handling and a finished personal work. Beginners and returning students are welcome.
What you’ll learn
Develop proportion, measuring, line and tonal drawing; plan and shape compositions; prepare a surface; work through grisaille and underpainting; mix colour; and develop a sustained oil painting with individual guidance.
What’s included
10 studio sessions and 40 guided hours.
Core drawing and oil-painting materials for the taught exercises.
Demonstrations, individual feedback, group discussion and homework prompts.
A week-by-week curriculum from drawing fundamentals to a final personal painting.
A certificate of achievement on completion.
Your 10-session guide
1 · Drawing as observation
Sighting, proportion, measuring, line quality and sketchbook habits.
2 · Tone, form and charcoal
Build form through value scales, reductive charcoal drawing and tonal studies.
3 · Composition and space
Use still life and master-study references to explore composition, edges and space.
4 · From drawing into paint
Transfer a drawing into a painted study, prepare surfaces and learn the oil-painting setup.
5 · Grisaille and underpainting
Make a monochrome oil study focused on value, structure and paint handling.
6 · Colour mixing and limited palettes
Develop colour relationships, warm and cool shifts and controlled palette exercises.
7 · Still life in oils
Apply drawing, tone and colour to a sustained still-life painting from observation.
8 · Personal composition
Plan a personal painting using references, thumbnails, colour notes and tutor feedback.
9 · Building the painting
Develop the main painting through layers, corrections, edges, glazes and depth.
10 · Finish, critique and next steps
Resolve final passages, discuss presentation and review next steps for independent practice.
What should I bring?
Please bring a sketchbook, drawing pencils and any printed visual references that inspire you. Core studio materials are provided.
After the course
You will leave with a finished personal painting, a group of drawing and painting studies, and a practical process you can continue using in your own studio practice.
Paintbrush tutorial with Louise Lenz: choosing brushes for oil painting and caring for them. All painting materials are included in the Foundation Course.