Beginning Painting Courses          

The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts offers a wide variety of painting courses at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. The classes address technique, style and subject matter as well as medium: Abstract, Life Painting (Figure Painting), Portrait Painting, Still Life, Watercolor, Gouache, etc. Please click on the course titles below for more information.

Instructor: Auseklis Ozols or Nikki Martin Rue

An introduction to the essentials of color theory and basic design. The sutdent is introduced to various approaches to color perception, both historical and current. Class work consists of lectures in the form of demontstrations and experiments, as well as the preparation of color charts. The student works twoard the mastery of color mixtures and harmonies to be executed in a series of original designs. The class works in gouache.

Prerequisite: Beginning Drawing, Color & Design
Introduction to non-objective painting, where the formal elements of line color, texture and pattern take precedence over representational themes. Included are exercises in basic design and color mixtures. The dynamics of scale, rhtym and harmony are studied. the class works in acrylic.

Prerequisite: Beginning Drawing
An introduction to the challenges of watercolor. Students will be exposed to a range of stylistic approaches, techniques and subject matter referring to precedents set by previous masters of the medium. Students will also learn how to use the tools and materials of watercolor painting, how to plan a picture, composition, 3-value sketching, and painting from still-life setups.

Prerequisites: Beginning Drawing
Gouache is an amazingly versatile medium, and in this class we cover a wide range of creative possibilities, from precise realism to the wildest impressionist abstraction.

Gouache is water-based with no toxic fumes. It may be used with the techniques of watercolor or oil; and with unique techniques such as black-ink-wash-off. There will be various in-class assignments as well as opportunity for more individual investigations and expression with assignments done outside of class.