Colour to Canvas: Oils Made Clear

Start Date: Wednesday 25/03/2026 (Weekly)

Time: 02:30pm

Duration: 2.5(total 10) hrs

Price: £180.00

Ability: All Welcome

Tutor: Rachel Labovitch

Tickets Available: 4

About this course

Discover the process behind oil painting with water-mixable oils, exploring colour mixing, tonal structure, and surface. From bold alla prima to luminous glazing, learn how paintings are built in layers from first block-in to glowing finish.

This short 4 week course will begin Wed March 25th skip 2 weeks over Easter and resume wed 15th April - 29th April

Week One

Introduction to water mixable oils - the primary palette

Mixing colour - the basics, looking at the colour wheel and how to create nearly all colours from the three primaries + white.

complementary colour - how to create secondary and tertiary colour

Painting alla prima (in one go) and how to block in and layer the paints, the different properties of the paint.

Colour chart mixing colour

Fat over lean rule

Painting a natural form still life, staining the canvas with a 'ground' (imprimatura) of mid tone to work from

Week Two

Grisaille

Using a brush to draw the still life, thinking about compositional elements and lighting

Blocking in the subject in raw umber and white, forming a thin drawn layer of monochrome

Checking the values - starting with darks and heading to lights

Blending paint techniques looking at curved forms / casts

Week Three

Scumbling

Creating textured surfaces

Applying colour in similar hues to make the surface 'shimmer' with similar value paint of different hues

Using thick / thin applications across the surface

Week Four

Returning to the Grisaille

Amending / correcting drawing

Using glazes of colour to create luminosity over the Raw Umber

Adding a 'fatty' painting medium to ensure fat over lean rule

Whats Included : all materials to make a start.

Book Your Place

Last few places remaining, don't miss out!

Event FAQs

Reviews

“Taking the time to learn in the inspiring environment of Colne Road Studios was such a treat! The group was welcoming and supportive and Rachel is an extremely talented and generous teacher, sharing her skills and knowledge to give us fresh perspectives and a wealth of useful advice and feedback. I felt my ability and interest in drawing had been revived after many years dormant, learning how to observe as well as how to draw. I would encourage anyone willing to pick up a pencil to have a go, and have already signed up to Rachel’s next course! “CB March 2025

‘I decided to do the Drawing for Beginners class at Colne Road Studios as I have recently started painting for the first time since school and felt that doing a beginner drawing class would aid me with this in looking at image and form. That and the fact that I hadn’t picked up a pencil to draw since I was a teenager. The course exceeded my expectations. The group were lovely and from very different backgrounds – some beginners, some already dabbled, and a couple were professionals who used drawing in differing forms in their careers. Rachel Labovitch is an exceptional tutor. She is informative in her teaching approach bringing in examples of other artists as we went along meaning that new or well-known works of art were discussed and techniques explored. She is positive, supportive and very encouraging. I left each class feeling inspired and even did ‘homework’ during the week to practice what I’d learnt – something I didn’t do at school. I would highly recommend this course to anyone and everyone – if you think you can’t draw, you’ll be proved wrong and you’ll start to notice the world around you with fresh eyes.’ LA Feb 2025

Can I park nearby ?

A CPZ is in force from Mon to Sat 8.30 – 6.30pm
Limited paid spaces available in surrounding roads with Ring Go cashless Parking

Max stay 4 hours during operational hours

Holly Road Car park, behind Marks & Spencer TW1 4HF

Mon to Sat – 8am to 6.30pm.
This car park is accessible and free to park in outside of these hours. Max stay 4 hours during operational hours – walking to the Studio approx 9mins

Are your courses just for adults or do you offer any courses for children ?

At the moment the courses at Colne Road Studios are designed for adults over the age of 18 . The aim is to create a relaxed environment, provide a bit of an escape and switch off from every day responsibilites. We are not able to accommodate children in our classes, nor do we provide children’s classes at this time.

Enrolment deadline

To secure a course, please book at least 8 days before the listed course start date.

Any course with no bookings 8 days prior to it’s start date will then be removed from the website .

Courses with fewer than 3 participants may be cancelled, with 5 days’ notice given to those who had enrolled.

You will be notified by email if this happens, unless you would like us to text you instead, but please let us know.
A refund for the full course value will then be made.
Please bare with us . This might take 5-10 days to come through.

Where is my course taking place ?

100 Colne Road Twickenham TW2 6QE. map ref

WHAT3WORDS : location kind.cook.honest

What is your refund policy?

All of our longer courses are exchangeable up until 28 days prior to the start of the course. After this, you are able to change your booking to a different course for a £20 admin fee. Please note that from 14 days prior to the start of the course, your booking is non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

Our refund policy is strict because it enables us to pay ourselves and our tutors a fair wage, and remain accessible as a studio.
Every time we are asked to to accommodate a refund request, we would be forced to lower our staff wages or increase our prices – both of which we really want to avoid. We hope you understand that this is why there are no exemptions to our refund policies.

What if the course is cancelled by Colne Road Studios ?