Revised & Updated for 2026 Introduction - Oil Painting Brushes A Beginner's Essential Guide Choosing brushes can feel overwhelming when you’re starting out. There are so many brands, shapes and sizes, and every beginner often wonders the same things: Which ones do [...]
Revised & Updated for 2026 Introduction - 5 Key Steps for Selecting Oil Paints Choosing oil paints can feel like stepping into a new language; rows of colours, unfamiliar labels, different brands, and a wide range of prices. Whether you’re just beginning or returning to painting [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners,* our 40th blog to date. Initially, I began this blog back in May 2024 to coincide with the National Gallery of Ireland’s exhibition Women Impressionists, which featured the works of four pioneering artists: Berthe Morisot, Mary [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners.* In this issue, we will be looking at Vincent Van Gogh, his evolution to becoming one of the world’s greatest artists and how his work was influenced by other artists, from the old masters like Millet, Rembrandt and [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners.* In this month’s issue we will be looking at ‘HOW TO MIX SKIN TONES’. This will be a quick beginner’s guide and introduction to the subject. We will be looking at a few simple skin tone colour mixes [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. * Many thanks again to ‘The Color Wheel Company’ who have very kindly granted us permission to use the front and rear images of their colour wheel which are perfect for this three-part oil painting blog:- Part 1 [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. * Many thanks again to ‘The Color Wheel Company’ who have very kindly granted us permission to use the front and rear images of their colour wheel which are perfect for this three-part oil painting blog:- Part 1 [...]
Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. * Apologies, we had promised this blog a few months back, but we were having trouble with the initial design illustrations, so we reached out to ‘The Color Wheel Company’ who have very kindly granted us permission to [...]
Welcome to this month’s blog on Pastel Drawing – A Beginner’s Guide. * This Pastel Blog is to coincide with our new pastel drawing workshops we introduced before Christmas. They are half-day workshops, with all materials supplied for the session and they will take place once a month, [...]
Introduction to the Art of Colour Mixing Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. * The art of colour mixing, is a complex process. For the Beginner artist, it can be a difficult and mysterious skill to master. However, within this issue, we hope to remove [...]
Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners, An Artists Stroll Around Dublin's Art Galleries * With summer officially underway, I thought you might like to follow me on my favourite Saturday morning stroll around Dublin’s art galleries. Now, given that the studio is working at full [...]
Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. [*] In celebration of International Women’s Day and following our theme of ‘the Irish Artist’, this month we are taking a helicopter view of two of our twentieth century Women Irish Artists, including one of my absolute favourites, Mary [...]
Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners, our first for 2023. This month in the spirit of the overwhelming success of ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’, we had to look at the life and artwork of Paul Henry, another artist who helped make the Irish cottage and [...]
Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog for Beginners. Last month, I promised to write another blog on the history of landscape painting and its artists. However, after seeing The Mary and Ben Dunne Collection – An exhibition of Exceptional Irish Art in Gormley’s art gallery, I’ve decided [...]
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to September’s Oil Painting Blog. We are delighted to be back after such an amazing Summer. We have a jam-packed series of blogs ready and waiting to be released to you each month as we roll on into the Autumn / Winter including a fabulous [...]
Cubism Introduction Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog. * Last month, we looked at Post-Impressionism and artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne. This month, we will be focusing on another key artist movement – Cubism. I think this is a natural progression, given that, it [...]
Welcome, to this month’s Oil Painting Blog! So, Easter has come and gone, and now we are heading for the May and June Bank Holidays. I don’t know about you, but this year is flying! I’m looking forward to the first two weeks in May, as, according to the [...]
Welcome to this month’s Oil Painting Blog! I hope everyone enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day and the long weekend. In the studio garden, we are weeding and preparing the beds for summer, and we will be adding a lot more structure to the garden this year. Last week, we [...]
INTRODUCTION Over the next few blog posts, we will be taking a beginners look at some of the key artist movements that have taken place since the 1600s. This month, we are looking at one of my favourite artist movements – Fauvism – or the [...]
INTRODUCTION – IS BLACK A COLOUR Happy new year from the art studio/gallery. Here’s hoping that you all have an amazing 2022 and that you may find time to join us here at the art school on an oil painting workshop or on Merrion Square for a [...]
