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What next?
Painting Polytechnic differs from other online painting courses in important ways. Firstly, we provide parallel instruction to students who want to paint abstractly along with those wanting to paint in more traditional styles. Secondly, we love all styles of painting and provide an education that teaches you to learn from all of the different historical styles from across many cultures. Painting is a uniquely human expression; we teach you how to paint better and then we teach you how to critically think about the ideas, experiences and history that influences your artwork. Our coursework gives you the opportunity to develop both your skills and unique artistic voice.
Craft
The best way to become a good painter is to paint a lot. So, let’s get started.
When you think about it, there are only three characteristics to consider when creating a painting on a flat surface. They are the shapes of the applied paint, its color and its texture. With just those three considerations, you can create anything from a highly realistic Rembrandt styled painting to the vastly different abstractly styled paintings by Rothko. As you progress through the course, you learn to control each of those characteristics through several fun exercises, all the while creating many small paintings. Through quick exercises, you begin developing your skills as a painter working on color theory, mark-making (paint applicaton) and composition. Each lesson builds upon what was learned previously. After each lesson, you will have accomplished a small painting that you will be proud of and can use as a reference.
Ideas
When a painting moves you, it is rarely just because of the painter’s skill.
While that certainly helps, there is always a special quality in good art that is alluring. You have a reaction. That is what separates great art from the rest. The painter put something of themselves into the work that no other artist could have done. This is the hardest thing to learn and the most difficult to teach, and in fact, most online programs don’t teach it at all. Painting Polytechnic teaches you to develop, understand, and yes, even question your Ideas. Each lesson inspires new and unexpected ways of learning and provides examples that make you think, and make you feel differently about your own work. It is challenging, but oh so rewarding, when you begin to discover what motivates you to make art and how your ideas become manifest into beautiful paintings.
