Expressive Portrait Painting - Advanced - Mansfield Woodhouse Library - Adult Learning

Unleash your inner artist as you create stunning contemporary portraits, capturing the essence and personality of your subjects. This course shows you how working quickly and pushing false colours can add impact to a portrait. Over a series of structured sessions, you'll develop your understanding of facial structure, colour theory, and acrylic techniques—then push those foundations into expressive, personal territory. Through guided exercises, live demonstrations, and individual feedback, you’ll learn to use bold brushstrokes, unexpected colour palettes, and experimental textures to communicate mood, identity, and emotion in your portraits. You will be taught the spontaneity of mark making and an instinctive approach to colour and tone to achieve an expressive portraiture painting in acrylic.

By the end of the course, each participant will complete a powerful, expressive portrait that reflects their unique interpretation and style.

- Practice fundamentals of facial structure and proportions

- Apply techniques for expressive mark-making and dynamic brushwork

- Use acrylic mediums and colour to build texture and depth

- Developing a personal visual language in portraiture

- Apply principles of light and shadow in portraiture.

- Develop and implement a marketing plan using at least 3 different channels (e.g., social media, email marketing, and local events) to promote their products.

What you will need to bring to the course:

Acrylic paper/sketch pad

A4 canvas

white gesso

a range of synthetic paint brushes

photo reference

acrylic paint (student grade):

- Red (Magenta, Cadmium Red)

- Yellow (Lemon and Cadmiun Yellow)

- Blue (Ultramarine, and Cerulean)

- Titanium white