Painting Like an Impressionist - Beginners - Mansfield Woodhouse Library - Adult Learning

Mansfield Woodhouse Library, Mansfield Woodhouse

Date	15 April - 20 May 2026
Sessions	Wednesdays: 1pm - 3pm
No. sessions	6
Venue	Mansfield Woodhouse Library, Mansfield Woodhouse View venue details
For ages	19+
Group size	5 - 15
Cost	FREE - £60

About this course

Step into the vibrant world of Impressionism in this acrylic painting course inspired by the techniques and vision of artists like Monet, Renoir, and Pissarro. This course will guide you through the key principles of the Impressionist style—loose brushwork, luminous colour, and capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. You’ll explore how to simplify forms, mix bright, broken colour, and apply energetic brushstrokes to create lively and expressive paintings.

Working from photographic references, you'll develop an understanding of how Impressionist painters viewed the world, and how to bring that same freshness and spontaneity into your own work. Each session will focus on a specific theme such as light, reflections, colour harmony, or capturing movement. You’ll be encouraged to take creative risks, respond intuitively to your subject, and gradually build a more confident, personal painting style.

By the end of the course, learners will be able to:

- Sketch and plan compositions, simplifying subject matter for expressive interpretation in the Impressionist style.

- Mix at least five colour palettes, showing awareness of warm/cool contrast and colour harmony.

- Use brushwork to represent movement or changing light, in at least two different compositions

- Apply a minimum of three Impressionist techniques, such as broken colour, visible brushstrokes, and limited detail.

- Create one impressionist-style acrylic paintings, demonstrating an understanding of light, colour, and expressive brushwork.

- 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.

This course offers a creative and enjoyable way to develop your painting skills while connecting with the joyful, light-filled legacy of Impressionism.

What you will need to bring to the course:

Acrylic or watercolour paper A4 pad

white acrylic gesso

40x 50cm or A4 canvas

acrylic paint (Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Magenta, Cadmium Red, Titanium White)

synthetic brushes,

Booking your place and fee information

If you receive certain benefits you will be offered the course for free, however if you have a financial barrier which may prevent you from enrolling on the course, please visit our funding page for further information.

Residency in England

To book and enrol on one of our courses, you must be living in England permanently and live outside of the devolved areas listed below or live within the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) devolved area (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire).

Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Greater London
Greater Manchester
Liverpool City Region
Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland
Tees Valley
West of England
West Midlands
West Yorkshire

Residency Eligibility – other criteria

If you are living in the UK on a visa we will require evidence of this in order to be funded for the course, you can upload this evidence when you apply for the course. (completion of a questionnaire will be required).

Some exceptions may apply for example

Your visa expiry date must be beyond the end of your course
Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is being considered by the Home Office
You are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014