Urban Scene Painting in Acrylics - Mansfield Central Library - Adult Learning

The Urban Scene painting course guides you through the process of creating an expressive cityscape composition in acrylics, with tuition provided through a mixture of demonstrations and exercises according to your needs. The course will help you to develop a personal painting style and to explore the boundaries between representation and abstraction. With practical advice on colour mixing, techniques and exploring composition ideas, learners will approach In this one-day workshop, you will explore how to create a vibrant and expressive urban scene using acrylic paints.

Designed for all skill levels, the session focuses on simplifying complex cityscapes into manageable shapes while capturing the unique energy, structure, and atmosphere of urban environments.

Key areas of teaching include:

• Compositional planning: Learners will begin by selecting or being provided with a reference image and will learn how to simplify buildings, streets, and urban elements into strong, clear shapes.

• Basic sketching techniques will be taught to establish a well-balanced layout.

• Perspective and structure: The tutor will demonstrate how to apply one-point and two-point perspective to give depth and realism to architectural elements such as roads, rooftops, and facades.

• Colour mixing and mood: Learners will explore how to mix a range of urban colour palettes—grays, neutrals, and pops of vibrant colour—to reflect different times of day, weather conditions, or moods.

• Acrylic techniques: Practical instruction will be given in acrylic layering, glazing, dry brushing, and using contrast to build texture and detail in materials like brick, concrete, windows, and sky.

• Capturing atmosphere: The workshop will cover how to use light, shadow, and scale to suggest movement, time of day, or urban life—even in simplified or stylised ways.

What you will need to bring to the course:

An A4 acrylic/watercolour/mixed-media sketching pad

A4 canvas

acrylic white gesso

a range of synthetic paint brushes

acrylic paint (student grade):

- Red (Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red)

- Yellow (Lemon and Cadmiun Yellow)

- Blue (Ultramarine, and Cerulean)

- Titanium white