Spend 4 evenings gearing up for your own summer wilderness adventure by studying an artwork painted by one of the pioneering Group of Seven artists. The Group of Seven artists were instrumental in helping to develop a uniquely Canadian art style that broke away from the status quo of Classical European landscape painting during Canada’s colonial infancy. The group were famous for capturing the essence of the rugged beauty of the vast and varied Canadian wilderness.

In this beginner’s oil painting course, participants will develop techniques in gestural landscape painting through the analysis of an artwork painted by one of the Gof7 artists.

Participants will begin their practice of creating the essence of a landscape feature using simple gestures and forms through paper collage, then through learning gestural oil painting techniques. Participants will study a work created by a Gof7 artist and create their own version of the same work. Participants will learn quick (plein air) sketching techniques, develop gestural painting techniques to express the essence of landscape forms, and breakdown the process of layering paint on a canvas to achieve a final landscape compositions using oils.