Abstract Painting

This course will guide you to make resolved abstract pieces of art over the period of 10 weeks.

Through analysing abstract painters, individual practice and demonstrations, you will explore the fundamental approaches to abstract painting, such as: colour, line, scale and texture. Working from photographs, objects and memory, you will be able to develop your own unique visual language and style in a fun and contemporary way.

This course is suitable for all skills, from absolute beginners to intermediate and to advanced painters.

Materials Required:

* There’s no need to buy expensive materials, unless you want to. The lessons will focus on explorations of different techniques as well as learning to work with any materials that you’ll bring with you. 

Acrylic Paint

Any type of -

- Red

- Blue

- Yellow

- White

- Black

+ Optional : If you are able to, bring a few additional brighter/ neon colours like purples, pinks, greens, oranges, etc.

Brushes

You will need a range of different sizes: artist quality painting brushes or decorating/ wall-painting brushes (or even rollers). You can find an assortment of brushes reasonably priced in DIY stores.

Surfaces

- Watercolour paper

- Acrylic paper

- Thick card paper

Canvases

Like the other materials, you can spend as little or as much on canvases. You can bring as little or as big canvas as you want.

Drawing materials

- Charcoal (willow or compressed or both)

- Pastels

- Chalks/ Soft pastels

- Different kind of pencils (coloured and/ or not)

+ Optional : any kind of markers (acrylic/ permanent)

Studio materials

- Apron or old jumper/ shirt

- Plastic spray bottle

- Rags/ dish cloth/ kitchen or blue roll

- Gloves

- Plastic containers (for mixing paint)

- Baby wipes

* You can bring other materials that you think you would like to try out, even if they are not mentioned in the list.

* Please do not bring any spray paint or oil paint.

The best places to check for materials would be:

- Poundland (they have a range of materials, from their own branded stuff to Student Grade Daler Rowney).

- Søstrene Grene (in Ann Street in Belfast City Centre)

- The Works

- The Range

- Bradbury Art

- Hobby Craft

- Home Bargains

- B&M

About the Tutor

Juste Bernotaite is a Lithuanian contemporary artist based in Belfast.

After graduating from Belfast School of Art in 2021, with BA (Hons) Fine Art, she assumed the role of artist in residence the following year. Since then, Juste continues exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions.

Juste’s practice combines exploration of the history of her motherland as well as her personal experiences growing up there. Mainly working with figures and landscape in her work, she uses textured surfaces and works in the mediums of oil paint, pigments, charcoal, ink and acrylic paint.

You can see more of Juste’s work here - justebernotaiteart.weebly.com