Join acclaimed oil painter Peter Smales for a hands-on masterclass focusing on composition and colour mixing.

Composition: the basic principles and strategies that can be applied to any painting subject and should be considered before starting.

Colour mixing: the basic artist’s palette requires only six colours: warm and cool of the three primary colours plus white.

Peter will demonstrate how any colour and tone value can be mixed using these six basic colours: Lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, cadmium red, alizarin crimson / quinacridone magenta, French ultramarine blue, Windsor blue green shade, and titanium white.

This masterclass will be held in our upstairs galleries alongside our 2025 VAS Autumn Select Exhibition. Observers are welcome!

Day one: Seascape in oils

Day two: Landscape in oils

Both days will open with a demonstration, before attendees will paint from a photo reference.

Attendees may copy Peter's painting, use the photo provided or work from a photo of their own. Peter will assist each student individually as they put into practice the aspects covered in the morning demonstration.

Materials list forthcoming!