Casa Rosa Art is delighted to host a week long portrait Masterclass with Andrew James, a talented artist and teacher.
What a wonderful opportunity to spend a spring week in Andalucia enjoying the comfort, food and company with Rosie and Kate and other portrait enthusiasts. Andy is one of the finest portrait artists in Britain, and very good company.
Andrew is a member of the New English Art Club and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. He has published a number of books and DVDs about portrait painting, and taught in various venues in the United Kingdom and Europe. He is a worthy winner of many prestigious prizes throughout his career
- Tutor, Andrew James,
- 9th – 16th March, 2025
- £2,580 single occupancy, full board, tuition
- £2,100 shared occupancy, full board, tuition
- £1,550 shared occupancy, no tuition.
- Taxi to and from the airport is included if you arrive at Malaga Airport by the time suggested.
- Some experience is helpful. Help will be given.
What to expect on Andrew James’ Portrait Masterclass
This course is designed to help students build and refine their portrait drawing and painting skills.
Whilst looking to further develop use of oil paint, graphite, and charcoal, you will also improve your observational skills. There will be a strong emphasis on generating expression in your work. This will lead to more powerful communication in portrait painting.
Topics covered:
- The structural understanding and drawing of the head and face
- Painting from observation: students will learn how to analyse and translate form into colour
- How to mix and apply paint in a more expressive manner
By the end of this course you will have a greater facility with oil paint as an expressive medium. An improved set of observational skills will enable a more successful ability to record the structure of the head and face, so achieving greater likeness. The exercises during the course will help you to have a better informed use of colour and tone, and stronger drawing skills.
MATERIALS
Please bring the following with you to the Masterclass. Easels, drawing boards and tables will be available at Casa Rosa.
- Oil paints (ideally artist quality) Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber
- Brushes: assorted sizes of bristle brushes, including filberts, rounds and flats
- Solid Palette
- Palette knife
- Old rags
- Canvas – 3 x canvases, 2 of 14″ x 10″ and 1 of 20″ x 16″
- Sansodor or Zest It.
- A2 cartridge drawing pad
- All drawing materials (to include pencils, rubbers, charcoal, tape, sharpener etc.)
Andrew James
for more information visit Andrew’s website: https://andrewjamesartist.co.uk/#about
About Andrew
Andrew James is based in Royal Tunbridge Wells. He is a highly sought after artist. He has worked on many prestigious commissions of public figures. Wonderfully passionate, Andrew is renowned for capturing an amazing likeness of his subjects. He also conveys their energy through his sumptuously rigorous and painterly approach.
You can discover more about Andrew at the NEAC (New English Art Club) and RP (Royal Society of Portrait Painter) websites.
Exhibitions
- 2024 The Heart has its Reasons, Three Artists in Conversation, Highgate, London
- 2013 Contemptible Subjects and Other Things of Interest, Menier Gallery, London
- 2006 Ashton Reloaded, Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, Kent
- 2003 Mall Galleries, London
- 2003 Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
- 2002 Nick Whistler Fine Art, Battle, East Sussex
- 2001 Intrinsic Values – Joint Exhibition with Paul James, Ramsgate Library Gallery, Kent
Selected Group
- 2013/15 Ruth Borchard Portrait Prize, Kings Place, London
- 2002-2007 Nick Whistler Fine Art, Battle, East Sussex
- Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries London. Annually
- New English Art Club, Mall Galleries, London. Annually
- RP/BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
Awards
- Carroll Foundation Award, RP
- Changing Faces Award, RP
- Ondaatje Award RP
- The Portrait Award RSBA
- Winner of Star Portraits BBC TV
- Elected a member of the NEAC 2017
- Elected a member of the RP 2002
from Andrew James’ Artist statement on NEAC website
For me the act of painting is the materialised embodiment of my experience of life itself: be it in the process of making it, the finding of value in it, accepting its inherent mysteries, these and other thoughts seem the perfect expression of my personal sensibilities and connections to the world around and within me. I seek the goal of a poetic compression of my emotional life through a heightened expression of colour, texture, pattern and rhythm. Intensity of mark making as well as infinite care in establishing value relationships marks the two extremes of my artistic and personal characters.
Using primarily oil paint, I work with broad, very direct, freely-applied gestural marks, through to finely modulated colour relationships – seeking a wide spectrum of painterly qualities. Whether work is large or small I establish major values, looking to subsequently model and create successful relationships without losing large structural forms. I paint with brush and palette knife, using the knife to subtract as much as to apply. I try to place stress on much of the paint through taught, scraped, pulled marking; rarely allowing any areas to go unworked or unstressed, a quality on energised density is very important to me. Colour saturation as well as tone and temperature have become ever more important as time has gone on. Paintings can take anything from 2 hours to 200 hours.