During the summer, I had the chance to paint at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Brno University of Technology, and it was incredibly rewarding. The course is open to the public and takes place every year – you just have to make sure you don’t miss the application deadline.
On the FaVU VUT website, in the "For the Public" section, you’ll find a link to "Summer Schools and Courses." This year, they offered a wide range of options. Although I knew painting was the right choice for me, I would have happily signed up for other courses too (if I had more time, considering my daughter Laura). Besides painting, the faculty also offered classes in digital illustration, sculpture, watercolor, and even body design.
The Summer Painting School lasted for three days, and in a group of around ten students, we practiced study painting with tempera and then moved on to final creations in oil paint. We painted standing at easels on pre-gessoed hardboard panels. The course was led by doc. MgA. Vasil Artamonov, with assistance from student Helena Ticháčková.
I really appreciated working with oil paints. In my own work on canvas, I typically use acrylics, but I definitely plan to explore oils once I move from an apartment to a house with a bigger studio. With oil paints, you need to use turpentine, which isn’t very practical in a smaller space – especially if you have a young child around. Oils also take much longer to dry, sometimes even half a year, which is just not realistic in a small apartment.
Still, after the course, I’m completely excited about working with oils in the future. We used the brand UMTON, and I can’t wait to dive in deeper.
On the first day, we painted a still life. Each participant had their own easel and palette, and there were shared paints and brushes available on the common table. The instructor emphasized capturing the essence of the still life, encouraging us to focus on warm versus cool areas and on dark versus light surfaces. It wasn’t crucial for the final painting to look exactly like the subject we were observing.
On the second day, we began working on a portrait from a live model – the instructor’s assistant.
Docent Artamonov regularly walked around to check on all participants, giving everyone helpful feedback on how to improve their painting and what to focus on. On the third day, we had an interesting discussion about practical aspects related not only to painting but also to studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts.
For me, it was a great three days, and I definitely recommend it to anyone – whether you’re just starting out with painting or already have some experience. The course cost was 3,000 CZK.
Simona