London Fine Arts

Tickets to our July Portrait Sculpture course are now live!

Beginning with copying plasters casts before moving on to sculpting from a portrait model, students will learn how to hand clay, checking planes and proportions using caliphers and comparative measurements. Suitable for all levels.

This course can be taken as a one week course, or alongside other July courses.

Link in bio.

Half term challenge!

Over the next week, see if you can do a master copy of a painting of your choosing. Here is a beautiful portrait by de Laszlo for some inspiration.

Make sure to tag us in your finished works.

Philip Alexius de Laszlo, Portrait of Miss Faith Moore Seated, 1907
Oil On Canvas.

Daniela Astone will be back at the end of March to teach a sight-size figure workshop at the Studios.

This is one of her demonstrations from the last time she was with us.

Daniela trained at the Florence Academy of Art, where she became principle teacher and director,
before focusing on her work and exhibiting internationally.

Tickets can be bought through the link in our bio.

This is the last week to sign up for ’s Portrait Workshop! There are a very limited number of tickets available for the course.

Monday 17th - Friday 21st February. Book through the link in our bio.

Interested in learning how to draw and paint from life? We have a tempting selection of short courses available alongside term time study…

You can find out more about what’s available through the link in our bio.

This Cast Drawing demonstration was made by tutor during one of our classes last term.

Join us this March for Daniela Astone’s sight-size figure workshop. Spaces are limited so book soon to avoid missing out!

Students will benefit from live demonstrations before beginning painting themselves. Here are some shots of her demonstrations from her last time she was here.

More information can be found through the link in our bio.

Tutor ’s entry into the Self Portrait Competition we ran over Christmas. Can you tell Mancini is one of her favourite artists?

Congratulations to student Kiana for winning our Self Portrait Competition!

Well done to all who entered 🎉.

Which artists do you think inspired Kiana’s portrait?

✨ DANIELA ASTONE FIGURE WORKSHOP ✨

Monday 24th – Friday 28th March 2025

Over the workshop, students will work in charcoal, before being guided through the process of practicing a sight size oil painting.

Daniela will begin with a demonstration of the sight-size method, showing students how to map a simple visual impression. This will be followed by some shorter demonstrations focusing on colours and paint application.

Students will be taught different methods of approaching nature (dynamic, sight-size, comparative) to train the eye to view the subject with accuracy and reproduce it successfully.

The class will work on shorter poses during the first day, and the rest of the workshop will be spent working on two longer pose projects, focusing on structure, proportion, edge quality, light impression and atmosphere. Students will receive individual critiques.

Book through the link in bio.

A beautiful portrait study by tutor Cristina.

Painting from life, ’s portrait workshop takes you through the stages of beginning and completing a portrait.

Working on one project for the week, the course allows students to push their paintings - a real treat to spend so long on one painting.

The short course runs from the 17th February to 21st February. You can book through the link in bio.

Here are some photos from a previous workshop Luca ran with us.

We're very excited to announce that our six-session programme with is now live! Click the link in our bio for more information.

✍️ Drawing From Classical Sculpture

"Join us on this unique hands-on course that explores the artists and stories behind some of the greatest classical sculptures in the V&A’s Collections, while enhancing your practical drawing skills. Over six weeks, renowned art historians will introduce you to key themes in Renaissance Sculpture, including mythology, narrative, imagery and symbolism through a series of lectures and gallery tours. Following these sessions, tutors from London Fine Art Studios will guide you through various practical drawing exercises, using a range of mediums, showing you how to capture these sculptures in the classical style."

Cast drawing of the head from the Laocoon by @markchenart, showing the final drawing and an earlier stage.

As we await the results of our Studio Self Portrait Competition, here’s a fantastic self portrait by Zorn.

Anyone else jealous of his coat right now? ❄️

Anders Zorn, Self Portrait in a wolf fur coat, 1915, Museum of Anders Zorn, Mora, Sweden.

We’re excited to have back for our first visiting artist workshop of 2025.

By popular demand, Luca will be teaching a five day portrait courses 17th - 21st February.

Spaces are limited so book soon to avoid disappointment. Tickets can be bought through our website, or by emailing [email protected].

Whilst staff and students enjoy a well-earned break over Christmas, here is a painting by student Charlotte of her still life class.

Can anyone recognise what plaster casts are in the background?

oilpainting

Last night, tutors Cristina Vercesi and Toby Gawler won third and second prize respectively at the ROI paint off . Congratulations!

You can find Toby’s self portrait there too!

Students - hopefully you’ve seen that we’re running a self portrait competition over the Christmas holiday. Might you use this work as inspiration?

✨ Don’t forget that we’ve also got our Christmas Fair on this week. Running till 3pm on Saturday, it’s open to all and is the perfect chance to buy some Christmas presents.

Somehow tomorrow is the last day of the Autumn Term! From next week our term-time students will be off on holiday, but we've still got lots on before we pause for Christmas.

Next week we have the studio Christmas Fair running 10am - 6pm Tuesday 3rd - Friday 6th, and 11am-3pm on Saturday 7th. The perfect opportunity to do your Christmas shopping, there will be a range of goods available, from paintings to stickers, lampshades to clothing - and more in between!

This beautiful orange was painted by tutor as a demonstration for her still life class.

The 7th John Ruskin Prize Calls for Entries:
From the Eye to the Hand

• Open to: artists, designers and makers, worldwide.
• Theme: From the Eye to the Hand.
• Awards: £7,000 total, with a top prize of £3,000.
• Deadline: Monday 25 November 2024, 5pm GMT.
• Exhibition: Trinity Buoy Wharf in London, from 16 to 26 January 2025.
• Entry portal: https://new.artopps.co.uk/opportunities/johnruskinprize

The 7th John Ruskin Prize is now open for submissions, inviting artists, designers, and makers from around the world to participate.

With a theme of From the Eye to the Hand, this renowned art competition offers £7,000 in awards, including a top prize of £3,000. This year’s theme invites artists to consider the interplay between what we see and what we create in response.

The deadline for entries is Monday 25 November, 2024, at 5pm GMT.

The John Ruskin Prize aims to attract entries from a wide range of artists and makers celebrating creativity in all mediums, encompassing drawing, painting, print, sculpture, photography, textiles, animation, digital art, performance, installation, and mixed media art among others.

Up to 50 artists will be selected to show their work in an exhibition at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London from 16 to 26 January 2025. The winning artists will receive prizes totalling £7,000, and the awards will be announced on Wednesday 15 January, 2025.

Five winners will be chosen by the selection panel – to be announced soon – for the following prizes:
• 1st Prize, £3,000,
• 2nd Prize, £2,000,
• The Alan Davidson Under 26 Prize, £1,000,
• The International Prize, £1,000.

The John Ruskin Prize is open to international entries, allowing artists, designers, and makers working across the globe to participate and receive a dedicated prize, worth £1,000. Submissions for this category must be digital, as the judging will be conducted digitally, eliminating the need to ship physical artworks for exhibition.

Artworks in a diverse range of media are welcomed, including animation, ceramics, collage, digital art, drawing, glasswork, installation, metalwork, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textile, and typography, among others.

Entrants are invited to respond to the theme of The 7th John Ruskin Prize, From the Eye to the Hand, in their submissions. The theme is intentionally open to individual interpretation through work which recognises and reveals crucial relationship between the eye that truly sees and the hand which responds creatively to that sight.

The works can be recent creations or up to four years old, as long as they represent or interpret the theme. Individual artists, designers, and collectives are all eligible to apply.

Presented by The Guild of St. George and visual literacy charity The Big Draw, The John Ruskin Prize upholds the values of John Ruskin, the radical 19th-century writer, art critic, polymath, and advocate for art's power to reveal universal truths. This uniquely multi-disciplinary prize offers a platform for artists to explore and challenge artistic boundaries while honouring Ruskin's influential legacy of recognizing and supporting artists, designers, and makers who defy categorization and embrace interdisciplinary practices.

Submissions can be made through the online entry portal at https://artopps.co.uk/opportunities/johnruskinprize-24. Pricing tiers are available based on the number of artworks submitted, allowing artists to select the option that best reflects their creative vision.

John Ruskin Prize The selection panel will shortlist up to 40 artists and select work for inclusion in an exhibition titled ‘Seeing the Unseen, Hearing the Unspoken,’ currently scheduled for Trinity Buoy Wharf in London on 1-18 February 2024