the Price of Oil Pastel Painting Classes

I found a cute little art gallery down the street from my houes that offered Oil Painting and Pastel Classes. I was thrilled when I found out that they would include all materials but the brushes, pre-mixed specialty colors, and offered discounted canvases with their classes. The class itself taught me how to stretch my own canvases, work with pastels on their own and mixed with other media, how to apply oil paint to canvas, how to care for oil paintings and brushes, the best brushes to use with oil paint, how to find a market to sell/ display your works, and how to communicate ideas effectively through mixed media.

This is one of the most informative classes that I have ever taken. When I found out that the gallery just down the street was teaching classes, I had no idea what the going rate for classes were. Though the caliber of the class was well worth the extra five dollars a session, I found after joining the class that most painting classes of similar length were usually around $35-$40. Most of those classes, however, did not supply any materials at all and didn't include canvas building as part of the subject or marketing ideas. Overall, I think the generic painting techniques class is a little less expensive, but if you're looking for high quality and want to learn as much as possible about the subject, a few extra dollars go a long way.

This is where paying by the session really is a good feature. Do shop around, don't sign up for tons of sessions at once. Go to one session to determine if it is what you're looking for and then continue with more (usually offered at a discounted rate for several sessions) if you like the teacher and the information provided. These classes are hard to find and good quality ones will likely be found at local Continuing Education programs through colleges or hosted in private art galleries.