Painting the Lotus in Mollington’s 4-Week Oil Course

Congratulations to all our students on completing Mollington’s latest 4-week oil painting course — and what an achievement it has been! In just four sessions, you created beautiful, expressive lotus-flower paintings, with several students using oil paint for the very first time. Your progress has been remarkable.

We began with a warm Burnt Sienna imprimatura, establishing a harmonious base. Using the grid method, everyone successfully scaled their drawing onto a larger 40×60 cm canvas, allowing space for finer detail and greater visual impact.

As always, we worked background to foreground, starting with soft, atmospheric backgrounds. Students explored their colour palettes while experimenting with brush techniques: synthetic brushes for application, goat-hair brushes for subtle blending, and a badger fan brush to remove marks and create a beautifully smooth finish.

From there, paint and colour were gradually layered. The first blocking-in stage focused on understanding colour relationships, keeping shapes simple and tones broad. Each subsequent layer added clarity, glow, reflections, and highlights — building precision bit by bit.

To all our students: your willingness to trust the process, embrace new techniques, and push through challenging moments has truly paid off. The results speak for themselves. We’re incredibly proud of what you’ve accomplished.

Thank you for attending, and we look forward to seeing you on the next course!