A Story about My Painting Journey, About this Program, and If it is Right for You.
Course requirements
- a wall and nearby table
- ability to purchase basic or needed art supplies
- Access to a computer, iPad or cell phone if attending live sessions
- If you are unhappy with your purchase you can have a total refund within seven days.
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Acrylic painters also welcome
What You'll Learn
Painting Architecture
Learn the different layering techniques of historical and contemporary approaches.
Glazing and Layering
Months 2 & 3
- Opacity and Transparency
- glazing
- drapery
still life
Solvent-Free Checklist
Ideal Materials Review
Learning about the materiality and magic of pigments and oils will make you a better artist.
Program Includes
Small Groups, Great Community
Most workshops are mind-numbing videos and lessons. This is different. Work personally with the Instructor and meet regularly with other artists. Private forum to post works in progress.
Work At Your Own Pace
After the first twelve weeks, you will automatically receive these modules as a part of the Advanced Painting Program
- Portraiture
- Landscape
- Tableau
- Color theory
Technique - Assignments in graduating layers of complexity
If you are already an experienced painter and wish to apply, you can do so here.
Student Spotlight & Testimonial
I met Abbey at Otis in 2019 she was working as a graphic designer. Abbey took Oil Painting Fluency and Flow multiple times, and then the Masterclass: Build A Body of Work
""Kimberly Brooks is an incredible painter and instructor...She breaks down the palettes from our favorite historical painters and easily connect the dots to create our own masterpieces.Through her live-streamed studio visits and own experiences, she shares insight on how to stand out in a crowded field. My knowledge about the contemporary art scene went from 0-60 throughout the course. What I found most important was her information on safe practices and encouragement to remove toxins from oil painting. In the process, I joined a network of artists locally and globally.
- Abbey Golden, Los Angeles
More Testimonials
-Kara C. Olympia, WA
This program exceeded my expectations in so many ways. I loved that the lectures incorporated subjects beyond the kind of tutorials one can easily find on YouTube. Brooks talks about imposter syndrome, the creative process, how to be an artist, spontaneity vs. planning, etc.--all crucial topics. The lectures also covered how to make a painting from start to finish, something that is hard to find elsewhere. I also loved how the lectures incorporated the instructor’s and other artists' work, sometimes exposing me to artists I had never seen before. The weekly live critique sessions were really beyond my expectations. I felt a real sense of community and sharing and a connection to the "real" art world which included videos shared of exhibitions, fairs, and studio visits.
Carrie M., Sculptor, MI
I knew that I was signing up to learn oil painting technique, but really had no idea I would be getting so much more. Besides being a phenomenal artist, Kimberly knows how to teach! She is a warm, funny, and gregarious person who draws you in and makes you feel welcome. She has created an environment that encourages students to be so supportive of one another. I really value her critiques, suggestions, and insider tips. She has a seemingly endless supply of examples of contemporary and traditional artists in her head to draw upon at a moment's notice. The course material is presented logically and thoroughly, and is peppered with videos, studio visits, and images that lend interest and context to the lectures. The assignments are interesting and challenging. I feel so lucky to have found this course.
Allison Michaela, Australia
As a mixed media artist I am more familiar with drawing materials and a beginner in the medium of oil paint. Kimberly’s unique online course has been more impactful to me than any class I’ve taken in person. She makes you feel like you are right at the heart of the art world, in dialogue with both contemporary painters and the ever present old masters. Although her course is rich with technical insights, Kimberly doesn’t deliver this information in isolation of artistic and compositional considerations. Refreshingly she merges both dynamics with the engaging imagery of a storyteller.
It was easy to forget that Kimberly was practically on the opposite side of the world from me. She has a warm personality and makes you feel that you’ve been talking about art together for years. She is filled with an energy and enthusiasm for creativity that is as infectious as her enquiring mind. You’ll also be delighted by her sense of humour.
Astrid C. New York, NY
I came into the class after vowing to never paint in oil again because of my chronic migraines. I had just finished an uninspired commission, and was exhausted, dispirited, and sick with COVID (it turned out). After 25 years of oil painting I felt creatively spent. I was telling all this to a painter friend who asked offhandedly “do use a lot of solvents?” (I used OMS like a water colorist). She suggested the book The New Oil Painting. I read it in one sitting and then saw that you gave workshops.
The lectures and live sessions have been transformative and reinvigorates my passion for art-making. Your unique voice in teaching, and your approach to working with the materials gives me permission to explore with a kind of knowledge that was previously hidden to me. I feel as though I’m in some kind of hidden alchemical mystery school.
This is, hands down, the most informative program I’ve taken in oil painting. The amount of material covered in the lectures is incredible generous as is the time you give to each student in the live sessions and in your office hours. I watch the lectures on color and painting architecture over and over. Other classes I’ve taken are more geared toward plein air painting or the business side of art, which is fine but not where I’m at.
"Learning to See"
A defining moment of my childhood was reading the classic book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. It taught me how to draw by teaching me how to see. Objects became lines instead of what the mind’s logic was telling me. After reading it I couldn’t stop drawing.
This class is the equivalent for the elusive art of oil painting. I learned to “see” paintings. To see in forms instead of just lines. To see in three dimensions. To see in layers. Most importantly, I began to see my own potential as a painter if I continued the journey. That is something money can rarely buy.
- Anne H. LA
This program is absolutely amazing, like a very strong foundation that you can build your wildest oil painting practice on. It is everything you wanted to know about oil painting but were afraid to ask, um varnishing anyone, glazing? Kimberly generously shares all the knowledge she built over the years, so you don’t have to spend years making mistakes to gain it. Surfaces, materials, brushes, tips on how to build up a painting, history of pigments - all covered. Interviews with working contemporary artists are inspiring and energizing, it makes “being an artist” very tangible and real. Plus live sessions with critiques - just love it.
It is really puzzling that the fundamental pillars of oil painting are no longer taught well. I don’t know if I had been very unlucky but a number of painting courses I took in college taught me very little. I’ve had a couple of books on oil painting but none of them addressed safety at all, which led me to painting in my bedroom with jar of turpentine open for days - I slept breathing it in! Never again.
Lenna F., OR
Laura P., NY
“The more you have going on the more you will learn about the civilization that exists within you” - KB.
I now rely less on copying my source material and more on working out larger paintings with smaller maquettes. Also, working on several paintings at the same time is crucial to allowing one’s creativity to flow.
Kimberly’s lessons on the architecture of a painting have forever changed the way I work, think about and view works of art. I have been painting 8-10 years and from this class I have learned so much practical information that I can actually use. My experience of NYC art schools is really that you are on your own to figure things out.
About Kimberly Brooks
Kimberly Brooks is a contemporary artist who exhibits internationally. She is the author of the best-selling book The New Oil Painting. For years Brooks taught at traditional in-person institutions The Anderson Ranch Art Center, and the Otis School of Art and Design until the pandemic when she brought her curriculum online and started teaching artists internationally. She is the host of FirstPersonArtist. You can learn more about her and her work at her website
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Get The Best-Selling Handbook
This book is the perfect campanion to this workshop. According to Booklist's starred Review:
“This is no ordinary how-to-paint book. Instead, artist Brooks assumes readers have mastered the rudiments of the art and focuses on the composition of materials required for painting, such as solvents like turpentine (which, in her opinion, are to be avoided) as well as everything else comprising the paint environment.”
Regularly in the top 10 best-selling books for oil painting on Amazon