We are pleased to announce our first Miniature Masterclass, an immersive week-long programme, ideal for those seeking to elevate their understanding of Indian Miniature painting techniques and tools, and join a community of experts with diverse experience and insights.

There is still time to register for The Flemish Technique: Painting Breughel's 'Tower of Babel' in Egg Tempera & Oil Paint course with Dr David Cranswick, starting on 31st March 2025.

If you missed last week's talk "Beauty Prepares us for Eternity" by Dr Martin Shaw, you can catch up now over on our Youtube channel. https://t.co/phEkr38IHn

Join our course to explore 17th-century Dutch flower paintings, then create your own with egg tempera on gesso. Learn layering, fine brushwork, dry brush, and glazing techniques to bring your painting to life. https://t.co/OIOFEQwMvf

Cosmatesque ornament is a style of geometric inlay stonework from Medieval Italy. This course will take inspiration from the tutor’s ongoing on-site research at different locations in the Eternal City and in its vicinity. https://t.co/wejx4UsS8U

This course provides an introduction to all aspects of traditional mosaic. By making two small mosaics, students will learn the principles with which Byzantine mosaics were designed and the techniques employed to realise them. https://t.co/W5q5EkTlWq

How did master illuminators paint the finely shaded golden motifs found in Ottoman manuscripts? Shading is achieved in a variety of ways. This intensive, hands-on course, will focus on the stippling or noktalama halkârî technique. https://t.co/mlnfQBy1eL

Starting Soon: Paint an icon of Our Lady of Aparecida, the principal patroness of Brazil.  Learn the dry brush technique, where thin strokes of paint are layered to create a result of luminosity. https://t.co/OYghoTlGUp

This course offers a deep-dive into drawing with metalpoint, including the preparation of materials such as tinted papers, supports and ground from bone ash. There will also be opportunity to try different stylus materials such as silver and gold. https://t.co/pRS4Q0xD7m

Highlights from the packed painting modules at the Yuan Centre in Suzhou China. Our students at the centre worked with tutor David Cranswick to understand the process of making pigment, colour theory, cosmology, and techniques for painting egg tempera and oil paint.

Take inspiration from Japan’s contemporary architectures and create a colour woodblock print. https://t.co/5Dd8YBW5Mc

This week, students are learning to make paint by hand. We began the lesson by grinding minerals. They then filtered the mixture to remove impurities before evaporating the remaining liquid. In the next session, they dyed silk fabric with roots and berries.

The students and staff of The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The School will be closed for the holidays from 23 December 2024 - 3 January 2025. Image: Josephine Richards, MA 2018

Our students are concentrating on the application of bole (red clay) and gold leaf, breathing life into the painting as they work. A student has stepped up the challenge and carved into the bole layer, creating feathered illuminated effect when the gold is applied over.

Another little preview of our upcoming Christmas market on 16 December. Pick up a book by our tutors and alumni: Tom Bree, Ameet Hindocha and the publishers Wooden Books will all be there with copies of their books. Perfect for perusing over the holidays.

Courses starting soon! Geometry Journeys: Craft + Architecture of Islamic Regions - Iran 22 Nov, 14:00 - 15:30  Ether: Angels, Divs and Demons – The Supernatural in Safavid Miniature Painting 25 - 29 Nov, 10:00 - 16:30 Painting a Garden of Paradise 25 - 29 Nov, 10:00 - 16:30

Create a gilded piece and learn about the necessary materials and processes behind the gilding. You will have the opportunity to apply your own gesso on a board, and explore various gold decoration techniques for your design. https://t.co/Od2MonYTzN

From our ongoing weekly Introduction to Painting in Egg Tempera course, students had the opportunity to apply their own gesso on a panel and the tutor demonstrated the use of egg white to secure the tracing line of the design.

A closer look to the parquetry course last week. The students chose between different shades of veneer for their design and cut them into the desired shape using a chisel. This was then applied onto the template using gum arabic, trimmed, and sanded down, and waxed to finish.

Our second year MA students organised a field trip exploring sites along the old pilgrimage path, going from St Dunstan's in the East to Westminster Abbey.