Painting Directly: The Spirit of Alla Prima - Gus Hoffman

“Alla Prima” meaning “first attempt” in Italian is a painting technique that requires artists to work the entire surface all at once, employing a “wet on wet” strategy where fresh paint is applied directly onto wet paint. The artist must work quickly and confidently and finish the entire painting (or large sections of the painting) in one session before the paint dries. From Rembrandt to Jonathan Singer Sargent to Henri Matisse to Willem DeKooning, Alla Prima painting has been used by prominent artists for hundreds of years. In this course, we will study different Alla Prima paintings and painters and discuss the  pitfalls, challenges, and joys that working in the spirit of Alla Prima evokes.  

Please note that students are not required to work in oil paint or a specific medium. The main objective of this course is to develop new techniques that allow us to work more directly, instinctively, and confidently. Students are encouraged to think of Alla Prima painting as more an attitude or frame of mind and less a step by step process.

Prerequisite: Some painting experience is preferred

A Note on Materials: While the instructor will be working in Flashe and Acrylic for this course, students should work in whatever painting medium they are most comfortable with.  If students have questions about any of the materials on this list please feel free to email the instructor at: gus.hoffman@gmail.com    

Surface: Students are encouraged to work on whatever material they are most comfortable with. That said, the  painting surfaces listed below are a good place to start:  

-Primed panels

-Canvas

- Arches oil paper or a heavy duty water color paper

-Small notebook for sketching

Sample palette:

-Cad Red Medium

-Cad Yellow Medium

-Lemon Yellow

-Yellow Ochre

-Alizarin Crimson

-Violet

-Ultramarine Blue

-Cobalt

-Terre Verte

-Emerald Green  

-Ivory Black

-White