The Secrets of Trompe L’Oeil Painting

This online workshop is geared towards oil painters looking for ways to create more convincing still-life paintings and to paint objects more realistically in their portraits and landscape paintings.

Trompe l’oeil (French for “deceive the eye”) is a deliberate artistic strategy to paint objects with such precise realism that the viewer momentarily believes they are real, physical items rather than painted representations. This intent to fool the viewer is what distinguishes trompe l’oeil from ordinary representational painting.

In this six-part online workshop, we’ll study a number of techniques to create the illusion of 3D space. Mining examples from art history, we’ll explore strong directional lighting, shallow depths of field, shadow shapes and edges, materials and textures of everyday objects, and the fundamental aspects of colour: hue, value, and chroma.

Students will work on their own small trompe l’oeil projects, rendering textures, shadows, edges, and surfaces with meticulous precision to mimic real objects.

Workshop Dates and Times: Thursdays 2-4 pm ET, starting Thursday, June 18 and ending Thursday, July 23.

Format: The course will be conducted on the Zoom platform and is a live online experience. Sessions will be recorded for viewing later.  Students will work on a weekly assignment outside of class time and will submit images for critique in the following session. 

Is this class for me? This workshop is geared towards intermediate-level oil painters. The lessons that touch on art history, composition, colour theory, and optical illusions will be relevant to artists who work in other media as well. 

Location: on Zoom

Limit: 8 students

Application Deadline: Please register with Alan by June 11th. 

Cost: $350 per person. $300 for FCA Toronto members.

Contact information:  For more information and a detailed course outline, write to Alan directly at [email protected].