When students have successfully progressed through the drawing stages of the curriculum, they are ready to begin painting casts. They begin painting casts in a monochromatic technique called grisaille (black and white), which is an excellent means of making the transition from drawing to painting in oil. When the grisaille work has been successfully completed, students begin their first color oil studies of simple and uncomplicated still life subjects. The palette is limited to just four basic colors: black, white, red and yellow. Not only does this keep things simple at the start, but also compels students to explore the surprisingly wide range of colors one can achieve with this very limited palette. Projects will increase in complexity until a student is considered ready for the final stage of the curriculum where they are introduced to a full color palette with all of its exciting challenges and nearly limitless potential.
Advanced students periodically have the unique opportunity of working literally side-by-side with their instructor as each of them creates his or her own painting from the same shared model or still life.
Examples of student Still Life paintings can be found in the Still Life Gallery.