Two 8-week overlapping courses in acrylics have recently been conducted at the Coach House by the award-winning Kristal del Villar. One course on Thursday mornings, the other on Saturday mornings.

As I attended one of these courses (a rank beginner but due to Kristal's unerring good humour, never an outsider) I'm making a brief note here about the course content and outcomes.      

There's a strong hands-on orientation to Kristal's approach. On those occasions where she does address the class as a whole, she's actually demonstrating a painting technique like the use of coloured glazes, the benefits of impasto, or broken brushstrokes. Over the 24 hours of classroom time, plus self-administered homework, I finished six smallish colour works, which was pretty much average for the class.

The Thursday class in action.

Kristal's skills engage all aspects of using acrylics. Colour considerations, brush selection, paint additives like gel medium and impasto, all of which she actively demonstrates. All this is delivered in a user-friendly style. You gotta problem, Kristal's gotta solution.  She has the advantage of succinct and audible speech patterns, as opposed to the mumbled non-sequiturs we are all subjected to in daily life.

A classrom work by course member Salwa Woodroffe

Each weekly class brought forth a printed handout of content description, together with examples of successful painters' work to reinforce the message. The cost of printing-ink must have gouged deeply into Kristal's $250 per student fee. Good value when measured in terms of the variety of techniques taught, problems resolved, and the outcome (in my case at least) of wanting to pursue an acrylic methodology using the available wide-ranging techniques and applications. 

- Len King