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How Paint Works — The Art of Thinking in Paint To mark the start of a new Advanced Oils year — and once again all our long standing TOP and AO members, it’s wonderful to have you with us again. Each new year brings a fresh opportunity to grow as painters: to reset, rethink, and reconnect with why we paint at all. Painting remains one of the most extraordinary spaces we can step into — at once deeply personal, wonderfully creative, and part of one of the oldest and most r

Advanced Oils Newsletter This November will be a great start to our new Advanced Oils year. The standard of work coming through from the last cycle has been outstanding—ambitious, experimental, and increasingly confident in both design and execution. You’ve moved from building foundations to shaping language: learning not just to apply paint, but to speak through it . This month’s project, The Unquiet Sea , continues that trajectory. Painting the sea has always been a paradox

A New Step Forward: Advanced Mentoring At the Studio we’re always evolving — listening to you, refining our courses, and finding new ways to support your development. One theme that has come through again and again is the desire for creative mentoring : a chance to discuss your own original work more personally, reflect on its direction, and receive guidance that builds upon your existing technical foundation. We know that many of you would like to explore this — not as anoth

Are you a member of an Art Society? would you like Martin to come and talk to your Group? Following Martin's life changing year at the Royal College of Art he has been invited back to deliver a series of lectures to the current cohort - a huge honour and he is truly delighted to be asked . On our long drive between family in Norfolk and home in Yorkshire we wondered if any of our loyal students who are members of an Art Society would like Martin to visit and deliver the Anato

Join us for one to one studio days, recurring days and mini residencies The single most focused way to move your painting forward is...

This isn’t a casual course. It’s selective, intensive, and designed for painters who are serious about their work. Why the Contemporary...

Autumn Light - is there a more inspirational time of year? As the slower pace of summer gives way to autumn, there’s no better time to...

Flora Yunkovich inspired and transforned by Watteau Why the Best Contemporary Artists Look Back to Move Forward By Martin Kinnear Studio...

Art fairs are important art ecosystem escalators. Why Where You Paint Matters as Much as What You Paint By Martin Kinnear Studio In the...

Creating Reliable Painting Supports for Expressive Work Good results start before you paint - make the right ground A Deep Dive into Oil...

Why “paint what you see” might be the worst advice you’ll ever follow. All figural painting is also Abstraction Advanced Oils – Flat...

Martin's work being hung in London for the RCA 2025 show. Learn with a practicing painter. How Would Our Diploma in Oil Painting Work...

Why Free Art Content Isn’t the Answer — and What You Should Do Instead A recent 2 part demo for The Oils Program - all two hours fully...

Arsenic Green : if books could kill... Why Ancient Colours Aren’t Always Better (and Modern Ones Aren’t Always Worse) By Martin Kinnear...

Learn with an exhibiting artist Martin Kinnear RCA A Painter’s Guide to Length, Grounds & Mediums If you're feeling unsure about how oil...

Half Lit Edge. Oil on canvas 50x50 CM. 2025. Martin’s Big News: Green & Stone Open 2025 Shortlist We’re thrilled to announce that one of...

The Essentials for Confident Colour Mixing When starting out in oils, it’s easy to assume that more colours mean more creative freedom....

A blog from the Martin Kinnear Studio Atlantic Psalm. Direct oil on canvas 48x36" 2025. Let’s start with the obvious: the sea is...

PRIMER: A space for your painting practice Whether you're navigating your undergraduate studies, stepping into postgraduate research, or...

When a painting captures your attention in a gallery—whether instantly or subtly—chances are, it’s working with some foundational principles. Let’s look at a few of the most important ones.