Oil and Cold Wax 4-day Masterclass with Paula Dunn

This four-day masterclass is the natural next step after the Advanced Oils and Cold Wax workshop. You’ll be challenged to work on a larger scale and take a more intentional approach to composition, layering, and surface development.

Under Paula’s guidance, you’ll create a diptych or triptych — an ideal format for scaling up your work while maintaining harmony across multiple panels. You’ll start by preparing your boards, learning how to build surfaces that enhance texture, depth, and colour resonance.

Working intuitively, you’ll explore colour mixing with a limited palette, transparent tints and glazes, and layer-building techniques that allow complex compositions to emerge organically. Demonstrations, technical insight, and one-to-one support will help you refine both your creative process and practical skills.

What You’ll Learn

· Prepare surfaces using Paula’s method for bonding professional oil paper to boards

· Create a cohesive diptych or triptych: either three 30 × 30 cm panels (30 × 90 cm total) or two 41 × 41 cm panels (41 × 82 cm total)

· Use transparent and opaque colours to create depth and atmosphere

· Develop transparent tints and glazes to unify and balance a painting

· Mix colours effectively within a limited palette

· Build rich, layered foundations using solvent reduction, texture tools, and mark-making

· Incorporate pigments, marble dust, and loose powders for tactile surfaces

· Experiment with masking and transfer techniques

· Embed materials for contrast and depth

· Solve compositional challenges through colour, value, contrast, and shape

· Learn how to finish your paintings for professional presentation

Is This Workshop for Me?

This masterclass is designed for artists who have previously attended the Advanced Oils and Cold Wax workshop (or have equivalent experience) and are ready to:

· Work on a larger scale

· Deepen their understanding of surface preparation and layering

· Push creative boundaries and refine their personal style

If you haven’t attended the advanced course before, please contact us to ensure this workshop is the right fit.

Paula Dunn is a Yorkshire-based landscape painter whose work is inspired by walking the land and the shifting effects of climate and weather. Working predominantly in oils and cold wax, she creates landscapes that hover between representation and abstraction, using texture, colour, and expressive mark-making to evoke mood and atmosphere.

Her paintings are held in private collections worldwide and feature in the award-winning anthology Waymaking. Paula shares her expertise through workshops, mentoring, and, in 2025, the publication of her debut book Atmospheric Landscapes: Using Oils and Cold Wax (Crowood Press), a practical guide to creating textured, atmospheric landscapes through intuitive, layered painting techniques.

All materials and tools are included in the price of the workshop. Please bring an apron or old shirt that you don’t mind getting paint on.

Please note: Some materials used during the workshop, including the paper, are not vegan and cannot be substituted.

Workshops are held at The Craft House in Bingley, West Yorkshire, where Paula also has her studio. Bingley is easy to reach by road, train, or plane, and participants often travel from across the UK and internationally — including Canada, Ireland, Europe, and the United States — to attend.

There’s plenty to explore nearby if you want to make a weekend of it, including:

· The World Heritage Site of Saltaire, home to original David Hockneys

· The historic village of Haworth, famous for the Brontës

· The Yorkshire Dales, including Malham Cove and the Three Peaks

Occasionally, a workshop may not receive enough bookings to run. In such cases, we will notify you at least 14 days before the scheduled start date. You will have the option to:

a) receive a full refund, or
b) transfer your booking to a rescheduled date or alternative workshop with your agreement.

Workshops may only be cancelled or rescheduled with less than 14 days’ notice in exceptional circumstances beyond our control, such as artist illness or unforeseen events.

As many participants travel from across the UK and internationally, The Craft House cannot be held responsible for travel or accommodation costs in the event of a cancellation or reschedule. We recommend considering travel insurance to cover any associated expenses.

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