Old Masters Academy

How to paint like the Old Masters using modern materials

painting techniques

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I didn’t want to stop drawing

Artwork by Naomi Segal Deitz

… it has been a stop-and-start voyage so far. Despite several years of painting, a shelf of resources, a few workshops, and some success, I still feel with each painting as if I am starting the entire learning process over. Perspective confuses me. Colors go muddy. My glazed layers don’t have the subtlety I’m seeking. My drawings work pretty well, but they get lost under the paint layers and I wonder how to proceed. I’m afraid to paint anything but faces, where I do my best work. …

… I have done lots of reading about painting, but there is nothing like visual learning to see how something is done. The Old Masters approach seems to suit my natural style of painting, and I’d love to have this resource to help me understand and internalize the process and techniques that lead to better, more consistent results.

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I love painting portraits, I paint regularly but I am aware of the challenge ahead

Paintings by Ptak Evelyne

I am always entranced by classical paintings, especially the great mastrer’s paintings like Vermeer, Rembrandt , da Vinci, Veronese…

I was a boat people who had fled VN in 1980, when I was 25 years old. I have endured seven attacks from pirates during the flight and I still suffer from PTSD. I had difficulties to concentrate and to memorize. I had nervous breakdown and I have been hospitalized in psychiatry twice. Because of that, I could not continue working.

Doctors encouraged me to have some creative hobby. I have a fascination for old masters’ paintings and as I have a sister who painted well, and I admired her very much, I naturally choose painting and I have enrolled your drawing courses in 2013. …

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Paintings by Jennifer Koch

Uncovering the mystery, finding he lost and losing the found

I have been an artist for most of my life, since a child doing many drawings through to a young mum who realised that my painting was so much a part of my identity and spirituality.

My art making is my DNA , is who I am and why I want to be.

My biggest challenge at this time in my life is total focus. I work very well with deadlines, if I don’t have them then all the others “things” get in the way.
I have reached a point in my creative life that work I would have once been happy with I now see differently and now have a much higher aim.


The Old Masters Academy appeals to me because I really value the old techniques and would love to integrate them in my work and in growing in my technique. …

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Paintings by Charlotte Jane Kessler

So many muses. So little time.

Although I trained in fine art at collage I didn’t paint at all! I was hooked on the shape and stories of the human body and made body casts and photographs to explore themes of attachment, and memory.

The paintings submitted for this competition are the 3rd time I have ever used oils. I was so grateful for the Old Master Academy webinars because I literally knew nothing about oil painting before. Every morning I would start in my studio with their video and watch one lesson before starting from there. It was slow and very satisfying process. They showed me every step of the way. No questions were left unanswered and I felt supported in my new venture.

My painting techniques got better every day and artist friends of mine even commented on how much I was improving and not to give up on those tough days! …

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Old Masters Academy review by Stephanie-Gabrielle Sneed

The methods demonstrated in this course will have direct and immediate impact on my work

Before taking the class, my art skill level is of great potential. I enrolled into this online Art Academy to learn museum quality painting techniques.

I learned so much from the Old Masters Academy — traditional methods like glazing, wet on wet, wet on dry, scumbling and application, plus much more! Also the mixes for flesh and tones will come in handy. …