One Hour Private lessons

Now you have constructive and supportive feedback at your fingertips. Private lessons are one-on-one with Jill with immediate feedback and constructive next steps

If you are striving for consistent results with your painting take advantage of a one-on-one consultation with Jill at $ 75 per hour.

Find out more by submitting the form below.

“Jill is a terrific teacher as well as a wonderful artist. She does not try to find fault with a student’s work.
Rather, she studies it,  evaluates it and gives exactly the right suggestions as to what is needed to bring that work to full potential.”

Helen M

Italy Painting Workshop September 2024 – Ready to paint in Italy? Click here

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Jill’s custom made videos. The videos below are available for free access without registration on YouTube.

Acquire skills and develop your own style with a series of videos intended to offer techniques in painting the landscape and still life.

Studio Landscape: Painting the Italian countryside from plein air studies and photo reference. colors, value, composition and capturing light with hands-on demonstration.

Studio Still Life: This video is Part One of two. In part one we learn how to start a painting. Color and form, capturing light, value are just a few of the things that Jill touches upon.

Plein air (outdoor): Monet’s Water Lilies in Connecticut with a surprise visit from a snapping turtle

The Palette (click here): Jumpstart primer for the beginner. Creating a palette of colors as a reference for future paintings.

Color Walk: (click here) Jumpstart primer for the beginner. Emulate nature’s beautiful palette through color mixing from found objects. Paint along with this STEP-BY-STEP color mixing in REAL-TIME video.

Quick Tips

Here’s what you will need:

One Stop Shopping for Art Supplies at Dick Blick – Jill has already developed an affordable lists of painting materials for you, including list of paints and selection of brushes – CLICK HERE then go menu on upper left to Educators, Blick U, student then under state popup find Online and scroll down to my name Jill Nichols Art Lessons

Paints:

Blues: Ultramarine blue, cerulean blue, (or cobalt blue, pthalo)
Yellows: Cadmium yellow pale, cadmium yellow deep, (or cadmium yellow medium, hansa yellows)
Reds: Alizarin crimson, Cadmium red light, (or cadmium red)
Earth Tones: Yellow Ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber and Sap green
Large White: Titanium or mixing white

Recommended Paint Brands:
Budget: Daler-Rowney Georgian
Good Quality: Gamblin, Utrecht, Grumbacher
Best Quality with intense pigments: Old Holland, Williamsburg

Brushes:

Think of your brushes as an investment. The best brushes are natural bristles because they will hold up better and are the easiest to clean. I have created a list of budget brushes for those that just want to try painting out, however I strongly encourage the purchase of better brushes for better results with less frustration.

Palette:

Disposable palette- good for students just starting out, easy cleanup, portable
Wood – sturdy, portable, easy to scrape, easiest for plein air
Glass – best for those with a permanent studio space, good for seeing colors, easy to scrape

Solvent & Oils

Mineral spirits: Prefer Gamsol because it is the least toxic
Lavender Oil- Chelsea Classical Studio offers a wonderful alternative using natural ingredients that work for a solvent and brush cleaner
Gamsol vegetable solvent- gel in tube, non-toxic, shinny finish, adds a little body, portable, great for plein air
Linseed Oil- tried and true
Walnut Oil – leaves a shinny finish
Stand Oil – Thick and viscous
Clove Oil – Apply over paints on palette to retard drying

Easel:

An easel will be important for the ease of your painting. Please note that if you are planning on painting en plein air (outdoors) then you will want to purchase a portable easel- I find that the Julian Half box easel works very well. This can also double as a studio easel and is easy to set up and stow away if you have limited space. There are also table top easels if you prefer to sit at a table. Visit Jill’s list for details-follow link above.

Other Necessities:

Palette knife (2), rags/paper towels, garbage bag for used towels, canvas or gessoed board, primed paper, clean jars for solvent

NOTE: All demos will be done with oil paints. You may opt to use acrylics replacing water for solvent and gel for a medium. Watercolors require different techniques than oils (and Acrylics). Please check back again for Jill’s watercolor videos.

Need a little more direction without obligation? Consider using one of Jill’s step by step paint kits that use a ghosted image of either her Lighthouse or Poppy painting. Click here to order one of Jill’s Learn how to Paint Kits.