Layer by Layer: Painting Expressive Landscapes in Oil

TOTAL COST: $222
Course Fee: $200
Non-refundable Materials Fee: $22 (see Supply Information below)

DATE: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 & SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025
TIME: 11:00 AM-4:00 PM PDT
LEVEL: Beginner to Intermediate
AGE GROUP: Adult (ages 18 and up)
LOCATION: Building 306, Fort Worden, Port Townsend.

DESCRIPTION
Join artist Scott Allen for a two-part oil painting class where you will create a stylized landscape from start to finish. While you work on a provided canvas with a pre-transferred image, Scott will demonstrate how to achieve your own image transfer at home using transfer paper. Scott will introduce the grisaille technique — a centuries-old method of painting in thin, fast-drying layers to establish strong values and depth — while sharing its fascinating history. You will then explore techniques for selecting a color palette that complements your subject while allowing for personal style and expression.

One week later, you’ll return to your fully dried canvas to apply wet-on-dry techniques, building a second layer that adds texture, detail, and vibrancy. Scott will guide you in refining colors, enhancing composition, and adding those final touches that bring your stylized landscape to life. By the end, you’ll leave with a luminous, completed oil painting — ready to frame and display. This workshop is perfect for artists with some experience in oil painting who want to expand their skills while exploring a stylized approach to landscape art.

SUPPLY INFORMATION
All materials are provided for the course. To keep material costs low, students have access to the school's oil paints and paintbrushes. Students will leave with their finished painted canvas.

COURSE DETAILS
After registration, course details are available via the Northwind Art School learning portal, including course syllabus and supply information. Learn more

ABOUT SCOTT
Scott Allen was born in Wenatchee, Washington, where the colors and textures of orchards, hills, valleys, and wide-open vistas inspired a lifelong love of landscape. His early exposure to art, music, and literature — thanks to his mother, an artist, and his father, a piano player—fostered a creative foundation that would guide his life’s work. Trained in composition, proportion, media, and value during his studies at community college, Scott also pursued building design, woodworking, and architecture, earning degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania.

In the mid-1990s, inspired by his daughters’ enthusiasm for art, Scott returned to painting, first working in pastels and later finding his primary medium in oil. His work often reflects the light, color, and mood of Eastern Washington’s landscapes as well as the coastal environments of the Salish Sea, with recent explorations into abstract interpretations of space and color. Scott’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows, collected widely, and featured at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the Seattle Art Museum Gallery. He continues to create from his Bainbridge Island studio.

Artist website: Scott Allen

—

DISCOUNTS
This course is eligible for a 10% member discount at the Supporter level and beyond. Get a membership today!

Don's Pharmacy and Art Toolkit in Port Townsend offer Northwind Art School students a 10% discount on art supplies.

—

CANCELLATION POLICY
If Northwind Art has to cancel a course for any reason, all enrolled students will receive a 100% refund (including any materials fee).

Students who withdraw from a course at least seven days prior to its first meeting will receive a 90% refund (less any materials fee). 

Students withdrawing fewer than seven days from the first day of class are not eligible for a refund except in the case of illness or injury, in which case they are eligible to receive a 40% refund (less any materials fee).

Please note that 10% of every course’s registration fee is considered to be a non-refundable deposit in cases of withdrawal to cover administrative overhead. All refunds will be applied to the same credit card that was used for enrollment. No credits or transfers will be granted. 

Please email admin@northwindart.org if you wish to withdraw or for more information.