‘Sight-Size Portraiture in Oils’
with Sarah Margaret Gibson
Course Fee: £ 1,050
Total Spots on Course: 5
This course is open to students of all experience levels & is beginner friendly.
Course Times:
Morning: 10 am-1 pm | Afternoon: 2 pm-5 pm
Course Dates:
April 13th—17th, 2026 | July 26th—30th, 2027
In this exclusive 5-day oil painting class, Academic Director of the Ayrshire Atelier of Fine Art—Sarah Margaret Gibson—will take you through her method of portrait painting in oils, using the traditional technique of sight-size.
Sight-size is the historic practice of setting up one’s canvas and easel so that they are directly beside the subject in the artist’s field of vision, making the painting optically appear the be exactly the same size as the subject. Sight-size has been used for hundreds of years in the art of oil portraiture, as it aids the artist in achieving a likeness and enhances their ability to observe subtle, visual relationships by allowing the artists to intuitively compare their painting directly with the subject. In this course, a select few students will get to learn from Sarah by watching her demonstrate this technique as well as working alongside her on their own oil portraits in sight-size.
‘Sight-size—when used correctly—is a powerful tool for the portrait painter, which empowers their intuitive faculties whilst encouraging a breadth of treatment in keeping with the tradition of “portraiture in the grand manner”.’
- Sarah Margaret Gibson
Book an Upcoming Course
Spots on this course are highly limited to allow each student to work in North light and at life size—there will be one model per every two students. This is an extremely rare and special opportunity, so please don’t hesitate to book your place now!
In this very special 5-day workshop, learn the art of Sight-Size oil portraiture with Ayrshire Atelier’s Creative Director, Sarah Margaret Gibson. She will take you through each step of her process, from underpainting to fully rendered oil portrait.
Course Structure
Each day of the course will be divided into two sessions with a lunch break in between. Working from the live model, students will build up their paintings following the stages of Sarah’s particular method of painting, each step of the process building upon the previous step and culminating in a sculptural and richly coloured portrait in oils.
Afternoon Session (2pm - 5pm)
Students will then spend the afternoon session working on their own portraits. Sarah will go around the class giving individually-tailored critiques to each student.
Morning Session (10am - 1pm)
Students will learn the process by watching an in-depth portrait demonstration by Sarah, whilst she simultaneously lectures on the various concepts to be covered that day.
What you will learn on this course:
During this class, Sarah will guide you through the various stages of an oil painting. You will also gain an understanding of core principles and concepts of oil painting.
core concepts Learned:
The theory and practice of Sight-size technique
How to simplify a three-dimensional subject into two-dimensions on the canvas using sight-size
The stages of building up an oil painting using a direct method of painting
The basics of colour theory and how to mix colours using a limited palette
How to group values and arrange within a finite scale
The fundamentals of pictorial composition and how to work these out directly on the canvas
METHOD & Stages Learned:
Blocking in the underpainting directly on the canvas in monochrome.
Ebauche/'First Painting' of the portrait: the first attempt to the portrait, balancing light, colour and form while focusing on broad priorities.
Blocking in the the background and clothing directly, in a single session.
Second painting: the second and final attempt to properly paint the portrait, in which we improve paint quality, transitions, subtlety of expression and add selective details.
The houding: the bringing together of the painting in all respects, including edge, value, colour, and texture.
BOOK NOW
In this very special 5-day workshop, learn the art of Sight-Size oil portraiture with Ayrshire Atelier’s Creative Director, Sarah Margaret Gibson. She will take you through each step of her process, from underpainting to fully rendered oil portrait.
Required Course Materials List
We recommend you buy all your supplies in advance of the workshop.
All materials can be purchased on either Jacksonsart.com or Cassart.co.uk or supremepaint.co.uk unless stated otherwise. Most materials below have a specific product link in gold.
However, if you are traveling internationally and are looking to make packing easier, you can get most of your paints (with the exception of lead white), your mineral spirits and basic linseed oil at the Cass Art Store in Glasgow, which is a 40 minute train ride from the studio. Otherwise, to buy supplies in advance you will have to do so from an equivalent art supply store in your own country and pack your materials, as we cannot have supplies shipped to the Atelier in advance. Thank you.
Required Brushes:
Assortment of hog bristle and sable filberts and rounds:
I generally use Rosemary & Co. hog bristle filbert and rounds, sizes 0, 2, 4, 6, (a few of each size).
And Sable filberts in sizes 2, 4 and 6 (a few of each size)
Recommended Rosemary Series: Classic Filberts, Classic Rounds, Sable Filbert Series 91
Rosemary “Eclipse Rigger,” size 0; or Series 88, Rigger size 0
Required Paints:
Lead white no.1 (Rublev). Titanium is an alternative, if necessary, but it performs very differently.
Genuine Vermillion (Michael Harding). If you cannot source this, then Vermillion Extra by Old Holland will work, too.
Other Required Materials:
1 wooden palette (glass is acceptable too, but please no white disposable palette sheets!!!)
Paper towels and/or cotton rags
2 medium cups with lids (or a couple of small glass jars with lids)
1 roll of masking tape
1 roll of cling film
1 roll of aluminium foil
1 tupperware box for storing paints
Required Mediums
All mediums can be purchased on Jacksonsart.co.uk
Gamsol odourless mineral spirits (for those traveling to Scotland by plane, Gamsol will be provided for you)
Cold-pressed linseed oil (Chelsea Classical Studio, preferably)
Chelsea Classical Lavendar Damar Varnish
Required Support:
1x 40 x 50 cm. oil-primed, Belgian linen canvas
Your Instructor: Sarah Margaret Gibson
born 1988, Cincinnati, OH.
Sarah Margaret is a world-renowned master in contemporary realist painting. She specialises in portraiture, bird and floral paintings, and in still-lifes. Characterized by a rich tenebrism, Gibson’s work dramatically juxtaposes light against shadow. She believes that light, and all of its symbolic qualities, are most poetic when contrasted against dark. Through her drawings and paintings, Gibson opens up a dialogue with nature, responding to what she finds beautiful and endeavoring to communicate this through the medium of oil paint.
Gibson received her formal training in drawing and painting in Florence, Italy. She studied at the Angel Academy of Art from 2008-2010, and then completed the full three-year program at The Florence Academy of Art, from which she graduated in 2013 and where she subsequently taught as a Principal Instructor in their Intermediate Drawing and Painting Programme.
In 2015 Sarah Margaret moved to the west coast of Scotland, alongside her husband and fellow artist, Lee Craigmile. Together they co-founded the Glasgow Academy of Fine Art in 2019, a formal training academy at which she taught traditional methods of representational drawing and painting to aspiring professional artists. In 2024, Gibson and Craigmile decided to transition the Academy, moving the school to Lee’s hometown on the west coast and combining it with their personal painting studio to create Ayrshire Atelier of Fine Art. Gibson acts as Creative Director and Principal Instructor of Studio Workshops at the atelier, and she splits her time between painting for galleries and commissions, teaching, and raising her young son.
Gibson's work is shown throughout the U.S., U.K. and Europe and can be found in the New Britain Museum of American Art, The New Salem Museum of Art and in numerous private collections. She is represented by Arcadia Contemporary in Soho, NYC.
Accommodation & Travel details
Please visit our About the Studio page for more information on traveling to Largs and on finding accommodation.
In this very special 5-day workshop, learn the art of Sight-Size oil portraiture with Ayrshire Atelier’s Creative Director, Sarah Margaret Gibson. She will take you through each step of her process, from underpainting to fully rendered oil portrait.