Experimental Fine Art: Paint as Material

Discover painting as a material-led art practice and hone your artistic skills

Paint is typically used to create an illusion, like a window into the space of a painting. These paintings can often draw our attention away from things like brushmarks, paint texture and the materials used.

However, a painting can also be thought of as an object. With a few techniques and additives, paint can be brushed, scratched, scraped and layered, creating interesting, almost sculptural forms.

On this online course from Leeds Arts University, you’ll experiment with acrylic paint as a physical, expressive material.

Moving through a series of experimental processes, you’ll work with texture, surface, depth, translucency, and structure before developing your experiments into a more resolved final artwork.

Begin with paint, texture, and experimentation

The course starts with open experimentation, giving you space to investigate how acrylic paint behaves when handled in different ways.

You’ll test texture additives such as sand, fibres, and powders, exploring how paint changes when it is built up, diluted, layered, or applied with different tools and techniques.

Combine paint with objects, collage, and surface

You’ll introduce collage and three-dimensional objects, exploring how paint interacts with different materials, edges, structures, and forms. This opens up new possibilities for layering, disruption, and composition.

Develop your experiments into a final artwork

Just like in a creative university, you’ll refine your choices, consider what your materials are communicating, and shape your experiments into a final artwork.

By the end of the course, you’ll have created an original piece that reflects your personal exploration of paint, surface, and material, suitable for use in a creative portfolio.

This course is for beginners, artists, and creative practitioners interested in fine art, acrylic painting, and contemporary art practice. It’s ideal for learners who want to experiment with texture, collage, surface preparation, and material-led making.

This course is for beginners, artists, and creative practitioners interested in fine art, acrylic painting, and contemporary art practice. It’s ideal for learners who want to experiment with texture, collage, surface preparation, and material-led making.

• Create paintings, focussing on and exploring the material qualities of paint, paint media, and paint additives
• Compare the effects of paint media, diluents, and fillers on paint
• Experiment with thick, thin, opaque and translucent paint media
• Reflect on your experiments and outcomes in order to better select and combine materials and processes