The Painting Year II (Tues) 2026-27

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Tuesdays  |  6 October 2026 – 29 June 2027

Artist-Tutors:  Guy Allott and Rosanna Dean

Day and Time:  Tuesdays, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Location:  In Studio — Essential School of Painting, Wood Green, London N22 6TZ

Fee:  £795 per term  |  Annual fee £2,175

Please note: course fees will increase with effect from 5 July 2026.
Click here to register
About This Course

The Painting Year II on Tuesdays is a full-year, studio-based programme for painters ready to move beyond technical acquisition and into the sustained development of a personal practice. Guided by two experienced artist-tutors, students build a coherent body of work across three term, work that is grounded in personal experience, sharpened by critical engagement, and brought to public view at the end-of-year exhibition.

Each Tuesday is a full studio day: 10am to 5pm. Students work on individual projects with regular one-to-one and group input from both tutors. Group critiques, visiting artist talks, a structured gallery visit and a professional practice session give shape and ambition to the year as a whole.

The emphasis throughout is on developing what is genuinely yours. This course does not prescribe a style or subject, it provides the critical, material and communal conditions that help each painter discover and sharp their own voice.

Who This Course Is For

The Painting Year II is designed for painters who:

  • Have completed The Painting Year I at ESOP, or bring equivalent prior painting experience
  • Are ready to move beyond technique and develop a sustained personal practice
  • Want intellectual rigour alongside studio practice and are willing to have their work challenged
  • Are self-taught or formally trained, and want to deepen their painting practice are looking for the critical or conceptual framework to fully realise it
  • Are committed to attending consistently across the full year and engaging fully with the group

Many students return to this course year after year, finding continued challenge, community and growth within the programme. If you are unsure whether this course is right for you, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page.

What the Year Involves
  • Three terms of ten weeks — full studio days, 10am to 5pm, every Tuesday
  • Individual tutor input and group critique woven into every session
  • A structured learning arc, from mapping your practice in autumn through deeper investigations in spring to building towards an End of Year public exhibition in summer
  • A visiting artist programme across the year;  a minimum of two invited contemporary painters
  • A group gallery visit to a major London exhibition in the Spring Term
  • A professional practice session in the Summer Term
  • An end-of-year group exhibition where your work seen publicly
Visiting Artist Programme
Two significant contemporary painters are invited to the school across the year.
In the Autumn Term, an invited painter joins the group to discuss their practice, their working methods, their source material, and the decisions that shape their work. The visit is followed by group Q&A and a studio discussion connecting the visitor’s approach to students’ developing projects.
In the Spring Term, a second visiting artist joins a key group crit session, contributing an external perspective at a pivotal point in the year’s development. Their presence gives students experience of discussing their work with a senior practitioner outside the immediate ESOP community.Both visits are curated by the tutors in direct response to the group’s developing practice.
Gallery Visit and Independent Research

A structured group gallery visit is built into the Spring Term. The destination is determined by the tutors in direct response to what is current and relevant in London at that point in the year. Students attend with a sketchbook, make drawn and written responses on site, and bring those responses back to the group in the following session.

Independent gallery visiting is actively encouraged throughout the year. At the end of each term, tutors provide a curated list of recommended exhibitions and readings to engage with over the break. What students see and discover between sessions is regularly brought back into the studio conversation and invariably shifts the work.

Art Materials

All art materials are provided as part of the course fee, with the exception of canvases, which can be purchased directly from the school studio.

Over the course of the year, students are also encouraged to begin building their own studio materials. We will provide a recommended list of paints, mediums and brushes to source and acquire — a practical guide to assembling a working palette that is genuinely your own. This is one of the ways in which the Painting Year II builds the foundations of a practice that continues beyond a taught course.

Academic Year Dates at a Glance
TermStart DateHalf TermEnd DateWks
Autumn Term 2026Tue 6 October 202627 OctoberTue 15 December10
Spring Term 2027Tue 12 January 202716 FebruaryTue 23 March10
Summer Term 2027Tue 20 April 20271 JuneTue 29 June10
End-of-Year ExhibitionPrivate View: evening TBC
Total course Tuesdays: 30 including Exhibition Tuesday 29 June 2027
About the Artist-Tutors

Guy Allott

Guy Allott

A graduate of Central Saint Martins (1999) and the Royal College of Art (2002), Guy Allott is a London-based painter whose practice spans painting, printmaking, sculpture and woodcuts. His work explores the intersections of landscape, science and cultural philosophy and is held in collections in the UK and internationally.

Read more about Guy →

Rosanna Dean

Rosanna Dean

Rosanna Dean is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in London. A graduate of the Royal College of Art (MA Painting, 2019) and Camberwell College of Art, she also studied Old Master painting at the Angel Academy, Florence. Her practice addresses representations of the divine across cultures and traditions.

Read more about Rosanna →

The ESOP Pathway

The Painting Year II on Tuesdays is the natural progression from The Painting Year I, however, it not a requirement to have done the latter to join this course. Students ready to take a further step exposure may wish to consider The Painting Year II on Wednesdays, which adds a fortnightly visiting artist programme shared directly with ESOP’s Advanced Painting Course.

Click here to register
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About Andrew Wamae

Andrew Wamae is the Director and co-founder of the Essential School of Painting (ESOP). He has a deeply held belief in the power of art to transform lives and society, and a particular interest in exploring new models for art education beyond school; championing the twin ideals of excellence and affordability in a highly pressurised sector when university fees are soaring and student/ tutor contact time is at an all time low. Andrew is particularly keen to ensure that the visual arts continue to be supported and thrive well. A creative, innovative and visionary professional, Andrew, in conjunction with his co-founder Alison Harper, has transformed the Essential School of Painting from humble beginnings to an established institution holding from one-day to year-long courses and workshops for all levels of experience; from beginners to postgraduate and professional artists. He has managed to enlist the support of a long list of celebrated artists from multiple fields in the creative industry to teach or lecture at the school or in their studios.