Monochrome Painting: Cezanne’s Apples and Oranges

Take inspiration from Paul Cézanne’s iconic still lifes, focusing on his famous Apples and Oranges, and create your own monochrome oil painting study.

You will explore how to reinterpret this classic still life in a monochrome palette, using a limited range of colours to study form, tone, and composition.

By stripping colour back to its essentials, you will learn to see shapes, planes, and relationships within the still life more clearly, while building confidence in brushwork and oil painting techniques.

Through guided demonstrations and hands-on experimentation, you will be encouraged to observe closely, explore creatively, and experiment freely, deepening your understanding of Cézanne’s approach while producing a contemporary, expressive study of the still life.

Basic materials provided. Food and drink is also available for purchase throughout the session from our cafes.

This workshop is suitable for ages 18+.

What is a Monochrome Painting?

Monochrome painting is a creative technique where artists use a very limited colour palette, often just one or two tones, to focus on light, shade and structure.

By removing the distraction of many colours, painters can explore composition, form and expressive brushwork with greater clarity.

About your tutor

Denisa Mansfield is an artist whose work explores expressive colour, movement, and emotion through the language of Impressionism and abstraction.

She works primarily in oils, with a focus on how traditional methods can be reinterpreted in contemporary ways. Her practice celebrates curiosity, creative risk-taking, and the joy of discovery through paint.