Painting People and Places

Adebanji Alade, otherwise known as ‘The Addictive Sketcher’, features regularly on the BBC's The One Show, and can often be found sketching travellers on the London Underground.He trained at Yaba College of Technology in Nigeria, later obtaining a diploma in portraiture from Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, where he now teaches. Adebanji is the President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI); a full member of The Guild of Fine Art in Nigeria; and in 2014 was elected to the council of the Chelsea Art Society. He also belongs to Urban Sketchers Worldwide and Plein Air Brotherhood.His awards include Buxton Spa Sketchbook Award (2014); winner of Pinta Rapido Plein Air Event at Chelsea Town Hall in 2013; winner of Best Painting of a London Scene, Chelsea Art Society in 2010; the Alan Gourley Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2017, and numerous others.Adebanji has a strong following in the US as well as the UK. He writes regularly for The Artist magazine and exhibits with the ROI. He teaches at the Art Academy, London, and also runs workshops and demonstrations for schools, colleges, universities and art societies.

• IntroductionMaterialsSketching with oilsMy way – techniques and approach: how I paint with oilsPortraitsProject 1: Homeless person portraitFiguresProject 2: Child playing CrowdsProject 3: Urban sceneLandscapesProject 4: Summer evening lightUrban landscapesProject 5: Rain and reflectionsSeascapesProject 6: Harbour skylineAfterwordIndex

Adebanji Alade's new book, Painting People and Places, is an instruction manual for hobby artists in which he aims to make oil painting accessible to anyone. Opening with the basics, preparing and mixing oil paints and simple exercises and techniques, the book features six complete stage-by-stage projects from intimate portraits to urban landscapes and crowd scenes. Throughout, the artist offers advice and insights into all of the problems facing the oil painter. Whether it's changing light and weather, capturing scenes at speed or creating atmosphere, Adebanji is a master painter and a practiced tutor.