From Strong Portraits To Fully Resolved Contemporary Paintings

COMPLETE is a self-paced program that takes you from realist portrait foundations to powerful figurative work where background, composition, colour, and figure work together.

ENROL IN COMPLETE ⟶

COMPLETE is the only fully self-paced program where I teach the entire process of creating contemporary abstract-figurative paintings: from generating ideas, to building strong realist portraits, to experimenting with abstract grounds, colour, and texture.

🎥 Watch this short trailer to find out more.

This program is for artists who:

✔ Love portraiture and want to master proportions, likeness, skin tones, and the ability to capture personality and emotion.

✔ Feel their work looks too traditional, too tight, or too predictable — and want to loosen up their approach.

✔ Struggle with backgrounds and composition, and aren’t sure how to make them work with the figure

✔ Want to introduce mixed media into their work.

✔ Want to learn how to generate ideas, stay creative, and overcome creative blocks.

✔Want to develop a personal style, not just produce careful copies.

✔Want to create a cohesive body of work for exhibition, collectors, or a professional artistic path.

✔ Want to learn directly from a practicing professional artist, and understand how paintings are actually made in the studio— beyond formulas or theory.

By the End of COMPLETE, You Will Be Able To:

✔ Paint portraits with strong structure and emotional depth, across different skin tones, genders, and ages — using a variety of media including oil and acrylic.

✔ Create intricate, layered backgrounds using mixed media such as gold leaf, spray paint, and textured surfaces.

✔ Balance realism with a more expressive, abstract style

✔ Understand how to use composition and colour to create stronger, more cohesive paintings.

✔Know when to stop or when to push, what works and what doesn’t — and how to fix it when something feels off.

✔ Bring ideas to life through a structured professional approach, turning sketches and experiments into finished paintings.

✔Develop your own visual language, and gain a clear path forward for evolving your style and artistic voice.

✔ Present your work professionally for exhibitions, collectors, or display.

_{“Rosso teaches all the classical foundations of portrait painting, then gives them a contemporary twist. I went from stiff portraits to contemporary work with ‘crazy’ backgrounds.”}
_{Sharon Blake, UK}

_{"I'm definetely finding my own style thanks to you! ... I always feel stuck with the background but creating texture and patterns with stencils spoke to me. Also, simplifying my palette realizing that just a touch of right colour could cool everything down changed my approach"}

_{Saniya, France}

_{“After years away from the easel, I thought my painting days were behind me. Rosso’s guiding presence, experimental approach and focus brought the painter in me back.”}
_{Paula Michele Wagoner, Florida}

The COMPLETE curriculum mirrors the journey I went through in my own studio practice — beginning with strong realist portrait foundations and gradually expanding into a more contemporary approach that integrates abstraction, mixed media, and personal expression.

PART I — MASTERING REALIST PORTRAITURE

1 · Portrait Drawing & Structure

Learn the foundations that make portraits convincing: proportions, head construction, plane analysis, and the structural principles that create form and depth.

Through targeted drawing exercises you’ll train your eye to see the underlying structure of the face before moving into paint.

2 · Mixing Realistic Skin Tones

Discover a simple, repeatable method for mixing believable skin tones across a wide range of complexions. You’ll learn how to balance warm and cool tones, keep your palette clean, and avoid muddy colour.

Focused demonstrations cover white, olive, brown, and black skin.

3 · Realist Portrait Painting

Follow two complete portrait demonstrations with different models and skin tones. Learn how to transfer the drawing, mix colour, develop the portrait, and integrate the background into a strong finished painting. Demonstrated in oil, but applicable to acrylic or other mediium as well.

PART II — EXPANDING INTO CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

4 · Mixed-Media Grounds & Abstract Surfaces

Explore how to create layered mixed-media grounds using acrylic, spray paint, pastel, stencils, and gold leaf — all what takes to add a contemporary feel to the painting from the very beginning.

5. Composition, Colour & Creative Process

Step inside my studio to see how I develop paintings from the first idea to the final composition. You’ll learn how to generate ideas, overcome creative blocks, develop sketches, and plan compelling work. We also explore colour theory, composition and creating from imagination/references.

6 · From Study to Large-Scale Painting

Learn how to scale a small study into a larger, fully developed painting. In this final project you’ll bring everything you learned together — to create a painting that reflects your visual language.

Each module builds on the previous one to guide you step by step — but you’re free to move at your own pace, revisit lessons, or jump ahead whenever you need. Click the link below to see every lesson, demonstration, and resource inside COMPLETE

FULL CURRICULUM

Here's some extra Benefits of Joining the Complete Program:

References and PDF

I'm giving access to a selection of my photo library — yes, the same I use for my paintings!! — it took me 8 years to build, but it's a free bonus to my students!

Exclusive Artist Community

Did you know that artists are joining from all continents?! Yes — a genuine global community!

Lifetime Access

What you learn here will be your companion for a long time - you can keep returning eveen after you complete your program and always find new resources!!