Okay, you can paint a fairly faithful rendition of a photograph, but after all that work, you find you just don't care about it that much. Or maybe you have been doing abstract paintings, but the results seem arbitrary and you can't decide what kind of imagery to employ. Or perhaps you are making up images or trying to create images from memory, but they just don't have the impact you would like. This course will delve into a very wide range of techniques, processes, ideas and practices. We will explore why and how representational imagery has come to re-command such a dominant role in contemporary painting practice, and how what you paint can fit into that. We will examine what is actually being represented in paintings today and the roles of photography and digital manipulation in constructing imagery. More importantly, you will learn to critically interrogate your own methods and ideas, without becoming overwhelmed by the weight of endless possibilities or daunted by the difficulty of the task. Any media, imagery and idea can be investigated and explored from the seemingly most radical to the stubbornly traditional. Models will be available on request.