Painting Class for the Painter

I am taking an oil painting intensive this weekend.  I got my little supply list and gleefully went shopping, buying more brushes than what was on the list, just in case.

You might find it surprising that a person can go to Otis Art College for 4 years, get a Bachelor's degree in Painting, and have never been given instruction in painting.  The fact of the matter was that my painting classes were more about art theory/critique.  The teachers were very up front about the fact that they don't teach you how to actually apply paint.  That's for you to figure out.  And I did.  Absurd?  Ironic? Yes and yes.  But realism was very passé in the 90's, so it wasn't relevant to the work most students were doing.