This workshop is designed for anyone who wants to learn how to paint expressive and energetic paintings. We will focus on exploring different types of “mark making”, textures and other tools along with brushes, to create interesting paintings. In this workshop we will be painting various subjects such as urban landscapes, florals and water in both the studio and en plein air.

There will be lessons on how to simplify and utilize shapes to capture mood and create expressive paintings. Michele will discuss the very important design elements of composition, drawing and perspective, along with fundamentals to create a successful painting; value, colour, brushwork, temperature and many more!

There will be a focus on understanding colour theory, bringing beautiful colour harmony to all of your work. Students will work from their own photos on day #1 and, weather permitting, we will be painting en plein air day #2. Michele will begin both days with a morning demonstration.

Note: even though this is listed as an oil workshop, the lessons are applicable to all mediums and artists painting in all mediums are encouraged to attend.

Two Days $440

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Bringing Life & Energy to Your Paintings with Michele Usibelli Material List OILS

1.  Portable Easel
2. Plastic Bags for Garbage
3. Gamsol Odourless Thinner (or Daniel Smith’s DS Sol)/ (if travelling by air, let us know if you need this to be available for you).
4. Various Brushes; Flats & Brights, Synthetic Bristle (not too small!)
5. Various Boards or Canvas; Size(s) 8×10, 9×12, arches oil paper pad, sketchbook. Please make sure you have an even number of each size. I place them face to face (with bottle caps in each corner) and held together with blue painter’s tape for travel
6. Barrier Cream or Gloves for Hands
7. Roll of Good Paper Towels or Shop Towels
8. Wipes for Clean Up
9. Paints: Mixed White (a combination of titanium and zinc)*

• Blue-Phtalo Turquoise
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Dioxazine Purple
• Viridian
• Olive Green
• Burnt Umber
• Yellow Grey**
• Buff Titanium**
• Golden Ochre (I like this better than yellow ochre)
• Cad Red
• Cad Yellow Deep
• Transparent Orange
• Cad Yellow Light

Feel free to bring whatever colors you are comfortable working with. These are suggested colors only.

*If you can’t find mixed white, zinc or titanium white will be OK.

**These are two colors I use the most but they are hard to find. Yellow grey is a Holbein color, buff titanium is the same as unbleached white.

Thanks!

This workshop is designed to encourage you to explore the diversity of gouache painting en plein air. In this workshop you will discover how to use colour and light effectively to create dynamic, well-designed paintings and how to most effectively work and apply this versatile medium to your plein air (and studio) painting. Gouache is an excellent medium for creating small plein air studies and this workshop will focus on the “process” of creating a painting in gouache.

We will learn how to “see” dynamic composition in the landscape, simplifying shapes and looking for placement to best convey your intention and impressions about the scene. We will discuss how to organize your composition into connected masses and value patterns for a more organized and purposeful design. All elements that are needed to create a successful painting will be explored.

Note: even though this is primarily a gouache workshop, the lessons are valuable to all mediums and artists painting in all mediums are encouraged to attend.

Two Days $440

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Bringing Life & Energy to Your Paintings with Michele Usibelli GOUACHE

Material List – Studio & Plein Air

1. Portable Easel
2. Plastic Bag for Garbage
3. Various Brushes; Flats & Brights, Synthetic Bristle
4. Water Container & Spray Bottle
5. Watercolor Panels & Watercolor Paper
6. Roll of Good Paper Towels or Shop Towels
7. Paints that I use: *Please note that I have listed ALL the colors that I love and use on my palette. This list is for reference purposes ONLY. I do not require you to go out and buy all of these for our workshop!

• White
• Neutral Grey
• Gamboge
• Beige
• Azo Yellow
• Naples Yellow
• Cad Yellow
• Orange Lake Deep
• Napthol Red
• Quin Rose
• Golden Ochre
• Yellow Ochre
• Burnt Umber
• Green Yellow
• Hookers Green
• Perm Green Light
• Olive Green
• Quin Violet
• Diox Purple
• Turq Green
• Ultramarine Blue
• Horizon Blue
• Pale Mint

Tuesday 30 September (studio)

Mandurah, Western Australia

In this one-day masterclass Michele will talk in depth about her painting process, from initial concept and planning through to actual painting, with a focus on her approach to painting the focal area first.

Also covered will be the importance of negative space, temperature shifts, value shifts, colour saturation, lost and found edges and many other elements necessary to create a successful painting.

One Day $230

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Michele Usibelli Studio Workshop Supply List – Focal Point First

1. Portable Easel
2. Plastic Bag for Garbage
3. Gamsol odourless Thinner (or Daniel Smith DS Sol)
4. Various Brushes; Flats & Brights, Synthetic Bristle
5. Various Boards or Canvas; sizes 8×10, 9×12 or 11×14
6. Watercolor Panels & Watercolor Paper (if gouache)
7. Barrier Cream for hands (if pastels and oils)
8. Painting medium if desired
9. Roll of Good Paper Towels or Shop Towels
10. Water Container & Spray Bottle (if gouache)
11. Paints that I use: *Please note that I have listed ALL the colors that I love and use on my palette.

<<This list is for reference purposes ONLY. I do not require you to go out and buy all of these for our workshop!>>

• Mixed White (a combination of titanium and zinc white) *
• Blue – Pthalo Turquoise
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Diox Purple
• Viridian
• Chrome Oxide Green
• Olive Green
• Burnt Umber
• Yellow Grey **
• Buff Titanium **
• Golden Ochre (I like this better than Yellow Ochre
• Cad Red
• Pthalo Red Rose / Quin Rose
• Cad Yellow Deep
• Naples Yellow
• Transparent Orange
• Cad Yellow Light
• Violet Grey

Note* – If you can’t find mixed white, zinc or titanium white will be OK.

Note ** – These are two colours I use the most, but they are hard to find. Yellow Grey is a Holbein colour and Buff Titanium is by Daniel Smith.

A slide show and discussion on how Michele manipulates the reference photo or scene to create a painting in her voice. This topic includes discussions on composition, colour choices, and many additional elements and focuses on the topic of CREATIVE LICENSE when building/creating your painting. Attendees will be led through a slideshow and discussion studying Michele’s works as they progressed from photographic reference to final painting.

Two Hours $40

Note: Fully Registered Artists – DO NOT REGISTER as this is already included in your Access All Areas Pass.

In this two day Masterclass, Leon will be sharing his knowledge in oil painting, focusing on composition, tonal values, colour mixing and a myriad of painting tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Plein Air painting experience. After demonstrating these elements, students will be hands on, painting their own scene as Leon walks around, giving one on one advice and assistance.
Students with some experience in oil painting will get the most out of this workshop, but if you have been painting for years and feel your work needs a new direction, you will also love it!

Two Days $350 plus Hire options.  Registrations open 28 February 2025

Please note, the standard ticket does not include any equipment. If you are new to Plein Air Oil Painting or would like to try our equipment please contact Leon Holmes directly for Hire Option 1 or 2.

Hire Option 1:   Easel and Tripod –  $30 for both days

(incl. 9×12” Pochade Box & Tripod only – no other materials included)

Hire Option 2:  All inclusive –  $60 for both days

(incl. 9×12″ Pochade Box, Tripod, Swag Apron, MH Oil Paint, Neef Brushes, Italian Palette Knife, Dipper Pot, Medium (MH refined Gum turpentine or AO Odourless solvent), MH OLeo Gel, primed panels and gloves.

Two Days $350

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Material List

If you do not already have any of the following please try to refrain from purchasing prior to the workshop. Part of my teaching is about equipment and in many cases having quality tools and materials can be the difference between struggle and success in your art practice. Cheap quality paints are a false economy, you end up using more and will struggle with muddy paintings.

I’ve seen too many classes where students buy paint etc that they never use again so please bring only equipment you already have. This way you can make more educated purchases for your personal needs after my teachings. To make your life simple, we will be able to supply you directly with any art supplies Leon will be teaching with. These will be available for purchase before and during the workshop. Please reach out if you like to pre-purchase.

Easel

A lightweight outdoor easel, Pochade Box or French Box Easel with a wooden or other neutral toned mixing palette. We have kits available for hire and sale (Hire equipment only available in WA)

(I will bring a few of our Pochade boxes and tripods. To avoid missing out you will find them available with Express post landing at the door within 5-7 day – leonholmesart.com.au)

Boards (Primed or gessoed)

• 2 per day approximate size 20 x 30 cm/ 8”x12” or 20 x 40cm / 8”x16”
• Something to transport your wet painting in, eg. pizza box works if you don’t have a panel carrier

Paints

For the sake of the workshop I will be teaching a limited outdoors palette and will further explain other colours and their uses. As a minimum please bring simply a tube of:

• BLUE• RED• YELLOW• WHITE

Feel free to bring any extra colours you might already have.

Brushes & Knives

• 5 or 6 of your best brushes in a variety of sizes up to 1” wide • A softer hair brush will also be handy – not essential • palette knife/s- I carry two different sizes 1 inch and 2 inch long

Other materials needed:

• Small sketchpad and pencil
• Artist quality Pure Gum Turpentine Do NOT bring odourless Turpentine!

(If you have trouble with the solvents for oils, we can also provide you with an odourless alternative)

• small dipper pot or jar (for Gum turps/medium)
• 2 x clips/clamps, big enough for clipping your boards to your easel
• 3 x rags per day or a roll of paper towel (old tea towels or something of this size is best)
• Painting clothes or apron
• Gloves (Kitchen style – latex or similar style)
• Wide brimmed hat, sunscreen & bug spray
• Plastic bag (for rubbish)
• Foldable chair• snacks, BYO lunch, water

But what if I need it? The less you have the more you will make do and use creative ways to achieve some amazing results.

From thumbnail sketches to finished painting, we will explore the possibilities of landscape painting. Learn to paint it in a way that is direct, simple, fresh, and honest. Engage in fun exercises designed to focus on value, color, and shape.  From that foundation, you’ll explore edges, atmospheric perspective, color and shape relationships, composition, and mood. We’ll talk about ways to get the most out of your colors. Most importantly you’ll learn to paint with greater intention.

Through demos, group discussions, composition walks, painting exercises, and plenty of individual instruction, you will learn to approach the landscape in enthusiasm and confidence.  We will focus on plein air painting, but we will explore strategies to plan studio paintings from plein air studies. This workshop is open to pastel and oil, but demos will be in pastel.

Two Days $440 

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Fresh and Direct Plein Air Pastels with Aaron Schuerr

Materials List

Bring some of your own good landscape photos, No magazine photos please! Working from a laptop or iPad is fine.

• Make sure to check the forecast and pack a range of clothing. Even on a hot day it can be cool (or even cold!) in the morning and late afternoon.
• Pack sunscreen and plenty of water.

 1 Easel I have modified a Strada Easel for pastel. I also use a Dakota Deluxe travel box. https://www.dakotapastels.com/product/dakota-deluxe-travel-small?cat=53 Other good setups include The Edgemon Easel edgemonart.com and Heilman Pastel box. http://heilmandesigns.com

 

2 More is More!! Bring as many pastels as you can reasonably use. I break mine in half, so that I can fit more colors into my field kit. I use a variety of brands, Terry Ludwig, Diane Townsend, and Blue Earth being some of my favorites. Best to get out there and get working with your pastels so that you can figure out what works for you.

3 Paper I use Pastelmat, but it’s not for everyone. It comes in 12×16 and 9×12 packs- I’ve experimented with the colored papers, and I really like them. For plein air work I mostly use Maize or Sand. I only use dark papers for sunrise and sunsets. If you purchase a pad, I would go with pad no. 1. I also use UART (400 or 500 grit). You can purchase either the Pastelmat or the UART mounted to board from Dakota Art Pastels dakotapastls.com. Paper sizes from 8×10 and 12×16, up to 16×20 is fine. Be sure to have some kind of board to use as a support for your paper, along with tape.

4 Paper Storage Glassine works well to protect your work. I put my finished work between two boards and secure it with bulldog clips.

5 Sketchbook, pencil, eraser.

 6 Optional: an easel umbrella.

 

Please call or e-mail me with questions! Phone: (406) 539-8393

E-mail: aaronschuerr@gmail.com

Web Site: www.aaronschuerr.com

 

An Urban Sketch can stand alone as an artwork, be used in a visual travel journal or as a plein air colour study for a larger painting. In this workshop, Andy Dolphin will guide students through a process of analysing a scene, simplifying the shapes and dealing with the much-dreaded issue of perspective. Weather permitting, the course will include indoor and outdoor exercises using pen and watercolour. This workshop is suitable for beginners or those who have some drawing skill but who want to improve the fundamentals or add a bit of colour to their work.

One Days $150

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

If watercolour isn’t normally your thing and you’re not sure you’re ready to invest too much into it, I will have some palettes, paint and brushes available for hire for $12. Payment can be made directly to me on the day. Cash please. 

 

Good quality watercolour paints. 

• Winsor & Newton 5ml Cotman tubes are better than other cheap brands and represent good value for beginners. 
• 15ml Michael Harding, Daniel Smith or Winsor & Newton professional colours are good value for those with more experience. 

While I use tubes, some artists prefer pans. 

 

Hobby painting sets like Monte Marte and Reeves are unsuitable. 

 

Suggested Colours: 

• Ultramarine 
• Lemon Yellow 
• Crimson – (any rich, cool red) 
• Neutral Tint

 

Optional: Burnt sienna, Yellow Ochre and bring whatever colours you have that make you feel good. 

 

Brushes:

• Quality watercolour brushes (Neef are good value): 
• A small camel-hair mop might be useful. Mont Marte have one that seems to be good for the price. 
• Optional: one or two small round brushes.

We will be working small (around A5 size), so you won’t need big brushes. 

 

Other Materials:

• Small plastic watercolour palette with a good-size mixing area. Folding palettes make transporting easier. Or, you can slide your palette into a plastic bag for transporting. 
• Small (A5 minimum) watercolour pad – medium/cold-press watercolour paper. 200g weight is handy for urban sketching. Mont Marte have a pad with perforated 190gsm pages that is ideal for our purposes. 
• Plastic jar or container for water. 
• Waterproof fine point pens. Two or three different sizes should suffice. Ensure they are waterproof, not just permanent (Artline 200 are not waterproof). UniBall make a set named UniPin that seem like good value. 
• A small, flat board to rest on might be handy – but I urban sketch on my lap. 
• A5 or A4 cartridge sketch book B or 2B pencil. Just something cheap to “scribble” in. 
• Eraser 
• Paper towels or tissues. 
• Small stool or chair, unless you plan to use a stand-up easel. Think “portable”. 
• NOTE: It is expected to do some work outdoors, so be sun smart and have some insect repellent with you.

During this workshop we will focus on classic watercolour technique with emphasis on understanding the crucial elements to rendering a successful image. Through some fun exercises we will explore how to simplify the scene and play with values, edges, colour and composition to enhance our interpretation of our chosen subjects and convey a sense of space, light and form. We will also explore some of the pitfalls of using watercolour outside and find solutions.

This workshop is ideal for those familiar to watercolour but would like to gain confidence when venturing outside as well as those wanting to extend their knowledge and ability with the watercolour medium.

One Day $150

Register here

Includes Morning Tea, BYO lunch

Fun Outside with Watercolour with Gordon Alexander

Materials List

• Watercolour paper- (I prefer at least 300gm weight and Rough texture- don’t skimp on paper! I use Saunders/Arches/Baohong etc)
• 1 board (to attach your paper to)
• 1″ masking tape to secure paper to board etc
• Brushes! At least 1 midsize round (with a good point), 1 rigger, Wash brush (I favour mops with good points but a hake would do fine)
• Pencil (I use 2B or 4B) + eraser (kneadable is better)
• 1 palette (with at least 4 decent spaces for mixing)
• My typical colour palette: French Ultramarine, Cerulean blue, Cobalt Blue, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone burnt orange/Burnt Sienna, Nickel Azo Yellow, Hansa yellow deep, Organic Vermillion/Mayan Orange, Cadmium Orange, Cobalt Turquoise/cobalt teal.
• (Paints Must be at least student quality eg W&N Cotman but buying single pigment paints is usually best in my opinion- ‘Art Spectrum’ are cheapish and fine). Bring whatever pigments you have or prefer- it’s definitely more important to be familiar with the few pigments you have than to have every colour under the sun- I tend to use no more than half a dozen pigments in any given painting.
• Optional easel (I find it infinitely beneficial being able to stand up and paint and have a lightweight camera tripod with an attachment to secure a board to- it’s important for watercolour to be able to adjust the angle of the board- some prefer to sit with their stuff on their lap or a bench/table- all viable depending on preference.)
• Water container
• hat/sunscreen/snacks/money for coffee etc!

Acrylics are amazingly versatile and have many advantages.  They dry fast and you can wash your brushes out with water.  This makes them the ideal for painting on the go.

If you ever wanted to learn how easy it is to get started painting ‘en plein air’ in acrylics, this is the workshop for you.  Linda teaches using an easy to follow, step by step process which is suitable for beginners or those with some experience who want to start using acrylics outdoors.

We will meet at the Arts Centre before heading outdoors where Linda will do a quick demonstration and cover the basics.  Then participants will then choose their own scene and create their own artwork under Linda’s expert guidance.  The session will conclude with an evaluation of the artworks and a recap of the lessons learned along the way.

We will cover equipment:

• Simplifying your set up.
• The best substrates and surface preparation for acrylics.
• Which brushes are used for which technique?
• We will then create a cheap non-drying palette for outdoor use.

We will learn about:

• The steps used to create an artwork in acrylics.
• Tonal values and managing the acrylic colour shift.
• Controlling the drying speed of acrylics.
• Blending techniques specific to acrylics.
• Simplifying your scene.
• Creating the illusion of distance.

Along the way we will focus on using the fast drying properties of acrylics to your advantage and techniques you can use to improve your painting speed. At the conclusion we will evaluate our finished artworks and recap what we have learned. Written notes are provided for all participants. This workshop aims to provide an introduction to painting ‘en plein air’ in acrylics.  It is suitable for beginners or painters who wish to try working in acrylics on location. You don’t need an easel to get started.   You can work sitting on the ground or with a folding stool and a small camping table.  It’s really about getting out and giving it a go and having gear you can easily carry.

Saturday 27 September 1 – 5pm

Studio and Plein Air, Mandurah

Half Day $110

Register here 

Taking Your Acrylics Outdoors – Materials List for Linda MacAulay

Acrylic paints.

Any brand of acrylic paint is fine although artist’s quality have the best coverage.  For plein air I choose Matisse Structure paints in the following colours.

• Magenta
• Cadmium Red Light or Matisse Light Red
• Australian Sienna
• Yellow Oxide
• Nickel Titanate Yellow
• Burnt Sienna or a Burnt Umber
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Phthalo Blue
• Chromium Green
• 2 x White – I use both the Structure and the Flow
• Black

Probably the best value is buying one of the Matisse Sampler sets which contain 12 x 12 ml tubes which are very lightweight. These are approximately $32 for the set.  (Pictured above left and a link to the product at the bottom of the page).

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the listed colours …I am happy to give you a little.

The Atelier Interactive and the Golden Open acrylic paints have a different formula.  These dry slower and may not be worked over a cold day so I don’t use them plein air although many artists do. I prefer paints that dry fast so I can quickly build up layers.

https://artsuppliesaustralia.com.au/products/matisse-structure-artist-acrylic-sampler-set?currency=AUD&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=eef481596445&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA5Ka9BhB5EiwA1ZVtvKOfUmxspeJnDEvQnabkd3BseIkrMu1SlQOsCdDyaByG_yGcy5VTIBoCevcQAvD_BwE

Brushes

• 1 x 1 inch flat, soft synthetic brush.
• 1 x 10 mm flat synthetic brush. I use the Neef 95 long handle range.
• 1 x Liner or script brush (size 4 approximately) or a round brush with a fine point. Both of these are soft.
• A few Bristle brushes of any size or shape. (shorter haired, cheaper bristle brushes are better)
• 1 x Palette knife. (Small plastic ones are the lightest)
• Not essential but helpful 1 x 38 or 50 mm house painting brush.  (Check it has very soft white bristles like the Monarch Expert Tech, Wall painting brush available from Bunnings, the black ones are too scratchy and the harder bristled ones will not enable you to blend.)   The blue handled Monarch Brushes, pictured left, are also very good.

Canvas

I usually paint on an A4 sized good quality canvas pad and mount the canvas on a panel in the studio for framing.

Good quality canvas pads are pre-primed, heavy weight sheets of actual canvas. You can use the Mont Marte brand if you wish although these are thinner.

Take care to buy a pad of canvas sheets and rather than the canvas paper pads which are a completely different thing and not suitable. 

OR

You can bring 2 x 20 x 25 cm canvas panels instead of a pad.

Other

• 2 x plastic containers for washing brushes.
• Water for washing brushes and water for drinking.
• 1 x watercolour pencil, pastel pencil or water soluble crayon for sketching.
• A stay wet palette or a flat oblong shaped plastic container or tray for making a non-drying palette.
• A large rag. More absorbent material is better i.e. old towels, flannelette etc.

Other non-essential but nice if you have them things.

• 1 x small squeezy bottle with a nib. (from any $2 shop in the art supplies)
• A small fine mist spray bottle (from any $2 shop in the art supplies) I will be filling the fine mist spray bottle with a drying retarder and the fine nibbed bottle with some painting medium for you.  If you don’t have these I can put the mediums on your palette.
• I take an apron and wear old clothes as I am messy.
• A plastic bag to take home any wet dirty rags.
• Sun Protection – Hat, Long sleeved shirt and sunglasses if needed.
• Insect Protection
• Small packet of wipes.
• Small roll of quality baking paper
• Some wide masking tape. (cream colour preferred)
• Some clips to secure your work if it is windy.

Easels

If you don’t have and easel I would recommend that you don’t go and buy one yet.  The easel set up that is right for acrylics can be quite different to an oil painter’s one.  If you already have one just bring that.

I spent years painting on the ground, so if you can manage that is a great way to start.  I then used a roll up camping table to put my water and brushes on, and a lightweight portable easel from Mont Marte.  I now have a tripod easel with a shelf and a panel holder that is perfect for my needs.

A fold up chair if you want to sit. I have a little stool that fits in my bag and weighs 300 grams.  It is quite low to the ground so is perfect for working outdoors without getting your backside wet or dirty.

NOTE:  You need to be able to carry everything with you in one go when we walk to our location so please come prepared with a way of carrying your equipment and really consider the weight of anything you want to bring along.

If you have any questions regarding the materials list please don’t hesitate to email me linda@lindamacaulay.com.au or call me on 0407539800.  (I am on Eastern Standard Time).