Collection: Daytime Courses

Learn to paint expressively with an individual approach while increasing your knowledge and understanding of the importance of colour, composition and form. Using acrylic or oil paint, students will learn how to mix and experiment with colour and will be encouraged to paint quickly and loosely and to develop expressive brushwork.

Learn to draw forms and structures of the human head, facial features, body dynamics and discover the connection between the ‘character’ and the ‘face’. Using pencil, charcoal, ink, wash and collage, to make quick sketches and sustained drawings from plaster casts, live models and a self-portrait.

Immerse yourself in the luminous world of watercolour and explore the expressive potential of the medium, working across landscapes, still life, and the human figure. With demonstrations, hands-on exercises, and discussions, this course encourages you to refine your technique while embracing spontaneity.

This course presents a unique approach to understanding and applying colour developed by David over the last 25 years. It consists of eight beautifully illustrated lectures complemented by optional practical exercises that progress from mastering colour control in paint through to still-life painting studies. The live lectures and discussions can be viewed outside class as video recordings. Students undertake practical exercises outside class and can submit photos for feedback.

Reignite your curiosity in this engaging course designed for beginners or those returning to the sketchbook. Explore observational foundations—line, tone, and perspective—while gaining confidence in creating drawings from life. Each week you’ll develop skills through expressive use of charcoal, Conté, ink and pastel, working from images and objects, inspired by the vibrant NAS campus.

Learn to see beyond the complexity of your subject and identify the colour information needed to begin a painting with confidence. Develop a practical understanding of colour that will help you mix the colours you want accurately and directly. Suitable for all levels, from complete beginners to experienced painters.

Spend five days building, experimenting, and learning with ceramic artist Holly Macdonald. Through a mix of coiling, ceramic stains, surface texture, pinching, and slab construction, you'll produce expressive vessels and sculptural forms. Suitable for all levels, this workshop celebrates intuitive making, imagination, and playful exploration in clay. 

Enhance your throwing skills to create larger, more intricate forms on the potter’s wheel that are created with a balance of scale with structure. Immerse yourself in the ceramics studio and explore new methods, including advanced coiling and the complexities of altering forms on the wheel, to create tall forms and low, wide pieces. 

Explore a personal approach to landscape painting with Annabel. Inspired by a visit to the Sidney Nolan survey at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, discover ways of working from memory, imagination and personal experience. Develop new approaches to expressing atmosphere, emotion and a sense of place through paint.

Curious about drawing but unsure where to start? This course is designed for beginners and those wanting to refresh their skills, offering an entry point into the fundamentals of drawing. Practical exercises will introduce you to the expressive possibilities of different media, including graphite and charcoal. 

Work directly from the nude figure to understand the balance between observed figuration and abstract formal qualities. All fundamental drawing elements are considered, including compositional issues of the human form, space and structure.

Delve into the full spectrum of Screenprinting in this hands-on course designed to welcome beginners while also offering new challenges for those with prior experience. Learn the basics, from simple stencils to advanced photographic processes. Build your skills and confidence as you develop more ambitious prints.

Learn fundamental welding skills and complete small-scale welded steel sculptures. With demonstrations and techniques for using MIG welders and oxyacetylene to cut, shape and bend steel, as well as ways to grind steel and use surface treatments suited to steel.

Learn fundamental welding skills and complete small-scale welded steel sculptures. With demonstrations and techniques for using arc and MIG welders and oxyacetylene to cut, shape and bend steel, as well as ways to grind steel and use surface treatments suited to steel.

Explore contemporary landscape painting through a balance of outdoor drawing and indoor painting practice. On location you’ll make sketches that capture shifting light, colour, and atmosphere. In the NAS studio, you’ll experiment, reflect, and transform these studies into painted works, developing confidence through spontaneous observation and thoughtful refinement. 

This beginner course introduces the essentials of oil and acrylic painting through direct observation. Explore light, colour, and form in still life, landscapes, and portraits while learning composition, proportion, perspective, colour theory, and technique. Progress from monochrome studies to full colour works, building confidence and foundational painting skills.  

Working from a life model, create a portrait bust in clay that reflects both likeness and individuality. Explore observational and sculptural techniques with Monika Scarrabelotti, and discover how to capture likeness and character, and bring personality to your sculpture.

Learn basic anatomical principles to understand and express the structure and movement of the figure with confidence. This foundation leaves you free to focus on character and expression in your drawings. Each session includes a life model, with group and individual instruction supported by demonstrations using anatomical diagrams, a skeleton, and master drawings.

Get up close and personal with live musicians, dancers, and performers in a unique week of experimental life drawing. Come for a week of drawing, experimentation, and live performance, and discover how dynamic life drawing can be. Working directly from musicians, dancers, and performers offers access to unique drawing situations that are rarely available outside a structured course environment. 

Learn the fundamental principles of abstract painting and discover how colours change and move in a picture plane. Tonee Messiah introduces painting techniques from modernist abstraction to the present day and shows how painters approach the translation of subject matter using colour as a powerful expressive tool and emotive agent.