Contemporary Landscape Painting: On-location and in-studio

This course explores contemporary approaches to landscape painting through a dynamic balance of outdoor drawing and studio practice. Working on location at diverse sites near the National Art School, you will create responsive sketches that capture shifting light, colour, and atmosphere. Back in the studio, you’ll experiment, reflect, and develop these studies into more resolved works.

Guided by artist Gina Bruce, you will refine painting techniques, expand your compositional strategies, and strengthen your personal artistic voice through demonstrations, guided exercises, and group critiques. By the end of the week, you will gain confidence working en plein air, learn to translate quick observations into developed studio paintings, and produce a cohesive body of work while engaging in critical dialogue with peers. The course is suitable for intermediate to advanced students.

Learning Outcomes:

• Gain confidence in painting en plein air (outdoors).
• Translate rapid sketches into more developed and resolved studio works.
• Explore contemporary approaches to colour, composition, and material use.
• Build a cohesive body of landscape paintings.
• Develop critical and reflective skills through group discussion and critique.

Course Schedule:

• Day 1 – Orientation & Foundations
  Introduction in the NAS studio, including materials overview and lecturer demonstration. Outdoor exercises in tonal and colour studies, followed by group discussion and reflection.
• Day 2 – Composition in the Landscape
  Full-day excursion to a local site. Focus on compositional strategies, tonal and colour relationships, and material exploration.
• Days 3 & 4 – Studio Practice
  Studio-based sessions at NAS. Students will translate plein air drawings into more developed works. Emphasis on experimentation, refinement of techniques, and personal direction.
• Day 5 – Resolution & Presentation
  Studio-based final project. Development of a resolved painting drawing from the week’s studies, concluding with group critique and discussion of works in progress and finished pieces.

* Short courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over.

* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au

* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.

Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.

On-location materials
Work in your own choice of pencils, gouache or watercolours
Portable painting kit (oils, acrylic, watercolour or gouche), sketchbook, portable easel or board, water/medium, containers and suitable clothing for outdoors (see full list below).

In-studio materials
Work in your own choice of oils or acrylics
These colours are suggested only, you may bring whatever paints you have and purchase more at Parkers Art Supplies at NAS

Oil paint (Art Spectrum)
● Titanium white
● Yellow ochre
● Lemon yellow
● Spectrum yellow
● Spectrum red
● Alizarin crimson
● Ultramarine blue
● Pthalo blue
● Burnt sienna
● Raw umber
● Ivory black

Acrylic Paints (Matisse or Atelier)
● Titanium white
● Yellow ochre
● Lemon yellow
● Primary yellow
● Napthol red light
● Alizarin crimson
● Ultramarine blue
● Pthalo blue
● Burnt sienna
● Raw umber
● Ivory black

Mediums
● Oils: Refined Linseed Oil and Odourless Solvent
● Acrylics medium

Brushes
Bring a range of whatever brushes you own, or follow these suggestions below
● Large flat brush 5cm for applying ground colour
● Flat, round or filbert brushes, sizes 2, 6 and 10 (hog hair bristle for oil. Synthetic or hog hair bristle for acrylic

Supports
● Pieces of poly/cotton, or primed card, or thick paper, which can be taped to drawing boards or wall for studio work
● Sketchbook and small pieces of paper (eg A5, A4) for field work

Other materials
● Palette
● Small palette knife
● Carbon pencils set (2B and 4B)
● Kneadable eraser
● Rags or roll of paper towels
● Pencil case with drawing materials
● Outdoor kit: hat, water, folder with paper
● Watercolours, gouache or ink and brushes
● Optional: Foldable stool or portable easel

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

Gina Bruce is a Sydney-based visual artist known for her evocative and introspective works spanning drawing and painting in watercolour, ink, acrylic, oil and egg tempera. A graduate of the National Art School with an Honours degree in Fine Arts, Bruce’s practice explores the intersection of memory, landscape, and the human condition. Since her debut in 2001, she has exhibited widely, including numerous solo shows at Robin Gibson Gallery, most recently Ancient Innocence (2024). Her work has featured in major national art prizes such as the Sulman Prize, the Portia Geach Memorial Award, Mosman Art Prize, Paddington Art Prize and the Kedumba Drawing Prize. Bruce has been awarded several significant honours including a William Fletcher Foundation grant, the Waverley Art Prize, the Gruner Prize from the Art Gallery of NSW, and the Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award as well as others. In 2003, she was awarded the Art Gallery of NSW residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, further enriching her international perspective. Bruce is a member of the Australian Watercolour Institute and works in a studio at Lennox Street Studios in Newtown. She is represented by Liverpool Street Gallery, and her next solo exhibition is in early 2025.