Contemporary Painting: Interior to Exterior Landscapes

Use the motif of the window to paint within a framework, creating a dynamic tension between outside and inside, landscapes and interiors. The window is a neat compositional device to bring the landscape in, creating a push-and-pull compression of space. Beginning with still life set-ups to draw and paint, then moving to real window vistas on the NAS campus, as well as photographs from your own collections.

Nicole Kelly has a practical approach to teaching painting, where beginners can learn fundamental skills such as how to arrange a palette, colour mixing and composition, mark making and the journey from sketching to complete studio paintings. She focuses on composition, colour, line, the illusion of space, the use of a coloured ground, and how to incorporate the elements to direct the eye across the picture plane.

You’ll learn a variety of painting applications such as scraping, scrubbing, loading, dragging and layering paint, using a full range colour palette, developing your colour mixing and compositional skills. Nicole also references modernist painters such as Matisse, Bonnard etc through books and slides.

As the course progresses you will select your own compositions based on working drawings, previous paintings, or personal photographs to create one or more sustained paintings. Bring your own collection of photographs depicting indoor and outdoor scenes to inspire your paintings. Students will be encouraged to try new approaches, build on existing skills, pursue their own visual style and aesthetics, and develop a critical language around the practice of painting.

The course is open to all levels, from beginners to those with prior experience. Students can choose their preferred medium of acrylics or oil paints. Nicole works closely with everyone, guiding each person within the parameters of their abilities, and guiding them to new levels.

* 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.

Nicole Kelly paints personal vignettes that materialize moments in time and space. Her beguiling scenes, both interior and landscape, form emotional and psychological cartographies tracing the artist’s own spatial experiences, intimately observed and sensitively felt.

Kelly has received many awards including the Brett Whitely Travelling Art Scholarship, 2009, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery Art on Paper Local Artist Award, 2011, Manning Naked and Nude 2D Award 2015, Hurford Hardwood Portrait Prize, 2018, Royal Art Society of NSW Young Artist Award, 2020, Viktoria Marinov Scholarship for female artists, 2021 and the Australian Government Postgraduate Research Scholarship, University of New South Wales, 2019. She undertook artist’s residencies in France in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2010 and Spain in 2016. She was commissioned by Sutherland and St George Hospitals in Sydney and her work has been selected for multiple awards including the Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW. Kelly’s work is held in the collections of Macquarie University Sydney, Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Moran Art Foundation and Lismore Regional Gallery, and she is represented by Arthouse Gallery in Sydney and Nicholas Thompson Gallery in Melbourne.

The late Edmond Capon, former director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, described Kelly’s work as ‘bold and confident. It’s got spirit, that intellectual dynamic that comes out of the soul of an artist.’

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

• A4 sketch book
• 1 x 4B pencil
• 1 packet of willow charcoal
• Hard eraser (not kneadable)
• Retractable blade sharpener
• An A3 pad with Oil Sketch Paper
• 1 Sheet Fabriano Academia 200GSM 50cm x 65cm (or similar)
• 1 larger canvas board or stretch canvas (approx. 60 x 80cm)
• A flat wood or plastic artist palette, or disposable palette (without ridges or sections).
• 2 x small glass containers for solvent and medium (oil painters)
• 2 x small containers for water and medium (acrylic painters)
• Palette knife
• Old rags
• Brushes – synthetic brushes only - Art Basic brand is recommended
• 3 x flat brushes in sizes approximately 20mm, 15mm and 10mm wide
• 3 x filbert or bright brushes in sizes that are approximately 15mm, 10mm and 5mm

Paints Acrylic or Oils

Bring whatever paints you already have. The following is a guide of minimum paints you’ll need and more can be purchased at Parker’s Fine Art Supplies on the NAS campus.

Acrylic paint for a colour ground - 75ml tube of Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red (or equivalent in lower series)

Oil Paints

• Titanium White
• Raw Umber
• Yellow Ochre
• Ultramarine Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Cadmium Yellow (or equivalent ie Spectrum Yellow)
• Lemon Yellow
• Cadmium Red (or equivalent ie Spectrum Red)
• Alizarin Crimson
• Zinc White (optional extra)
• Phthalo Blue (optional extra)
• Odorless Solvent (preferred brand is Gamsol – lowest fumes)
• Medium (Langridge low toxic paint medium)

Acrylic paints (Matisse “Structure” paints (NOT FLOW) are recommended)

• Titanium White
• Ultramarine Blue
• Cerulean Blue
• Yellow Ochre
• Raw umber
• Cadmium Yellow
• Lemon yellow
• Cadmium Red
• Alizarin Crimson