Landscape Drawing and Painting

Mystery Bay Art Camp Information PDF - CLICK HERE TO OPEN

Join the 4-day NAS Residential Art Camp @Mystery Bay Cottages. Capture the richness of colour, light and atmosphere at beautiful Mystery Bay and surrounding natural environments, by drawing and painting in a medium of your choice. With unlimited access to views of hills and mountains, pristine beaches, rocky outcrops, bush flora and fauna, this lush countryside will delight your senses and invigorate your artwork.

Michelle Hiscock shares her extensive knowledge of the traditions of landscape painting and teaches essential practical skills - such as how to select a motif, find the best position to manage scale and proportion, the role of different media, and strategies to capture your impressions of the landscape.

Learn to make thumbnail sketches and compositional drawings in pencil or charcoal, tonal studies in pen and ink, watercolour, gouache, acrylic and a variety of approaches in oil painting. Michelle introduces you to the principles of classical compositions following the examples of landscape masters such as Lorraine, Corot, Turner and Streeton.

She inspires you with expert demonstrations of a wide variety of methods, guiding you towards the best approach to suit your aims while developing your abilities.

The course is open to students of all levels of ability in drawing and painting.

NAS Residential Art Camp Schedule

Sunday 5 Nov

2:00-3.00pm Check in at Mystery Bay Cottages

4:00-6:00pm Welcome Meeting and introduction to Art Camp

Monday 6 Nov

9:00am-12:00pm Art Workshop

12:00-2:00pm Lunch break

2:00-5:00pm Art Workshop

Tuesday 7 Nov

9:00am-12:00pm Art Workshop

12:00-2:00pm Lunch break

2:00-5:00pm Art Workshop

Wednesday 8 Nov

9:00am-12:00pm Art Workshop

12:00-2:00pm Lunch break

2:00-5:00pm Art Workshop

Thursday 9 Nov

9:00am Check out of cottages

10:00am-12:00pm Art Workshop

12:00-1:00pm Farewell Meeting

Michelle Hiscock is an expert in the history of painting techniques, materials, and methods.

She is represented by Australian Galleries and has exhibited nationally for over thirty years. Michelle has been a Painting Lecturer at the National Art School since 1998. She has also given many lectures and demonstrations, run classes on historical techniques and conducted floor talks and tours for the Art Gallery of NSW.

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

Sketching materials

• Sketch book (from small to no larger than 40x50cm) OR loose sheets of paper (any size, can be cut up) and a lightweight backing board with clips
• Sketch book type - spiral-bound is recommended as it folds back onto itself making it easy to hold
• One 3B pencil and/or charcoal pencils
• One stick of willow charcoal or compressed charcoal
• One red or black Conté crayon
• Blade and/or pencil sharpener
• Fabre Castell kneadable rubber

Tonal sketching materials

• Pencils and charcoals
• Bottle of black or brown ink. Approx 30ml or more
• Pen with C6 nib, or reed pens will be provided
• Range of soft paint brushes – see list below under “Brushes for ink, watercolour or gouache”
• Cartridge paper in a pad or standard sheets for pencil and charcoal work
• Watercolour paper for ink, gouache and watercolour work. Three standard single sheets of watercolour paper can cut to desired size
• White palette (ceramic or plastic fine)
• Water container and lid

Oil painting materials

• Palette knife (diamond shaped like a trowel)
• Palette - flat, without ridges or indents, e.g. plywood, plastic, Perspex
• Tube of Burnt Umber acrylic paint for priming.
• Tube of White acrylic paint for priming (Matisse ‘Structure’ is recommended)
• Cotton cloth rags (old sheets are best)
• Roll of paper towels
• Stand oil at least 250mls
• Lindseed oil approx. 500ml
• Odourless solvent approx 500ml
• A small glass lidded container (to mix the medium)
• Optional extra: tube of Gamblin Galkyd gel medium
• Disposable gloves (optional; vinyl is better than latex)
• A lidded container for brush cleaning, glass or plastic are both fine
• Roll of cling wrap

Acrylic painting materials

The same as above except an acrylic medium instead of solvent or oils.

Brushes for acrylic or oil

Please bring all the brushes you currently own. It is preferable to have 5 or more of each brush you like to use rather than a whole lot of completely different brushes.

If you are buying brushes for the first time, these are recommended as a minimum:

• 3 flat synthetic or natural hog hairbrushes approx. 8mm wide
• 1 round, pointed, synthetic sable brush approx. 5mm wide
• 1 flat, synthetic sable brush approx. 15mm wide

Brushes for ink, watercolour or gouache

• A selection of pointed and flat brushes with sable, kolinsky, or synthetic hair. Ranging from a 2 to 20 millimetres in diameter/width.

Colours for all painting media

NOTE: We are using a low-toxicity approach. Please do not bring cobalt, chrome, cadmium or lead-based pigments.

Suggested list of colours (bring a selection of your own choice)

• Titanium white (professional grade only; e.g. Old Holland, Winsor and Newton or Art Spectrum, Langridge, Gamblin)
• Bright yellow (e.g., Winsor yellow, Spectrum yellow – not cadmium)
• Bright red (e.g., Winsor red, Spectrum red – not cadmium
• Yellow ochre or Mars yellow
• Venetian red or red earth
• Raw umber
• Raw sienna
• Burnt umber
• Burnt sienna
• Alizarin crimson
• Ultramarine blue
• Pthalo blue
• Ivory black

Painting supports

• 3 standard size sheets of thick watercolour paper; preferably hot-pressed, 300gsm
• Watercolour paper can be cut down to a size and format suited to the subject and composition
• Watercolour paper can be worked on directly with watercolour, gouache or acrylic, or primed with acrylic for working in oils
• If working in oil or acrylic, bring a range of supports according to your preference. For example, plywood, Masonite or stretched linen/canvas, and preferably smaller than A3
• We will experiment with different ways of preparing the support using acrylic, so pre-primed supports should be in acrylic rather than oil
• NOTE: MDF and canvas boards are not recommended

Other recommended equipment

• Portable easel or folding table
• Folding stool/chair
• Picnic blanket
• Sun hat, sunscreen and sunglasses
• Long pants and long-sleeved shirt
• Insect repellent
• Swimming costume and beach towel
• Water bottle