Painting Fundamentals: From Representation to Expression

Are you new to painting or seeking new ways to expand your painting practice? This course offers a supportive and inspiring environment to explore techniques, methods and insights that build confidence and curiosity in your own paintings. Each week you will be encouraged to play, experiment, and find joy in the act of making. By approaching painting as an open-ended process rather than a fixed outcome, you will develop a stronger sense of personal expression and discover that every mark has potential.

Throughout the program we will work through a materials-driven, intuitive approach that encourages you to move beyond representational boundaries. Using mediums such as gouache, acrylic, collage, and oil paint, participants will broaden their painting vocabulary by responding to the physical properties of paint and surface. Emphasis will be placed on embracing experimentation, guided by exercises informed by both historical and contemporary art movements. This program provides space for artists to reflect on their own practice and explore different methods of making a painting.

* Short courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years of age.

* 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.

General materials

• Rags and/or paper towels
• Wet wipes for cleaning hands and palettes outdoors
• Plastic wrap for palette storage
• 1 or more palette knife for mixing and applying paint
• 1 x apron/protective clothing
• 1 x roll masking tape
• 1 - 3 x blocks of compressed charcoal or dark colour dry pastel
• 2 x plastic palette or disposable palettes
• 1 x 250ml-500ml black ink
• 3 x water jars
• 1 x glass container for solvent jar
• 1 x A4 printout of a favourite painting
• 1 x Scissors or cutting knife
• 1 x glue sticks
• 2 x bulldog clips
  

Paints
All colors are suggested only and are not all essential for this course. The list includes warm and cool colours, however you are welcome to begin with what you already have in your collection. Please bring water-based paints to the first class (acrylic, gouache and/or watercolour) and the lecturer will discuss these with you in the first class. Student quality paints are fine, rather than more expensive professional artists’ quality paints.

• 1 x Titanium White
• 1 x Ivory Black
• 1 x Magenta
• 1 x Cadmium Red (warm red)
• 1 x Crimson (cool red)
• 1 x Cadmium Yellow Light or Lemon yellow (cool yellow)
• 1 x Cadmium Yellow Deep (warm yellow)
• 1 x Ultramarine Blue (warm blue)
• 1 x Cobalt Blue
• 1 x Indigo (cool blue)

For oil paints

• Odorless turpentine in sealable containers. Turps must be stored in either glass or metal containers, as plastic will dissolve.
• Hard soap for cleaning brushes.
• 250mls - 500ml acrylic gesso and wide cheap brush
• 250ml bottle of odourless solvent (GAMSOL recommended)
• 2 x glass jar and lid (for solvent and to clean brushes in)

For water-based paints, acrylic and gouache

• Plastic palette
• Water jar
• 250ml bottle of Liquitex or Matisse painting medium or your preferred brand

Brushes

• All brushes are welcome but you can choose cheaper alternatives. Brushes can be either synthetic or natural bristle, even if you are painting in oils.
• 6 or more paint brushes
• Including 3 brushes allocated for water-based paint and 3 brushes allocated for oil paint.
• Combination of soft and hard bristles & in small, medium and large sizes (between approximately 50mm(max), 20mm, 10mm to 5mm wide.)
  
  - Flat brushes
  - Filbert brushes
  - Round brushes
• Optional: 3 x Chinese brushes for gouache and ink (small, medium and large sizes)

Supports

• A1 oil sketch pad (12 sheets) suitable for oils and acrylic paint
• Or cheaper alternatives: A1 sheets brown paper and A1 cartridge paper pad

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

Stephanie Eather is a visual artist, living and working between Naarm (Melbourne), Gadigal land (Sydney) and rural Eastern Australia. Her painting practice explores the intersection of memory, materiality, and textile sustainability, informed by both traditional and contemporary drawing sensibilities. Stephanie completed a Master of Fine Art (Drawing) in 2023 at National Art School in Darlinghurst. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Art History from the University of Melbourne in 2013, and a Bachelor of Fine Art (Drawing) obtained from RMIT in 2009.
Eather’s artwork has been showcased in group and solo exhibitions across Australia and has been selected for prizes including the Gosford Art Prize and the Dobell Drawing Prize #21 and #22. In 2022, Eather was awarded the Bonner and Tonkin Drawing Award and won runner-up for the Vincent Prize in 2024. She is currently represented by Nanda\Hobbs in Chippendale, NSW. She teaches drawing and painting at National Art School, Sydney and at The Art Room in Melbourne.

https://nandahobbs.com/artist/stephanie-eather