Painting into the Abstract: Expanding Colour, Form, and Perception

This 5-Day intensive gives students the opportunity to grow a deeper understanding of the expressive qualities of colour to enhance the emotive power in their paintings. Leading the course with a personal approach, Tonee Messiah teaches students to identify their individual areas of interest and translate them into abstract artworks. Tonee leads group discussions and technical demonstrations, allowing students to build upon their fundamental knowledge to develop their own abstract language in colour.

This course is suitable for students with a basic understanding of paint handling and will advance those with prior painting experience. Students who wish to work in in oils or mixed media are also welcome to join the course.

At the completion of the program, students will have the confidence to translate subject matter using colour and composition as an expressive tool. Each student will have made a collection of studies that reflect their unique approach to painting.

Course Schedule:
The following is an indicative course schedule only. The content and pace of the sessions may vary in response to the students in the program.

Day 1 – Colour
Introduction in the NAS studio, including materials overview and lecturer demonstration. Exercises in colour mixing and colour relationships. Observing how we look at and prioritise information in painting.

Day 2 – Shape
Exercises that utilise existing imagery to develop new translations focussing on shape and reconstructed compositions. Using colour and texture to direct attention and account for visual hierarchy in abstract painting. Reductionism as a tool to aim for impact and consolidate importance.

Day 3 - Movement
Mark making and how to express direction, activity, and speed in abstraction.

Day 4 - Space
New ways of thinking about space through depth, layer, flatness, perspective. Experimental compositions that translate space abstractly.

Day 5 – Process
Methods to develop individual approaches to your interests and subjects. Finding your way from initial ideas to resolved artworks.

* 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

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

In this painting course you will be encouraged to use acrylic paints but using oil paints is also acceptable if you prefer it.

If you already have some paints bring them to the first class, and your teacher can tell you whether the colours you have are suitable alternatives to the list given below.

Acrylic Paints

• Titanium White
• Ivory Black
• Ultramarine Blue (warm blue)
• Pthalo Blue (cool blue)
• Cadmium Red Light (warm red)
• Alizarin Crimson (cool red)
• Magenta
• Cadmium Yellow Deep (warm yellow)
• Cadmium Yellow Light or Lemon yellow (cool yellow)
• Raw Umber
• 50ml bottle of Atelier Clear painting medium or Matisse Painting medium

NB: Cadmium colours are ideal but feel free to choose cheaper alternatives in cool and warm colours

NB: For those who wish to paint in oils predominantly, the following colours will be required:

• Ultramarine Blue (warm blue)
• Phthalo Blue (cool blue)
• Scarlet red / Spectrum red (warm red)
• Spectrum Crimson / Alizarin (cool red)
• Magenta
• Spectrum yellow / Golden yellow (warm yellow)
• Lemon Yellow (cool yellow)
• Raw Umber
• Raw sienna/ yellow ochre
• Titanium White
• Ivory Black

If you are choosing to use Oil Paints, please bring:

• 1x bottle of odourless solvent 100ml
• 1 glass jar and lid (small, to clean brushes in)
• 1x 100ml bottle of Archival Brand (fast drying) fat medium OPTIONAL

Supports

• 4 large A1 pieces of oil sketch paper (this is suitable for oils and acrylic paint)
• OR an A3 pad with Oil Sketch Paper and 1 large A1 sheet of above.

Miscellaneous Materials

• Flat wood or plastic palette or disposable palette
• 1 small neck palette knife with pointy tip (plastic or metal)
• 1 lead 2B pencil
• Sketchbook A5 size or larger for notes and planning
• 2-3cm thick Masking tape
• 2x Bulldog clips
• Apron/protective clothing
• A plastic or glass container for water jar

Brushes

• 3 flat brushes in sizes that are approximately 15mm, 10mm and 5mm wide. These brushes can be either synthetic or natural bristle, even if you are painting in oils.
• 1 flat bristle brush 10mm wide
• 3 filbert brushes in sizes that are approximately 12mm, 8mm and 5mm. These brushes can be either synthetic or natural bristle, even if you are painting in oils.
• 1 wide 3-4 cm cheap flat bristle brush
• 1 round fine point synthetic brush size 1 or 2

Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.

Tonee Messiah’s painting practice has evolved over 15 years from representational to abstract. She is motivated by the subtleties of the human condition, finding imagery that speaks of the tensions present in modern life and the undulations of human relationships.

Having started her professional practice using acrylics, she now paints predominantly in oils, and her works on paper use a vast combination of water-based media. Tonee has been a finalist in the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Prize, the Paddington Art Prize, the ABN Amro Art Award and the 2022 Waverly Art Prize. Her work has been featured in Australian Abstract by Amber Creswell Bell (2023, Thames and Hudson). She exhibits throughout Australia and internationally, and her work is held in the collections of Artbank and the Monash University Museum of Art, as well as numerous corporate and private collections. She is represented by Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne.