Portrait Painting Masterclass with Jude Rae

This Masterclass in portrait painting with renowned artist Jude Rae, is a unique and immersive weekend course for intermediate to advanced students who wish to expand their portraiture and painting skills.

The intensive course is held in the painting studios of the NAS Darlinghurst campus. It offers an exceptional opportunity to study under the guidance of Jude Rae, a highly accomplished painter with an extensive exhibition and teaching practice. In this course students will gain insights into the techniques, philosophy and processes she utilises to create captivating, realistic and subtly expressive portraits.

Jude Rae will discuss the role of proportion and form in generating a sense of likeness in portraiture, the significance of gesture in capturing character and the critical role of composition in reinforcing and unifying these considerations. Through personalised instruction, and hands-on practice Jude will guide you through various approaches to the development of a portrait from initial sketching and preliminary drawings to the practical aspects of the development of the painting.

Students will have the opportunity to refine their understanding of anatomy, composition, colour and tonality, to develop and advance their portraiture skills, and create dynamic, engaging paintings.

*Please note the studio is located on the second floor, with only access via 2 flights of stairs.

Jude Rae is a Sydney-based artist primarily known for her still life paintings, portraits and architectural interiors. The low key, non-narrative imagery she employs allows the attention to dwell on the formal and material aspects of representational painting, encouraging a more reflective and considered approach to the complexities of visual experience.

After graduating in Fine Arts (History) at Sydney University Jude taught at City Art Institute (University of NSW) and in 1987 had her first solo show with Painters Gallery. At this time, she was also a founding member of the Ultimo Project Studios, an urban housing co-operative for artists in Sydney. In 1989 she moved to London and later to Aotearoa New Zealand where she was the first Director of South Island Art Projects, which today exists as the Physics Room (Ōtautahi Christchurch, NZ).

Over the last four decades Jude has exhibited her work in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Germany and the USA. She has been awarded residencies in France, Italy and Aotearoa New Zealand and has taught at a variety of art schools including the University of Auckland, the Australian National University and most recently at the National Art School (Sydney). In 2005 and 2008 Jude won the Portia Geach Memorial Award for Portraiture and in 2014 she was a finalist in the Archibald Prize, in which she was Highly Commended in 2019, 2021 and 2022. She was also a finalist in the Sulman and Wynne prizes in 2021.

In 2016 Jude Rae was the recipient of the prestigious Bulgari Award presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW and in 2017 a survey of her work was held at the Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery. Jude exhibits with The Commercial in Sydney, Philip Bacon Galleries in Brisbane and Two Rooms in Auckland. Her work is held in major public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, UK and USA. Jude was represented at Sydney Contemporary and her most recent exhibition of paintings will be at Two Rooms until 28 September 2023.

https://www.juderae.com/

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

Jude Rae’s basic palette comprises warm and cool variants of the three primaries plus green, a couple of earths, white and black (unless you prefer to mix your darks). This list is meant to be broadly suggestive of range and hue - if you avoid cadmium colours there are perfectly acceptable alternatives.

Paints

• White - titanium
• Cool and warm yellow eg cadmium yellow deep and cadmium yellow light
• Yellow ochre
• Raw sienna
• Alizarin crimson - cool red
• Vermillion or Cadmium red light - warm red
• Burnt sienna
• Ultramarine blue
• Viridian - cool green
• Yellow-green - warm green
• Ivory black

Supports Acrylic primed canvas or board of a size appropriate to a standard art school easel - at least A3 but no larger than A1

The primer can be left white or and an acrylic based underpainting (preferably an earth colour) can be applied. Golden fluid acrylic dries fast enough for this to be done in class and 118ml bottles are available at Parkers Art Supplies at NAS.

Additional items

• Odourless solvent plus container
• Paint rags
• Selection of brushes - hog hair, flat ferrule ranging in width from about 2cm,1.5cm, 1cm, 0.5cm
• Palette knife - flexible spatula type.

Protective clothing and closed shoes are essential.