The table below summarises the content for each session:
Go to the more detailed curriculum here
Start time and parking
The doors will open at 9:30am so you can come in and get settled for a 10:00am start at 3/162 Petrie Terrace (RQAS runs Petrie Terrace Gallery downstairs, we are upstairs).
Parking should be pretty easy to find on Saturday, there are currently no events listed at Suncorp until the 26th October 2024 that will effect our class. (On days with events, we will have to park under the RQAS building from 2 hours prior to the gates opening to the event, since at this point they limit on street parking)
Lunch/ facilities/ places to buy lunch and/or coffee
We will have a one hour lunch break from 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Coffee is available from Scout cafe just up the road about 100m and down at the Barracks precinct. Scout cafe is very nice but you might want to order lunch in advance since they can get quite busy.
There is a lunchroom with a fridge and basic coffee/tea facilities. I bring a couple of coffee plungers and generally offer coffee to everyone at morning and afternoon tea.
During both the morning and afternoon session there will be about a 15 minute break midway through.
We will finish at 4 pm.
Preparation for the course
The video below explains what materials will most support your learning in the course:
Materials
This course aims to meet you where you are in your artistic development. Pencil and paper will be sufficient to do most exercises but there are some extension drawing materials you might like to explore, and if you're familiar with or wish to get started in oil painting, bring yours along. The first session on the 14th October focuses on linear design so pencil and paper is perfectly adequate for both sessions. If you feel comfortable drawing with the brush and handling oil paint bring that along for the afternoon. In other words, don't stress - you really only need a handful of drawing materials, certainly for the first day on the 14th. If you want to paint, you can see my materials on the first day and use the list below.
I will be adding a video to the notes to discuss the materials and show you what I am using and why.
Basic drawing materials (must have)
Graphite pencils (HB, 2B, 4B) plus others if desired - wood shaft or solid graphite eg progresso is also good.Kneadable eraserA2 drawing paper (A3 if you can't manage with public transport)A2 drawing board or folder/folio for paper
Extension drawing materials
a plastic set square or ruler for marking off thumbnails approximately A5 - A6 sizeYou might like to have a notebook (spiral bound easiest) for your note taking/ making thumbnail sketches or a computer to access https://scottbreton.art/composition though this is not critical
Charcoal - thin vine or willow plus some thick. Charcoal pencil about 2B. Broad soft bush for softening charcoal. Fixative. Some sort of card/sleeve/ folder for charcoal. Graf cube can be wonderful additionsPastel and pastel pencil - light and broad to fine and dark
(for more about the materials listed here see https://scottbreton.art/materials-list)
Painting materials
If you wish to paint, oil paint is the easiest medium to mix and paint with (because it does not dry immediately and so gives you time to mix, it also does not dry as different in colour as waterolour or acrylic) but requires a few bits and pieces to be convenient.
Note that there is no solvent in this list - please don't use in this class. Some people are sensitive to solvent - it can cause sinus pain during exposure or afterwards. Many schools and classes no longer use solvent. It is not necessary - you can use straight oil paint or a little linseed or Gamblin solvent free liquid if necessary as medium (fat over lean is more of an issue if painting on canvas and you can treat the Gamblin product as the lean solvent since it contains an alkyd drier. Pop your brushes in a box and wash them at home if you wish in soap or solvent or simply wipe them off and lay the tips in a bath of linseed oil until the next use (a cheap roller tray tilted up does a great job). Note that washing brushes with solvent will tend to be quite hard on them over time, whereas letting them lay flat in a bath of raw linseed oil keeps them conditioned.
Painting Surfaces:
Approx A3 or A4 cardboard/ wood/ mdf/ aluminium panels (smooth - not mounted canvas). The advantage of using A4 or smaller panels for your thumbnail studies is that you can use an A4 stationery box to carry home to prevent smudging and getting paint on things
(my preference is aluminium as thin and stiff and won't warp with moisture - buy from Artshed or other artstore or to save cost order some cut to size from https://bfsplastics.com.au/product/aluminium-composite-material/ Sand the coating well with coarse sandpaper before priming.
At a small scale such as this, I much prefer to not have the tooth of the canvas, plus it is easier to just use board or cardboard
Panels should be prepared with either a quality primer and then mid tone in acrylic gesso or my preference: "Michael Harding Non-absorbent primer or acrylic gesso" - comes in a range of tones (including transparent) and can be painted direct onto boards
Painting tools
Masking Tape for masking off thumbnails
Apron
A4 Disposable palette (available at art stores and officeworks)
stationary box to fit A4 disposable palette (available at officeworks)
brush case for dirty bushes (available at art shed in west end, and other art stores)
I like to have two palette knives (so I can scrape one off with the other)
rags
paper towel
baby wipes (good for clean up)
brushes: approx 2mm round, 3 x 6mm flat, 1 x 10mm flat
refined linseed oil
a couple of plastic container with screw top lid for oil - one for medium, one for cleaning the brush
View finder (two L shaped pieces of cardboard with clips - I like to mark measurements
Easels
If you have a box easel or similar, feel free to bring as that will help us to fit in more easily but we also have standing easels and donkeys (seated easels built into chairs).
Your sketchbook/ moodboard/ ideas for compositions, as well as artwork you admire
While not necessary, some exercises will give you the opportunity to play with your own compositional ideas that you might already be exploring.
Also, some activities will give you the opportunity to analyse master works from the point of view of line, tone or colour or some other aspect, so consider collecting a few images and even printing some favourites out.
The video below shows the colours I generally use on my palette and the way I use them to navigate colour space:
Oil Colours
Oil colours - this list a cost effective (mostly earth colours so series 1), non-toxic selection that I use myself - non toxic means less worries with health and also light sanding doesn't cause issues
Titanium white
Yellow titanate (high chroma, non toxic cool yellow)
Yellow Ochre
Winsor Yellow (high chroma, non-toxic yellow)
Naples yellow
Mars Orange
Terra rosa/English Red
Winsor Red/Scarlet Lake (high chroma, non-toxic red)
Caput Mortem
Winsor purple (high chroma purple)
Ivory Black
Ultramarine Blue (high chroma "warm blue")
Prussian Blue (high chroma "cool blue")
Pthalo green (high chroma green)
Extras you might have/like to bring
Gamblin solvent free liquid (safflower oil and alkyd)
mid tone hand held palette or square palette
Other preparation you can do prior to the start of the course includes:
Read the section on Linear Design
Consider where you want to go with your own art practise and the types of images you want to create. If you know, and you’ve started making compositions or sketches, bring them along (or images if they are too large) to help me understand where you are going.
If you haven’t really started with the making your own compositions, or are going in a completely different direction to what you have done previously, try to collect some examples of work you admire that represents what you are aiming for. Try to be as clear as possible.
Curriculum Summary
Day 1 Morning: Linear Design
Summary:
1. Varying intervals and connecting shapes to add interest
2. Creating harmony through repetition and then creating focal points by opposing the harmony
3. Rhythmic flow - harmony and variation with C and S curves
Main heuristic: too much harmony is boring - add contrast, variationtoo much chaos is boring, impose order in order to have something to opposecreate gradients between extremes
Activities:
Homework:
Analyse a image in terms of linear design.
This image might be one of your favorite masterworks that represents what you wish to achieve, or your own composition, or one of the images in the slideshow of examples in the Guide
Day 1 Afternoon: Observational Quadrant
Summary
Read about the Quadrants Model here
Activity:
1. We will approach a studio nude with the "Observational Quadrant" approach (https://scottbreton.art/composition#quadrants)
2. start with a thumbnail within a rectangle to simplifiy the figure and relate them to the shapes around - find parallels or similar movements
3. when you begin the main drawing, apply an obsessive measurement as well as abstraction while building the form and relating it to the surrounding shapes
Homework:
Use the observational tools we have been working with to make a linear design out of an observed subject matter - still life objects on your desk, a room in your house, or a landscape. Remember the linear design principles as well as points about perspective
Day 2 Morning: Tonal Design
I've added the activities we'll be doing, either in paint or dry media (per what you are comfortable with). I've listed them in case you want to read through before hand.
https://scottbreton.art/composition#tonal
I've added a slideshow to the end of the Tonal Design section with some paintings and prints that exemplify some of the principles discussed here.
You might like to consider making a study of one of these for the third activity, or you should feel free to bring an image or print out of a painting with a tonal design that you particularly like.
Don't forget that there is a video above about oil painting materials to make it easy to transport and work with them here:
Day 2: Afternoon session: Narrative Quadrant
I've added a discussion to the Subject section that is focussed on some points about Narrative in particular Symbolism, Archetypes and the relation to the unconscious. This is very much from the classical figurative perspective, and my intention is to open up the exciting possibilities that exist within the Narrative Quadrant, if you approach it the right way.
Day 2 Homework
1. collect your favourite artworks to help show what you are aiming for - try analysing in terms of linear design and also bring them in or email me so I can help you as much as possible.
2. OR bring in your own composition or works in progress - try out variations in linear design - different canvas proportions etc.
3. OR do linear design thumbnails of some of the artworks I posted to the slideshow at
Day 3 Morning: Colour Design
Colour Theory
-Hue, Value, Chroma - a modified colour wheel
-Colour relativity
-
Details https://scottbreton.art/composition#colour
Activity:
Homework:
Day 3 Afternoon: Associative Quadrant
The model will be giving us a sleepy reclining pose and I will be providing a range of symbolic objects and lighting to give you some choices about about what elements you would like to associate with the recumbent figure - to make manifest her dreams.
Homework:
Day 4 Morning: Visual Effects
Summary:
We will be looking at a range of visual effects used by painters that take advantage of the design factors previously explored as well as certain other visual phenomena such as light bloom, various types of atmosphere, spatial effects. We'll also have look at paint application techniques that can assist with this/
We'll be doing an activity that applies some of these points to a simple still life, so you can can get the hang of them.
There is a whole new discussion here:
https://scottbreton.art/composition#effects
It's like a cheat sheet on the things I honestly use in my own paintings as I interpret imagery expressively.
I'll be adding more examples to this section before the end of the week.
Activity:
Day 4 Afternoon: Process Expressionist Quadrant
Summary:
This quadrant is all about what you could do with the paint to emphasise some quality of the figure - the movement/gesture, the mood -eg scratching in horizontal lines, selective softening to create dreamy, humid effect, varying the impasto to thin paint
Activity:
Our model will be providing a dynamic lifting or pulling pose for us, and we'll be looking at how the paint could contribute to expressively to the sense of energy and action. We'll be applying some of the concepts from the morning in particular how shadow, particularly with atmosphere present, provides a great excuse for partial destruction and aggressive or vigorous paint application.
Homework:
Day 5 Morning: Finding, developing and executing your artistic vision
Summary
Explore your Inclinations
Finding Inspirations
Sketching compositions
Modelling and developing compositions
Long term vision
The importance of Creative Stillness
Activity:
We will use a shadow box, led lights, simple manikin figure and coloured forms to develop a composition, balancing the interaction of the 2D and 3D aspects - objects overlapping in space, shadows casting across. This modelling process can also be achieved with life models, or digital 3D tools .
https://scottbreton.art/composition#imagined
Homework:
Explore your Inclinations: It can be overwhelming to be confronted with the variety of art, culture, life - the 2 key models I offer intend to provide a map through which to gain fruitful insights:
Quadrants Model: which of the quadrants appeals to you most at this time? They are not exclusive but rather a way to focus and direct your research into existing artworks (you might change direction somewhat down the track) Review here: https://scottbreton.art/composition#quadrants
The MPC (Model of Plastic Composition) provides a map of the options available to the representational artist - consider which subjects (eg myths/surreal dreamscapes/ naturalistic subjects, locations), materials (eg oil paint/drawing/sculpture), design qualities (eg high major in a blue colour harmony) appeal to you at this time - make lists of what you liked, make mood boards of your favourites Review here: https://scottbreton.art/composition#mpc
Day 5 Afternoon: Your choice from the 4 Quadrants
Summary
Our model will have a pose with a subtle narrative of the bather drying herself with a towel, but we will also have some symbolic objects around her, including coloured light sources, and patterned fabric, and some volumes to work with. This will also allow you to choose to make a studio nude or a process expressionist picture
From this, you can choose any of the quadrants, as well as whether to draw, do a monochrome or colour painting
Consider which quadrant:
Associative quadrant: the reverie (of the bather day-dreaming symbolic objects/atmosphere around her)
Narrative Quadrant: the bather - narrative event - intimate and human - a classic subject
Observational Quadrant: the studio nude - focus on visual relationships - be obsessive about organising line, tone and colour, light, form. Perhaps highlight the idea of it being a contrived studio set up perhaps - include masking tape place markers etc and other elements in the room
Process expressionist Quadrant - what could you do with the paint to emphasise some quality of the figure - the movement/gesture, the mood -eg scratching in horizontal lines, selective softening to create dreamy, humid effect, varying the impasto to thin paint