Exploring Colour and Gesture in the Landscape | Master class with Ashley Frost

This workshop will be about discovering gesture and colour in the landscape through a mix of quick compositional drawings, monoprint works and mixed media colour studies. Student’s drawings and prints will provide the foundation and direction for a major watercolour, acrylic or oil painting on canvas or board. We will look at the compositions of the great masters and examine the colour expression of the Japanese printmakers through to the impressionists and abstract expressionists.

Students will gain skills in understanding composition, tonal design and colour harmony through research drawing practice. This practical approach to research drawing and colour studies will enable students to discover gestural elements and colour nuances in landscape painting.

Image: Ashley Frost Rocky Cape Tasmania, Oil on Linen, 137x139cm, 2020 [detail]

What to expect

Students will gain skills in understanding composition, tonal design and colour harmony through research drawing practice through structured activities. This practical approach to research drawing and colour studies will enable students to discover gestural elements and colour nuances in landscape painting.

Is this course right for me?

This is a class for those at the beginning of their art journey as well as experienced painters.

Materials

For the compositional sketching:

• Willow Charcoal and or pencil
• Black or sepia ink
• Chinese calligraphy brush
• Sketchbook

For the mixed media colour studies:

• 2 or 3 sheets of Stonehenge 245gsm 559x762mm
• A selection of gouache or watercolours, minimum three primaries
• A selection of chalk pastels, minimum three primaries
• Palette and a selection of brushes including the Chinese brush (above)

For the Monoprint Studies:

• Gouache, oil or acrylic paints
• Palette and brushes
• Binder medium for acrylics and Gamsol for the oil painters
• Use leftover Stonehenge 245gsm 559x762mm (above)

For the painting:

• Stretched canvas or primed board, any size up to 90x90 or you may want to bring a selection of small canvas/boards for a series work
• Watercolour paper if you choose to paint in watercolour or gouache
• For paints, look for a minimum of: two yellows (lemon yellow or cadmium yellow and yellow ochre); two reds (cadmium red or vermillion or naphthol red and alizarin crimson or magenta); two blues (cobalt teal or turquoise or cerulean blue and ultramarine or cobalt, or prussian or pthalo); two earth colours (transparent red oxide or burnt sienna and burnt or raw umber); and titanium white.
• Palette (ideally two) and a selection of brushes including sable to hog hair in a range of sizes and shapes as well as a 5cm house painting brush.
• Acrylic binder medium or Gamsol (same as for the monoprint)
• A selection of painting rags and/or paper towels
• Painting gloves
• Bring an apron or wear clothes you don’t mind getting paint on, and also bring along disposable gloves, particularly if you are sensitive to oil paints and/or solvents

If using oils paints:

• You will need ODOURLESS solvent - at least 500 ml.
• Oil painting solvents and mediums must not be tipped down the sinks.
• You will need to bring jars with lids to take away spent solvents/mediums.

Materials provided by your tutor:

• Dry pigment colours including Ultramarine and Napthol red
• A selection of inks
• Masking tape

About studio classes

Our class sizes are small, ensuring you receive the individual tuition you need. We have a maximum of 12 students per class.

Unless otherwise noted, prices *exclude* art materials. Click here to see a list of local art supply retailers.

To learn about our studios, amenites and how to get there, click here.

More Information

FAQs Terms & ConditionsSpecial Offers