Letting you know that I will be offering some more weekend workshops at The Art Shed, Montague Road, West End BRISBANE during my mid-year break from Queensland College of Art- July 2012.

But what courses should I make available? 

Inks; Florals in Oils; Portraits in Oils; Acrylic Textures, Spatters and Glazing; Pastel (wet wild and wonderful); Charcoal and glazing on canvas; Tutored Life Drawing..... Please send your suggestions and requests to me at gillett.de@gmail.com. If you are not already on the Mailing list for The Art Shed >artshedbrisbane.com.au<, get yourself on there and you will always know immediately a workshop is offered. You can also phone them on (07)38461330 to be added to the waiting lists for future workshops.

Inks Workshops will cost $225 (inks supplied and included in the price) to create 2 canvases no larger than 700mm square or equivalent (supplied by the participant). 

Acrylic Textures, Spatters and Glazing will cost $180 ( all materials to be supplied by the participant).

The Materials lists for both of these workshops follow. Please make sure you are buying for the right workshop! The Art Shed at West End has a great range at really good prices and has the great advantage of also being right there underneath the classroom!

If you would like to book a place, please call the Art Shed asap on (07)38461330. Places are filling fast so don't delay! Hope to be seeing you soon.

Acrylic textures, Spatters and Glazing materials list 

Two tarps- one for your table, one to spatter on. Yes, we will be throwing paint!

Gesso - this is a priming white paint, available at all art shops and the bigger newsagents. Chromacryl Gesso Primer is a good cheaper choice.

Acrylic paints- a good starter palette is warm blue, cool blue, warm red, cool red, warm yellow, cool yellow, black, white, burnt umber, raw sienna, paynes grey, purple. Jo Sonya paints are my personal favourite as the flow formula mixes easily. Any artist or student quality acrylic paint will do, really! The Art Shed stocks a fabulous range at a range of prices and quality.

Texture paste/ modelling compound.

Clear gel medium (for glazing)

Canvas- ready stretched on a timber stretcher or canvas covered boards. Don't go too small though- around 600 - 800mm in any dimension is good. If you really want to work small you can, but really, it’s not so scary!

Brushes- a selection of sizes- make sure you have a few bigger ones, and especially a largish fan brush. A dagger brush is really useful.

Palette knives.

Your regular palette, plus 3-6 white china saucers or small bowls for mixing runny glazes- op shops often have these for a small price.

Water jar, rag or chux, bucket, small towel.

Willow Charcoal or watercolour pencil to draw up.

Helpful items include A4 paper, masking tape, ruler, calculator, heat gun or hairdryer.

Lid of ice cream container and scissors to make combs from.

Clip seal sandwich bags (just a couple).

A notebook and pen to take notes if you wish.

Reference material- bring pictures, photos of whatever inspires you- I can't help you get there if where you are headed is only visible to you! I would suggest an image with fairly loose boundaries- for instance an overgrown garden or rainforest rather than a car or a house. We want to spend the time getting you up to speed with acrylic techniques, not drawing! Please don’t prepare by drawing up your canvas- we will be putting down some colour as a first step so your drawing will be lost.


Inks Weekend Workshop Materials LIst

Tarp or drop sheets- one for under your table, and one for the table itself- it’s a messy business! Two stretched (38mm stretcher bar) canvases- one no larger than 500mm square and one up to 700mm x 900mm.
Chromacryl Impasto Gel Medium 500ml Chromacryl texture paste 500ml Clip lock sandwich bags- around 10. Gesso, enough to do a good solid sealing coat on the two canvases. Chromacryl gesso primer is a good cheaper choice. Acrylic paints, whatever colours you have including metallic gold (optional). I I use Jo Sonja Rich gold. You will be needing the colours that your chosen subject actually is, and their complementary contrasts. Single (butter or cheesemaking) muslin is useful for depicting leaves or water. (Lincraft has it) At least one large fan brush, plus a couple of small brushes for detail work. Palette knives.  Scissors.  Spoons to ladle texture paste into your clip-lock bags. The lid of an ice-cream container, to make combs with. Bucket. Small white bowls or saucers to mix colours in. Chux cloth.  Spray bottle that gives a good solid spray (not the misty kind, just the ordinary cleaning kind). Willow charcoal or a pencil. 2 x medium size syringes (no needles, just the barrel. Around 50 cents from the chemist). A 2” (50mm) or so house painting brush- you need a stiff strong brush for the gessoing. A heat gun is really handy to have around, or failing that a hairdryer, and an extension lead and double adaptor. This technique depends on building a textured surface first, then dropping inks into that and allowing them to mingle and respond, so bring along any fabrics, yarn, laces, doilies etc. you may want to glue down. Nothing thicker than around 3mm, and nothing too heavy like stones. Shells and bits of coral are fine, and look great if you want to do a reef/beach piece. Even a single thread will show up, so think outside the square and consider all kinds of possible options. Netting from onion bags works well. Some pictures that you like- reference material for reef, birds in flight, butterflies, frogs, or flowers etc. Sunflowers work really well, fiddly flowers with odd shaped petals are harder. We will be simplifying, but we do need to know what the object in question looks like! Working with ink is all about colour and movement, so choose a subject accordingly- for instance a nude would be really difficult, but a dancer in a flowing dress works well. An abstract work by another artist can be a good starting point if you are inexperienced in working with colour.

For Art Groups wanting to book a workshop-

TWO DAY ART WORKSHOPS (9-4 both days).  Maximum of 12 adult participants, all materials extra, Tutor’s Fee $1000 +  travel and accommodation if required ( more than 1.5 hours drive from Brisbane).

Please see the “Testimonials” Gallery for student feedback from previous workshops.

Please note- De is currently a full-time student at Queensland College of Arts, Griffith University, Southbank, Brisbane. Workshops are offered only during university holiday periods.

FLORAL IN OILS- Photorealistic rendering of flowers from photographic reference using a highly organised palette of every tone of every colour required. Never waste paint again!

ACRYLIC TEXTURES- Spatter, texture, palette knives and looseness. Suitable for absolute beginners but will also stretch the more experienced artist who wants to loosen up.

ACRYLIC MOVEMENT- Glazing and layering with acrylics to create the illusion of movement.  Suitable for absolute beginners but will also stretch the more experienced artist who wants to loosen up.

INKS AND TEXTURES- De’s original technique with wet-into-wet inks. No drawing skills necessary, just a love of colour and a certain amount of bravery!

PASTEL AND CHARCOAL LIFE DRAWING, NUDES AND PORTRAITS- classes designed to suit the needs of your group. Please contact De to discuss.

CERAMIC SCULPTURE- Techniques for hollow-fired ceramic sculpture and/or paperclay sculpture. Beginners welcome, faces a speciality, sense of humour mandatory.