Intermediate to Advanced

Estimated Materials Cost $100 (for paper if you have paint and brushes already)

With a large amount of subject matter, we will be exploring a variety of styles and ways of depicting the natural world. From painting flowers with different approaches, to birds with minimalist backgrounds, water scenes and many other subjects in between, students will be challenged with a range of creative options to enhance their watercolour journey. The goal of this workshop is to show the flexibility of watercolour; to explore, experiment and learn new techniques. Also included are lessons on the theory of painting colour, light and shadows, so you will gain insight not only in the ‘how’, but also the ‘why’. With knowledge that you can use for a lifetime, new friends and a great artistic environment, you will come away feeling energised and inspired!

Jan is a multi-award winning artist, renowned for her teaching skills to all ages. She has taught over 200 workshops in a large range of media and held weekly art classes for 25 years. Her commissions include theatre sets, multiple artworks for apartments, offices and a restaurant, plus murals and private commissions.

Jan has written articles for Australian Artist Magazine, along with producing her own eBook about using colour pencils. She has been featured in various publications, including Paradise Magazine – Gold Coast Bulletin, Art Edit magazines, the International Watercolour Society catalogues and the Fabriano in Aquarelle catalogues.  

All Levels

Estimated Materials Cost $250

This is going to be a week of fun, freeing up, and letting go. We will focus on drawing in pen and the addition of watercolour. We are doing at least two different topics a day, so you may end up taking up to 14 paintings home! I do short demos of everything we do. Our aim is to create creative, individualistic, imaginative art, doing something exciting, and experimental while learning new skills. In this workshop you will learn both to draw and use watercolour.  I will provide you with hand outs on each topic.

Cees studied at art academies in Rotterdam and The Hague and opened his own arts school in the late 1980 which is still in full swing at the Cannon Hill School of Arts in Brisbane. He frequently runs workshops around Australia and overseas. Due to his national and international exposure to art and his art education, he offers students a wealth of art knowledge, guidance, and experience.

All Levels

Estimated Materials Cost $200

Absolutely anything can be included in a Still Life painting. Robyn will guide you through the process of combining a varied array of objects to produce a dynamic composition whatever your skill level.  Possible subject matter can include ordinary domestic items through to precious family treasures, flowers and plants, interior and exterior views and occasionally the clothed human form. The basics of shape, perspective and composition will be a special focus of this workshop. We will work on design exercises to aid in setting up various arrangements to be painted from life. Acrylic is a very forgiving medium for learning and experimenting.

Robyn Bauer is a Brisbane based artist with her own gallery in Paddington. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Queensland Art Society in 2019. She is well known for her urban street scenes and still life paintings featuring an eclectic mix of objects, trees and window views. She has taught nationally and internationally including at the Manchester Urban Sketching Symposium, Brisbane Institute of Art, QUT, and the QLD Art Gallery where she was Education Officer. She has been artist-in-residence at the Brisbane Ekka and the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. She paints or draws every day. 

Level – Introductory/Intermediate 

Estimated materials cost $400

Workshop outline:

Adventure into the world of HOT GLASS! Create one-off glass beads, miniature artworks that others will marvel at. Teaching the basics of glass bead making, the tutor thoroughly explains all aspects of the process, no experience is necessary other than to work with your hands on a small scale. Students need good eyesight and the steady use of both hands. Safety, understanding equipment, glass and mandrel preparation all lead to making your own beads. As the workshop progresses, more elaborate techniques will be introduced such as shaping beads, using stringers, and decorative techniques, tips, tricks and troubleshooting. Scheduled class times are highly structured with a balance between demonstrations and students practicing techniques. Upon completion, students have the knowledge to continue to practice their glass bead-making skills in their own studios. Due to the nature of this workshop students are unable to work unsupervised out of class hours. 

Kathryn Wardill is a contemporary jeweller who received her Master of Arts, Fine Art by research from RMIT University. As a jeweller and glass artist she has had a private studio and actively participated in group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally continuously for the last 30 years. Wardill’s dedication to researching jewellery objects which combine metal and glass has resulted in numerous exhibitions (group and solo), won awards, has jewellery in collections both public and private, has had her jewellery work extensively published, has been artist in residency (USA) and currently is represent

All Levels

Estimated materials cost *$250

Spend a week revelling in the joy of pastels with one of 36 only globally recognised Eminent Pastellists! The workshop focus will be on florals and portraits.

Lyn will share her extensive knowledge on how to infuse luminosity, character and impact, providing you with the technical know-how to create the illusion of reality.

The building blocks of line, value, colour and edge will be covered in depth to give you a rich understanding of these key areas. Lyn will provide information on pastels and pastel surfaces as well as application.

Enjoy clear, informative demonstrations and individual attention at your easel. You will use your own reference material so you can choose your own degree of difficulty or perhaps your favourite subjects. Definitely creating the WOW FACTOR.

Pursuing masterly quality and technique is a high priority for Lyn Diefenbach whose work is imbued with a celebration of her faith and of life.  Her paintings in pastel and oil cover a myriad of subject matter with her bold florals consistently receiving international accolades. Her ability to communicate her ideas has entrenched her as a respected and sought-after tutor internationally.

All Levels

Estimated materials cost: cracket approx. $260, box kit approx. $150

Suitable for students aged 18+

A conversation with Geoff will determine the project you work on and the cost of materials.

Learn the magic of woodwork as you create your very own four legged cracket or a box with a floating panel lid.  Geoff Hannah is a master craftsman who will guide you through the process leaving you with a one-of-a-kind piece and a new skill set. Geoff has created high profile works including the Bicentenary Cabinet, the Yarralumla Cabinet (located in Government House Canberra), the Australiana Cabinet (located in the Grand-Place Belgium) and the Chinoiserie Cabinet recently installed at the Lismore Gallery.

Geoff Hannah was awarded an OAM at the 2018 Australia Day Awards for his service to visual arts.  He has taught and continues to teach many students this extraordinary craft.

All Levels

Estimated tool cost $119 (silver and gems are additional) *please see the materials sheet online for options

This workshop will cover various form of metal working. Beginners will be guided through the basics of jewellery making and basic stone setting. Others with some level of experience can explore a range of ideas and techniques to broaden their approach to creating jewellery such as more advanced types of stone setting, multiple solder joints. Alternatively they could work on their own project with prior approval of the tutor.  If you are looking for a challenge perhaps explore Foldforming, a process of hammering folds in metal and then unfolding the metal to create three dimensional and interesting forms of Jewellery.  Foldforming is also suitable for those with little or no experience in jewellery making.

Mauri graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology with an Associate Diploma of Fine Art in 1972, majoring in Sculpture. He completed further studies in gold and silversmithing at the Queensland College of Art where he later went on the lecture in gold and silversmithing. Mauri has won numerous awards and exhibited widely.

All Levels

Estimated Materials Cost $300

Discover a new way to look at our natural landscape and seascape when painting with oil. You will learn special techniques like sgraffito, layering and glazing, as well as applying different textures across the painting which will result in an intricate and, at the same time, an atmospheric representation of our natural environment. We will practice our techniques on a variety of subjects like gentle rolling waves on the beach, maybe a big surf, headland and rocks, lush inland landscape, and why not the beautiful dry outback. Capture the transparency, colour and texture of water or land using the right brush strokes, translucence layers, opacity of colours. and mediums to produce highly realistic effects.

Marcel was born in Quebec, Canada and is now living in Landsborough. He is the founder and director of Bienarte Art School in Brisbane. His research for the ultimate oil painting technique leads him to the Renaissance Masters. Marcel has been painting and teaching those methods for over 40 years.

All Levels

Estimated material cost $250

*There is a life model in this workshop

With more than 50 years experience in painting and exhibiting, David has helped many people from beginners to experienced artists, achieve greater satisfaction with their work. David breaks down the boring old rules and conventions of painting to help you create works that not only help us see things around us in a radically different way, but that will also look spectacular on the wall!

Born and raised in Toowoomba, David Hinchliffe finds great pleasure in returning to paint and share tips acquired over more than 50 years of art practice. David describes his style as ‘contemporary expressionistic’. He exhibits in Australia, Hong King, Singapore, Tokyo, The US, UK and Europe. David has won numerous awards and has been a finalist in the Queensland Tattersalls Art Prize for numerous years.

Introductory/Intermediate

Estimated Materials Cost: Bring Your Camera

This beginner to intermediate Photography workshop is for keen amateur photographers who want to gain the most from their digital cameras. To bring out the best in your photography skills, you will be able to photograph professional models, bursting water filled balloons, Japanese Gardens, Night photography just to name a few. You will also be developing your post-processing skills to make your images jump off the screen! Techniques include exploring ACR (adjustment module) Layering, Masking and Mode Blending. On completion you will have covered a huge range off digital techniques, photographing a surprisingly diverse range of subjects, and fine-tuned your images via state-of-the-art professional editing software.

Don Hildred is a professional commercial photographer with 30+ years of experience after graduating from QCA Morningside, (now Griffith University, Southbank Brisbane) in Applied Photography back in 1988, and UniSQ Springfield in 2015 with a Bachelor in Film and Television. Since then he has been teaching digital photography workshops, online lecturing for UniSQ (Bachelor of Communications and Media), and running guided tours around Queensland, down to the Blue Mountains in New South Wales and over to New Zealand. 

All Levels 

Estimated material cost: $90 (depending on your existing materials) 

Unclothed life model present

This painting workshop will look at several genres – portraits, landscape, still life, figurative and life drawing. The seven days will be broken up exploring paint, composition, scale, mark making and colour through these genres. Students will be encouraged to explore and find what excites them when creating and then be able to stick with the one genre or explore more with Daniel’s guidance.

Daniel Butterworth is a figurative artist, using images of himself in much of his work to express social, political and personal views. Having started his working life as a sign-writer, Daniel later completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Latrobe University and has been a practising artist for more than 20 years. With numerous solo and group exhibitions to his name, along with selection as a finalist in a large number of high profile portrait prizes, Daniel is now in demand as a guest artist and teacher in Australia. Dan works from his studio in Kyneton, Victoria. 

Introductory/Intermediate | 16 years +

Estimated material cost: $200 (depending on your existing materials) 

Over the seven days we will complete a number of watercolour paintings and throughout the process we will concentrate on harmonising colour, using soft transitions and connected shapes to create paintings that sing. A lot of the colour work will be with greens and greys, warming them, cooling them, shifting tones and seeing how that affects the painting. Wet into wet work will play a big part, timing and understanding the relationship between the water on the brush and the water on the paper.   We will also look at colour interaction and how it affects perspective and mood in a painting. There will plenty of discussion on design and linear and aerial perspective. We will be turning ordinary scenes into pieces of art.

James has been painting in watercolour for over 25 years and has exhibited his work in galleries throughout Australia and Southern Africa over the last 10 years. James was born and spent most of his life on a farm in Africa where he started to paint scenes from the farm and African life. Some 20 years ago he made Australia his home, and fell in love with the Australian landscape, particularly the old farms, the warm soft colours and the light. This inspired him to paint more seriously. He paints loosely in watercolour using wet into wet techniques, does a lot of his work on site and is passionate about painting in the great outdoors.

All Levels

Estimated material costs: $100

This workshop will explore the use of sketchbooks as an everyday record of a life observed. With a simple kit of materials that you can carry with you, you can start a habit of drawing every day. We will explore recording our daily lives from the ordinary to the unusual and prove to ourselves that we can get a creative habit going and keep ourselves observant and present. We will learn some drawing techniques in both soluble and non soluble pens, basic watercolour skills and fun drawing exercises. Sketchbooks are just for us, a safe space with no pressure to perform, a place to relax, a window into our thoughts and dreams and a visible record of a life observed, to be thumbed back through in times of creative drought.

We will discover that we CAN draw and that any time is a good time to build our creative habits!

Deb’s contemporary art practice is 30 years young and involves drawing, painting, sculpture and public art. Deb’s work has been built around the search for collected personal objects and curated public museum collections which can become metaphors for shifting memory, collection, values and environmental concerns. Deb holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art and has had 18 solo shows and been involved in more than 65 group shows in both regional and commercial galleries. She has won several awards and been a finalist in many National art prizes including the Bale Painting Prize, the Archibald Salon de Refuses, Jacaranda Drawing Prize, and Marie Ellis Prize for Drawing. Deb has over 18 years teaching experience with workshops and artist in residencies. In recent years, her sketches were projected onto the William Jolly Bridge by the Brisbane City Council.

Two levels – Beginner & Intermediate   

Estimates materials cost: approx $260 (depending upon decoration/throwing focus) 

This is a multi levelled workshop for all artists from ceramicists to painters and sculptors. Through the week we will circle between making with clay and exploring form and mark making on ceramic forms using composition, colour, line and pattern. 

Beginner – Decoration: If you are interested in exploring layered, sophisticated surfaces and balancing form and drawing this workshop is for you, whatever your level of experience.  We offer the opportunity to purchase greenware vessels to decorate if you don’t want to bring your own. 

Intermediate – Porcelain Throwing: Porcelain is notoriously tricky and you need to be at an intermediate level with knowledge around centering, pulling up and forming which will give you the best chance to maximise your workshop time. 

This workshop is designed as a creative boost for artists at every stage of their career, to germinate your ideas and give you techniques to create what you imagine! 

Shannon Garson is an Australian ceramic artist, writer and curator with studio practice spanning 20 years. Her work includes commissions for festivals, exhibitions at public and private galleries, and arts advocacy. Shannon works with a range of media using drawing, ceramics, photography and performance to investigate the relationship between human activity and the infinite variety of striations, spots and marks found in nature.  

All Levels
Estimated Materials* Cost: approx. $95

In this seven-day workshop, you will learn a variety of printmaking techniques without using acid. Print images on rice and etching paper and plan, design and create a collection of rice paper and wax bowls/postcards/objects. Two to three days will be spent learning and applying the printmaking techniques and designing imagery to be used. This imagery will then be printed on rice and etching paper after proofing. The remaining days will be spent developing shapes, sizes, choosing designs, and creating the artworks, and finally waxing your collection.

Australian artist Jennifer Long has had 16 solo exhibitions, and numerous group exhibitions over 25 years. She has won 14 awards and her work is held in Australian and International collections. Long teachers mixed media and printmaking workshops and is a Gallery Assistant at Impress Printmaker’s Studio & Gallery. Long graduated with a BA at
UQ, trained in painting, drawing, ceramics at QCA and later printmaking at BIA. Long works in varied media and raw materials and motifs for her layered narratives are in response to memories, family history and collected objects and fragments from the landscape.