Experience the benefits of painting landscape en plein air
Sydney Harbour (Borogegal country) | Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th July 2025
WHEN
Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 July, 2025. 10am – 5pm
Treat yourself to two full days of painting around Sydney’s beautiful harbour. I’ll be sharing information about my practice and approach that you can apply immediately to your own work plus offer guidance tailored specifically to your goals and level of experience.
A dose of en plein air work is as enriching for the experienced painter as the beginner so this weekend will be suitable for anyone who has a love of landscape and a sense of adventure. With a small group, I will work with you individually on your specific goals.
This is for you if…
… You’re looking for tools & techniques to loosen up;
… You feel you need a boost to get back into painting;
… You want to develop or re-inspire your practice; or
… You just love landscape and aspire to paint it.
Over the weekend, you’ll learn
… How I approach painting en plein air;
… How en plein air practice can help develop skills that can enhance any painting style;
… Tools to hone your observation skills;
… Techniques to process and record what you see in 2D; and
… Processes to help you work quickly and intuitively.
WHERE
Starting from Bradleys Head, we’ll walk to a couple of stunning spots to paint.
PRICE & INCLUSIONS
$548 per person.
Includes morning tea, afternoon tea & lunch both days
WEEKEND OVERVIEW
Saturday
10:00am start (morning tea on arrival)
Introduction to the weekend, en plein air and my approach
SKILLS TO WORK FAST – COMPOSITION: demo, exercises & practice
SKILLS TO WORK FAST – COLOUR: demo, exercises & practice
SKILLS TO WORK FAST – PAINTING SET UP: demo, exercises & practice
1:00pm – Lunch
PAINTING: demo & individual guidance on making a painting
2:30pm – 3:00pm help yourself to Afternoon tea
PAINTING cont: practice
3:45pm – discussion / review, Q&A
4:00pm – continue with painting or practice
5:00pm – end
Sunday
10:00am start (morning tea on arrival)
Review of previous day and intro to day 2 content
COMPOSITION part 2: demo, exercises & practice
APPROACHES: tips and exercises
1:00pm – Lunch
PRACTICE: continue with exercises or work on a painting
2:30pm – 3:00pm help yourself to Afternoon tea
PRACTICE: continue with exercises or work on a painting
3:30pm – discussion / review, Q&A
5:00pm wrap up
MATERIALS LIST
You can choose to work in any medium over this weekend, however there is a large component on colour so please bring some coloured paint or gouache to work with.
Drawing – bring any drawing tools you like such as charcoal, pencil, pen, markers, pastel
Painting – bring watercolour, gouache, acrylic or oil paints in a basic range of colours. If you buy a starter kit somewhere this should have a broad enough range of colours to work with. If you are bringing single paints from your studio, please include warm and cool primaries, mixing / zinc white and titanium white at a minimum (and bring anything else you like as well).
I work with this basic palette a lot: Raw Umber, Paynes grey, Sap Green, Prussian blue (sparingly), Ultramarine blue, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow, Indian Yellow, Pthalo green (sparingly), Cadmium red or Indian red (sparingly).
A selection of brushes with at least 1 that is 1cm or more wide. A mixture of filbert, flat and round is ideal but filbert if you can only have one type.
Plenty of paper (either a sketch pad designed for your medium or individual sheets). Don’t spend too much on this, these are for the exercises and you shouldn’t be worried about using them because of the cost. You could also just use cardboard cut from boxes, canvas offcuts or whatever you can put your hands on.
A few canvases, boards or decent pieces of paper for one or two finished pieces. More if you know you will make more work than that.
Rags
Solvents (or water) in resealable containers (we will be taking these home for disposal)
Palette
Easel / table / tarp (depending on how you like to work). If you’re not sure yet, just message me and we can work something out.
RECOMMENDED CLOTHING:
- Long sleeve shirt
- Hat (sunglasses aren’t ideal as they affect colour but a hat will usually give you enough shade. Of course wear sunnies if you need to).
- Jacket / jumper (it could be quite cold)
- Boots or covered footwear
PLUS:
- Sunscreen
- Insect repellent
- Water for drinking
Our beautiful location
Sydney’s harbour, foreshore and national parks are renowned the world over for their beauty. With endless choices of subject to paint, this is a magnetic and inspirational place to work outdoors.
About me and some of my work inspired by this area
I’m a full time painter, working mostly in the landscape genre. I’ve always felt an affinity with the landscape and I love the challenge of painting outdoors for the focus and connection it brings to my work as well as the clarity and calm it brings to my mind. For my full bio and CV, visit the ‘About’ page on this website.
Workshop booking terms & conditions
CANCELLATION BY PARTICIPANT. We understand sometimes things change and you may be unable to attend the workshop. As cancellations can impact other attendees, pricing and administration, our cancellation policy is as follows:
All cancellations must be received in writing and will be subject to the following cancellation charges from the date the written cancellation is received.
Between 60 – 45 days prior to workshop commencement; loss of 25% of total workshop cost plus any administration fees.
Between 44 – 39 days prior to workshop commencement; loss of 50% of total workshop cost.
38 days or less prior to workshop commencement; loss of 100% of total workshop cost.
Any ‘no show’; loss of 100% of total workshop cost.
No Refunds will apply should you leave the workshop for any reason.
CANCELLATION OF EVENT. Should a workshop be cancelled due to minimum numbers not being met or unforeseen circumstances including, but not limited to, terrorist attack, economic downturn and war, client safety at risk or for operational reasons, you will be offered a full refund or a replacement workshop option.
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