Painting Fundamentals for Beginners
- Number of classes: 5
- Total Course Hours: 30
- Discipline: Painting
- Lecturer: Evan Salmon
- Age: 16 years and over
- Levels: Beginner
- Location: National Art School
Painting Fundamentals for Beginners
Course Details
This beginner-friendly course introduces the essential skills for painting in oils or acrylics. You’ll learn to capture the qualities of light in a personal, expressive way—without relying on photographic reference—by developing strategies of careful observation. Class projects will explore still life, urban landscapes, and portraiture, offering varied contexts in which to apply these skills.
Guided by painter Evan Salmon, you’ll gain insight into composition, proportion, perspective, and tonal relationships. Evan will demonstrate how to set up a palette and apply core principles of colour theory and mixing. Instruction will also cover both oil and acrylic techniques.
Students will progress from mixing chromatic greys for monochrome studies, to working with a limited palette, and ultimately to creating full-colour paintings. By the end of the course, you’ll have built confidence, a deeper understanding of colour, and the foundational skills to produce a series of resolved artworks.
Course Schedule
The following is an indicative course schedule only. The content and pace of the sessions may vary in response to the students in the program.
Day 1 - Orientation & Foundations (colour mixing, still life)
Introduction to the NAS studio, outlining course materials, including lecturer demonstration. Begin painting still life (chromatic grey monochrome), followed by group critique and reflection.
Day 2 & 3 - Urban landscape
Day 2: Beginning with lecturer presentation discussing both historical and contemporary painting practices, including examples of lecturer’s work.
Working from observation within the grounds of the art school, participants will make tonal compositional studies on paper to inform paintings made either in the studio or en-plein air. Group discussion.
Day 3 - Completion and resolution of paintings. Individual feedback followed by group critique and refection.
Day 4 & 5 - Portrait painting (life model in the studio)
Day 4: Project beginning with a demonstration of colour mixing for portraiture, utilising historical and contemporary examples. Participants will make a portrait painting based on direct observation of the life model.
Day 5. Completion and resolution of paintings followed by group critique and refection.
* Short courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years of age.
* Drawing and painting short courses may be held in upstairs studios. If access to stairs is not suitable, please contact us at short.courses@nas.edu.au
* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.
Art Materials
Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.
Note: Work in either oils or acrylic, one or the other.
Please feel free to use materials that you already have. If you have any
questions regarding the colour selection, please contact Evan via short.courses@nas.edu.au
Paints Oil paint (Art Spectrum)
- Titanium white 150ml tube
- Yellow ochre 40ml tube
- Lemon yellow 40 ml tube (cool)
- Spectrum yellow 40 ml tube (warm)
- Spectrum red 40 ml tube (warm)
- Alizarin crimson 40 ml tube (cool)
- Ultramarine blue 40 ml tube (warm)
- Pthalo blue 40 ml tube (cool)
- Burnt sienna 40 ml tube
- Raw umber 40 ml tube
- Ivory black 40 ml tube
Acrylic Paints (Matisse or Atelier)
- Titanium white, 250ml tub
- Yellow ochre (oxide) 120ml tube
- Lemon yellow (cool) 120ml tube
- Primary yellow (warm) 120ml tube
- Napthol red light (warm) 120ml tube
- Alizarin crimson (cool) 120ml tube
- Ultramarine blue (warm) 120ml tube
- Pthalo blue (cool) 120ml tube
- Burnt sienna 120ml tube
- Raw umber 120ml tube
- Ivory black 120ml tube
Mediums
- Oils: Refined Linseed Oil 250ml, Odourless Solvent 500ml
- Acrylics: Retarder medium and glaze medium 250ml
Brushes
- Flat or filbert brushes, sizes 2, 6 and 10 (hog hair bristle for oil. Synthetic or hog hair bristle for acrylic)
Supports
3 x Primed canvas boards or wooden prepared panels (approximately 30 x 40cm)
Other materials
- Wooden palette mid-tone (either brown or grey)
- Small palette knife (diamond shaped)
- Bond Pad A3
- Water spray bottle (for acrylic paint)
- Sunlight soap
- Disposable gloves, apron and cotton rags
- Utility knife for sharpening pencils
- Sealable jars for painting mediums
Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.
Lecturer Profile
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Evan received a Diploma from the National Art School in 1991. He completed a Master of Fine Art (Research) at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW in 2002. Evan worked as a studio assistant for the sculptor Robert Klippel between 1996 and 1998. He taught painting and drawing to Diploma students at various TAFE colleges between 2002 and 2016. He has taught observational drawing at the National Art School since 2017. Evan is represented by Gallery LNL and has held 29 solo exhibitions since 1993. He has also been included in many group exhibitions. Evan was selected as a finalist for the Sulman Prize in 2006 at the Art Gallery of NSW. He was winner of the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize in 2015. His work is held in private and public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, NSW Parliament, University of Technology Sydney, Art Bank and Wollongong Art Gallery.
Testimonials
Evan was a supportive and encouraging teacher.
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. The lecturer and both models were very professional. Also the studio was a delightful space to be in. Thank you
I think NAS does more than just 'art' - it really is a place for peoples inner peace and self connection. Thank you for providing a space and courses that do that.
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