Landscape Painting Workshop: Forest Bathing

Come up to the Dandenongs to immerse yourself in the rainforest and then paint your own experience in this Forest Bathing painting session.

Guided by local fauvist artist Jacqui Christians you will create works influenced by her recent exhibition, 'Forest Bathing', and you will journey into her approach to freeing you up in your approach to painting.

The workshop space is on our light-filled patio or verandah, so you can breathe fresh air, hear local birdlife, and enjoy the daylight as you work.

You will begin with an artist intro, a preview of her body of work, some outline of the day and time for each process and then take a ten-minute walk into the local ferny forest. Finding a place in nature to inform your work is a great start to your day.

There will be lots of time to experiment and explore new techniques.
We work primarily with Acrylic paint on canvas, posca pens and pencil.
Guided demonstrations of process to make wet on wet backgrounds, finding and feeling your own harmonious colour palette, then practicing making marks with unique ways to represent foliage and trees. A final line drawing exercise for contouring a figure and posture for placing your own into your landscape. Over the 4-5 hours you will combine all these approaches into your own personal painting.

A smaller group allows us to connect with our practice and meet others. You will have lots of time to focus on your work and finalise your piece in 5 hours. This informal approach guides you to find your own style and confidence with less head and more feeling in your work.

There is no formal lunch break, so bring your own food to graze as we work. Amenities and good coffee shops abound in the village, just steps away if you need to get lunch.

Bring clothing to adjust to cooler or hot weather, wear good footwear for our little forest walk, and bring your own lunch, drinks or snacks.

• Take a brief walk into this natural world to use as a reference point for your work.
• Jacqui will then step you through fun ways to apply backgrounds, choose a colour palette, experiment with stencils and mark making to create a landscape, and contour a figure. You will then combine these elements into your painting.
• You will receive a 60x60 canvas or wood board to work on and keep. You will also be provided with acrylic paint, inks, and pens.