Weekend Art Workshops and January Summer School
Art Class Sydney hosts a regular timetable of Sunday Workshops in Painting, Drawing and Watercolour throughout the year for absolute beginners to more advanced students. The Sunday workshops are aimed at students who are keen to explore art with a one day taster class or students who are unable to commit to a full 8 week term. The workshops have a maximum of 12 students which ensures students get quality time with the tutor.
Enrol below for upcoming workshops or click here for future workshops and dates.
Owner and main tutor Ochre Lawson is a professional artist and experienced tutor of up to 20 years having trained at the prestigious National Art School and has her Certificate 1V in training and assessing adults. Ochre is a clear communicator with a structured program taking students step by step through theory and concepts of making art.
The Sunday workshops are conducted in a natural light-filled room in the Back Hall at the Annandale Community Centre on Johnston St Annandale. This room has disabled access, street parking and access to public transport.
January Summer School 2026 – Dates and venue TBA.
I’ve learned so much from Ochre – not just about the mechanics of painting but also how to look at pictures and see things differently which is still a skill that I’m working on, it’s a practice. Classes with Ochre are fun and accessible and I find it inspiring and a privilege that I am learning from an artist that I admire.
Current Workshops
Introduction to Drawing and Painting Portraits – suitable for complete beginners to more experienced
Date and Time
Sunday March 23, 2025
10am - 3.30pm
Venue
Annandale Community Centre - Back Hall
Cost
$200 inc gst(materials excluded), or $220 inc gst (materials included)
Overview
Overview
This fun and challenging one day workshop teaches you fundamental skills in drawing and painting a portrait from a photo. Students will be guided in leaning the basic proportions of a portrait and how to create volume through planar effects and tone. Students will learn how to mix a limited flesh colour palette and how to apply to there painting. Experienced and qualified art tutor and professional artist of over 15 years, Ochre Lawson, will guide you in learning new skills through demonstrations and looking at master portrait artists throughout history.
You will learn:
- How to lay out a pallet and tools for painting and drawing
- Skills in observing the features of a head and face
- How to draw basic proportions of a head and face
- How to create volume in a portrait painting through observing planes
- How to mix tone and apply on the portrait
- How to mix a limited flesh colour palette using acrylics or oils
- About different portrait master artists
Materials List:
- Canvas, canvas paper or Board to paint on. Bring one support, minimum 12” x 16″ for the workshop. This may be cheap canvas from a $2 shop.
- An A4 art journal or cartridge paper, willow charcoal/4b pencil and rubber for sketching out ideas
- A selection of 3-4 filbert brushes small, medium and large size. A large glue brush for painting a ground is also useful.
- A rectangle plastic or wooden palette (no smaller than A3 size)
- Rags, Apron
- Paints: Students may use Oils or acrylics depending onpreference.
- A good basic colour palette includes:
- Ochre yellow (warm) and lemon yellow (cool)
- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Sienna
- Titanium White
- Please buy ‘student quality’ paints (Matisse Derivan Acrylics (structure) or Art Spectrum oils/acrylics are good, reasonably priced brands). Cheap paints are a waste of money! At least have a good quality titanium white.
If using Oil Paints:
You will need odourless solvent for cleanup and mixing. We recommend ‘Gamsol’ by Gamblin. This is the least toxic solvent on the market and the same price as other odourless solvents. Solvents MUST be odourless. Linseed oil is also recommended for mixing mediums but not necessary for a one day workshop. Oil painting solvents and mediums must not be tipped down the sinks. You will need to bring 2 small jars with lids to take away spent solvents/mediums. Spent solvents/ mediums must be taken with you and not left in the hall. Your tutor will give you information on reusing and disposing of spent solvents and mediums. You need to clean oil brushes at home. If you want to save paint bring some glad wrap to put over your pallet.
If using Acrylic Paints:
Bring a general purpose flow medium.
Equipment List:
Facilities provided by Art Class Sydney
- Desks
- Easels
- backing boards
- bulldog clips
- tea/coffee, milk, mugs, microwave
- toilets
- Free street parking
- Disabled access
Introduction to Painting and Drawing the Landscape – suitable for complete beginners to more experienced
Date and Time
Sunday April 6, 2025
10am-3.30pm
Venue
Annandale Neighbourhood Centre - Back Hall
Cost
$200 inc gst (materials excluded), $220 inc gst (materials included)
Overview
Overview
In this fun and challenging one day workshop you will learn fundamental skills in painting and drawing the landscape in acrylic or oil paint from a photo. Experienced and qualified art tutor and practicing landscape artist Ochre Lawson will guide you in learning new skills, demonstrations and looking at master landscape artists throughout history.
You will learn:
- Skills in observation and composition of the landscape
- How to see and paint perspective in the landscape
- How to divide the picture plane
- How to create a sense of depth
- How to mix tone and a limited colour palette
- How to lay out a pallet
- About different landscape artists and their approach
Materials List:
Painting the Landscape Material List – Art Class Sydney
Unless you have paid for art materials they are not included in the workshop fee. Students will need to bring the following items:
- One Canvas, canvas paper or wooden board to paint on, minimum 12″ x 16″ for the workshop. This may be cheap canvas from a $2 shop.
- 3 times A4 cartridge paper, willow charcoal/pencil and rubber for sketching out ideas
- A selection of 3-4 filbert brushes small, medium and large size. A large glue brush for painting a ground is also useful.
- A rectangle plastic or wooden palette (no smaller than A3 size, do not bring a palette with wells, they are for watercolour)
Rags, Apron
Paints: Students may use Oils or acrylics depending on
preference.
- A mid/primary yellow or Cadmium yellow hue
- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Sienna
- Titanium White
- Please buy ‘student quality’ paints from a decent brand (Matisse Derivan Acrylics or Art Spectrum paints are good, reasonably priced brands). Cheap paints are a waste of money! At least buy a good quality white.
If using Oil Paints:
You will need odourless solvent for cleanup and thinning paint. We recommend ‘Gamsol’ by Gamblin. This is the least toxic solvent on the market and the same price as other odourless solvents. Solvents MUST be odourless. Oil painting solvents and mediums must not be tipped down the sinks. You will need to bring 2 small jars with lids to take away spent solvents/mediums. Spent solvents/ mediums must be taken with you. Your tutor will give you information on reusing and disposing of spent solvents and mediums. You need to clean oil brushes at home. If you want to save paint bring some glad wrap to put over your pallet.
Equipment List:
Facilities provided by Art Class Sydney
- Desks
- Easels
- backing boards
- bulldog clips
- tea/coffee, milk, mugs, microwave, fridge
- toilets
- Free street parking
- Disabled access
Learning to Draw – the fundamentals – suitable for complete beginners to more experienced
Date and Time
Sunday May 18, 2025
10am-3.30pm
Venue
Annandale Community Centre, 79 Johnston St, Annandale NSW 2038
Cost
$200 inc gst (materials excluded), $200 inc gst (materials included)
Overview
Drawing is the most basic skill elemental to all art forms. Learning to draw teaches us to really look at the world around us. Suddenly, through learning to draw we see shadow, shapes and colour all the more brilliantly. It forces us to stop and really study something and the memory of this will stay with us forever. In this fun and challenging one day workshop you will learn the fundamental skills of drawing from observation. Using a still life as subject matter experienced tutor Ochre Lawson will guide students through exercises in learning how to see shape, proportion and tone using charcoal as our medium. She will also introduce master artists work and demonstrate techniques in how to draw. Ochre is a professional artist of over 15 years who gained her degree at the prestigious National Art School where drawing is the keystone to all their teaching.
In this workshop you will learn-
- how to draw from observation
- how to measure proportions
- how to see and render tone, texture and line using charcoal
- about historical and contemporary artists
- about different drawing materials
Materials List:
- A3 cartridge paper – 3 sheets
- Willow charcoal – size Medium
- Paper towel for rubbing back, rubber, stubb
- ruler
You can buy materials at your local art store. Here are a few suggestions.
Parkers- Sydenham and The Rocks
Equipment List:
Facilities provided by Art Class Sydney
- Source material
- Desks and chairs
- Easels
- backing boards
- bulldog clips
- tea/coffee, milk, mugs, microwave
- toilets
- Free street parking
- Disabled access
Fundamentals of Watercolour – suitable for complete beginners to more experienced
Date and Time
Sunday June 15, 2025
10am - 3.30pm
Venue
Annandale Community Centre - Back Hall
Cost
$200 (materials excluded) $220 (materials included) both inclusive of gst and stripe fee
Overview
In this fun and informative one day workshop students will learn the fundamentals of using watercolour, loosely using landscape as our subject matter. Painting with watercolour is a challenging yet wonderful way to render the landscape being light weight and water based. Professional landscape artist and experienced tutor of over 15 years Ochre Lawson , will facilitate the workshop with demonstrations of different watercolour techniques using both pencil and watercolour. Ochre uses watercolour and pencil in her own art when she is getting her source material for her paintings. She will also talk about different master artists and how they interpreted the landscape with watercolour.
Things you will learn
- Introduction to watercolour techniques – mixing wet into wet, wet on dry
- Brushwork – creating washes, drawing with a brush, wiping off
- Mixing colour – transparent and opaque
- About Chroma, Hue and Tonal effects
- Basics of landscape composition
- Perspective and proportion in the landscape
- About Master watercolour artists
Materials List:
Introduction to Watercolour – Material list
- A4 watercolour paper 3 to 4 sheets and practice paper (180 gsm minimum)
- Lead pencil – 2B, rubber
- Watercolour set – either tubes or pans
- Pigments required – Burnt Sienna, Prussian Blue, Cadmium Yellow Deep (hue), Viridian Green, Alizarin Crimson
- Mixing palette – this could be a ceramic plate or a palette with wells
- Watercolour brushes – please bring soft rounded watercolour brushes a size 10 or 12 and a larger one for washes.
- kitchen paper for blotting
- masking tape for taping down onto board (backing boards are provided)
- Apron
- Source material – if you wish to bring your own landscape photo to work from please bring it on an a4 print out or on a tablet – please don’t use your phone. Make sure you have good tonal quality and a foreground, mid-ground and background composition.
Equipment List:
Facilities provided by Art Class Sydney
- Source material – ie photos to work from but you are welcome to bring your own
- Desks
- backing boards
- tea/coffee, milk, mugs, microwave, fridge
- toilets
- Free street parking
- Disabled access
Introduction to Painting Still Life with Flowers – Complete beginners to students with some experience
Date and Time
Sunday July 27, 2025
10am-3.30pm
Venue
Annandale Community Centre, Back Hall, 79 Johnston St, Annandale
Cost
$200 (materials excluded) or $220 (including materials) GST and Stripe fee inclusive
Overview
In this fun and challenging one day workshop students will learn the fundamentals of painting with a still life of flowers as subject matter. Drawing and painting from the still life set up will be explored teaching students how to draw and paint from observation. Students will learn methods of drawing an initial sketch, how to mix paint and apply tone and how to mix a limited colour palette. Students may use either acrylic or oil paint. Master artists will be referenced and experienced tutor Ochre Lawson will demonstrate different painting and drawing techniques. Ochre is a professional artist and tutor of more than 15 years used to working with a variety of students level of experience. Ochre’s approach to teaching is structured with demonstrations of techniques, showing images of different artists work and step-by-step instructions . This class is appropriate for complete beginners to more experienced.
You will learn about:
- how to draw and paint from observation
- how to measure basic proportions
- How to set up a painting palette, basic colours, brushes and materials
- how to see and paint tone
- how to mix a limited colour palette
- How to use a variety of brush marks
- About historical and contemporary artists
Materials List:
Unless you have paid for art materials they are not included in the workshop fee. Students will need to bring the following items:
- Canvas support, canvas paper or Board to paint on, minimum 12” x 16″ for the workshop. This may be cheap canvas from a $2 shop.
- An A4 art journal or paper, willow charcoal/pencil and rubber for sketching out ideas
- A selection of 3-4 filbert brushes small, medium and large size. A large glue brush for painting a ground is also useful.
- A rectangle plastic or wooden palette (no smaller than A3 size), do not bring pallets with wells, these are for watercolour. If you dont have a palette just bring an old big plate.
- Rags, Apron
- Paints: Students may use Oils or acrylics depending on
preference.
For a beginners class we will use: - Cadmium yellow (hue) or a Primary yellow
- Ochre Yellow
- Alizarin crimson
- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Sienna
- Titanium White;
- Please buy ‘student quality’, not kids paints (Matisse Derivan Acrylics (structure) or Art Spectrum oils are good, reasonably priced brands). Cheap paints are a waste of money!
If using Oil Paints:
You will need odourless solvent for cleanup and mixing mediums. We recommend ‘Gamsol’ by Gamblin. This is the least toxic solvent on the market and the same price as other odourless solvents. Solvents MUST be odourless. Oil painting solvents and mediums must not be tipped down the sinks. You will need to bring 2 small jars with lids to take away spent solvents/mediums. Spent solvents/ mediums must be taken with you. Your tutor will give you information on reusing and disposing of spent solvents and mediums. You need to clean oil brushes at home. If you want to save paint bring some glad wrap to put over your pallet.
Equipment List:
Facilities provided by Art Class Sydney
- Easels and backing boards
- Tables, drop sheets
- water containers for acrylic paint
- bulldog clips
- Still life set up
- Kitchen facilities with fridge, microwave, coffee/tea, milk, mugs
- Toilets
- Disabled access
- Street parking
Enrolment Terms and Conditions
If the hall is forced to close due to restrictions being put back in place students must be prepared to do the class via zoom. There will be no refunds due to hall closure.
All term classes must be taken within the term paid for.
Fees are non-refundable, unless negotiated for an extended illness.
You may make up missed classes by attending other classes within the same term (Subject to available places in the class)You may also use credit toward a workshop within one month of the term finishing – only up to 2 missed classes may be used in credit. This is also subject to availability within a week of the workshop. Credit per class missed is as follows – Wednesday morning – $50, Wednesday evening – $30, Thursday morning – $40
If you choose to withdraw from a course or workshop up to 7 days before its commencement, you will be charged a $25 administration fee. You may transfer the remaining value (class fee paid less administration fee) to another class or student, to be used within 12 months of the date payment was received. You will not receive a refund for the course or workshop fee paid.
If you choose to withdraw from a course or workshop within 7 days of its commencement, you will be charged 50% of the class fee. You may transfer the remaining value (50% of the class fee) to another class or student, to be used within 12 months of the date payment was received. You will not receive a refund for the class fee paid.
NO refunds transfers or credits if you withdraw or cancel on the day of the course or workshop.
NO refunds transfers or credits once the class has commenced.
If you have enrolled in a one day weekend workshop that you cannot attend, you may transfer your enrolment to someone else. Please let us know prior to the workshop.
If you are enrolled in a term course and if for any reason you are unable to attend a class during the term, you cannot give your place for the missed week/s to someone else.
Art Class Sydney strive to run every class advertised, however, very rarely, classes may be cancelled due to low numbers. Students will be reimbursed the full fee or they may be credited toward another class if you prefer.
