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Munsell colour exercises
Colour copy exercise
This is my on-campus, practical oil painting class at the National Art School, Sydney, suitable as either a complement or an alternative to my long-running in-depth course on colour for painters, Understanding and Applying Colour. Learn to see past the bewildering details of your subject to gather the colour information you need to get your painting off to a great start! Discover how to think of colour in a way that enables you to mix the exact colour that you want confidently and directly, every time. The approach consisting of a progressive sequence of structured exercises has given great results with both beginning and advanced students. Former students of either course can skip the more introductory exercises and focus on the tasks they'd like individual help with.
Offered frequently as eight evening classes, and occasionally as a five-day workshop in Summer School in January, on campus at the National Art School, Sydney. "Early bird"/ concession discount available (see NAS website for cost and enrollment details). Next session TBA.
Bookings
Bookings
Summer School, Monday to Friday 9.30 am to 4.30 pm in January
January 2026 (?, to be confirmed)
Thursday evenings, 6:00pm - 9:00pm, Terms Three and Four
24 Jul - 11 Sep 2025 (Thu), 6:00pm - 9:00pm (bookings open now)
9 Oct - 27 Nov 2025 (Thu), 6:00pm - 9:00pm (bookings open now)
https://shop.nas.edu.au/collections/on-campus?filter.p.m.custom.course_lecturer=Dr+David+Briggs
This is my on-campus, practical oil painting class at the National Art School, Sydney, suitable as either a complement or an alternative to my long-running in-depth course on colour for painters, Understanding and Applying Colour. Learn to see past the bewildering details of your subject to gather the colour information you need to get your painting off to a great start! Discover how to think of colour in a way that enables you to mix the exact colour that you want confidently and directly, every time. The approach consisting of a progressive sequence of structured exercises has given great results with both beginning and advanced students. Former students of either course can skip the more introductory exercises and focus on the tasks they'd like individual help with.
Offered frequently as eight evening classes, and occasionally as a five-day workshop in Summer School in January, on campus at the National Art School, Sydney. "Early bird"/ concession discount available (see NAS website for cost and enrollment details). Next session TBA.
Bookings
Bookings
24 Jul - 11 Sep 2025 (Thu), 6:00pm - 9:00pm (open now)
9 Oct - 27 Nov 2025 (Thu), 6:00pm - 9:00pm (open now)
https://shop.nas.edu.au/collections/on-campus?filter.p.m.custom.course_lecturer=Dr+David+Briggs
Greyscale copy exercise
Greyscale still life
Colour matching exercise
Colour matching exercise
Colour still life exercise with colour analysis demonstration
Resources
Resources
Zip file of selected paintings for copying
Click on the zip file link, then click on the download symbol at the top right of the page that opens.
My colour website:
Introduction to Munsell system:
Colour mixing paths in Munsell space:
Zones of light and shade:
Colour in light and shade:
Pigment Database.
Click on a colour to got to pigment information listed by pigment code.
MITRA forum
Color Practice (Matias Dahl)
https://www.color-practice.com/challenge.html (Interactive lightness and chroma sorting exercise available online and as iPad app)
Books
Robert Henri's The Art Spirit is a collection of quotes from his classes and various addresses, collected by one of his students and loosely compiled as a book after the artist's death in 1929. It contains a wealth of wonderful observations on everything from the life of an artist to painting technique and practice. Try the ten pages on brushstrokes beginning at the pages linked to here, and if you like you can download the whole book as a pdf from lower down on the same page.
For more inspiration and techniques to go further, especially for figure painting, take a look at these Instagram accounts:
Finally, look into the Colour Society of Australia for free webinars on all aspects of colour:
My other classes at NAS
My other classes at NAS
Understanding and Applying Colour (online, alternately 10 am - 1 pm and 6 pm - 9 pm)
This is my unique, in-depth online course on a wide range of aspects of colour, and especially those relevant to painters. The course consists primarily of copiously illustrated lectures, complemented with descriptions and demonstrations of practical exercises that progress from basic exercises illustrating colour theory to painting studies. The course attracts students from all over the world and is offered in a choice of times each term to suit all time zones.
Drawing for Beginners (on campus, Saturdays)
In this course I cover the fundamentals of seeing and drawing your subject in an integrated way. We cover the use of different materials (pencil, chalk, and pen), proportions, perspective, composition, light and shade, and the expressive effects of the abstract visual elements of a drawing. Subjects include the still life, the life model and the historic NAS campus.
Anatomy for Life Drawing (Summer and Winter Schools)
Anatomy for Life Drawing is a five-day workshop held in the magnificent top floor studio in the Chapel at the National Art School in the Summer and Winter School for the last ten years. For beginning anatomists the focus is on the skeleton, but content is flexible for those with prior knowledge.
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