Gillian Banks OAM Contemporary Art Classes commencing Saturday 2nd August 2025

Especially for those who work weekdays 9 am to 5 pm, these Gillian Banks Saturday Morning Art Classes will encourage you to develop your own painting style rather than copy others and to work quickly to avoid the tightness of brush strokes in favour of simplified brush stroke.

Avoid too much detail in works as per the quote by French photographer Robert Doisneau:

Ponder what this may mean to your Contemporary painting style.

Gillian will provide written notes about Contemporary Art and artists from the Nineteenth century until the twenty first century suggesting artists to look up and study. Amongst them are:

• JMW Turner, 200 years ahead of his time and contemporary of Constable but now known as the father of Modern art.
• The French and Australian Impressionists including Fred Williams.
• The Post Impressionists, Clarice Beckett and including Pablo Picasso.
• The Abstract Expressionists such as Jackson Pollock.

These contemporary art sessions will cover the many facets of Modern Art and Abstract Art using acrylic paint on stretched canvas. The emphasis will be on quick broad brush or knife strokes and a variety of thick to watery paint applications.

Colour is very important to Contemporary Art and so are visible brush/knife strokes. Also important is a masterful handling of paint and a masterful handling of design and placement on the canvas. Master the technique of quick paint application, resulting in fresh, not laboured work.