2025 News Update

I cant' believe that Christmas is already here and I already have a busy year booked in for drawing workshops next year. This summer there will be a colour oil painting workshop in Launceston with the Drawing Academy for Teens , my first drawing workshop with Launceston Art Society in May and I will be visiting Queensland and NSW in July and October for several different drawing workshops.If you are keen to find out more, I have some of the new workshops up on my workshops page.  www.manuelapilzart.com/workshops.html

Besides the usual portrait workshops, I am doing a new one which focuses on hair, and I will be conducting a colour pencil workshop as well as a new drawing large scale animals and birds workshop. So excited to be asked to teach more subjects. 

Watch out for another Sketch Theatre in Mudgeeraba, Qld and a new workshop in Leeton, NSW. Dates are still to be confirmed. 
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Online Drawing classes are now starting their fourth year which is just a surprise to us all. We have a great community there and I am so grateful for their support and I love watching everyone grow. We started thinking this was going to be a temporary thing but we just love keeping in touch this way.

I am looking forward to continuing during the week doing my own painting in my studio which I love, drawing with my teenagers in the Academy and teaching some absolutely fab teachers at Launceston Christian School. I can't believe how lucky I am.
Looking forward to a great new year!!!
See you soon. 
​M

So great to see so many old faces from different courses in the past. This was a two day workshop at One Arts organised by Artable where beginners and more experienced drawers used the sight size method to help them measure and work with getting the proportions of a face straight on. We didnt focus on likeness we focused on proportion and form and using charcoal on toned paper which was a totally different technique for many. Looking forward to seeing you all next year. 

 The latest news is that   ...... I am starting a Drawing Academy for Young Artists in my new home in Launceston! Pass it on!!!

​I have been wanting to set up a project like this for ages and have finally found a school who shares the same passion for passing on traditional skills to younger artists so that they have every tool at their disposal before they continue a profession in an visual art related career or if they continue to develop this passion alongside their working career. There are several Academies such as these in the States and the photo on the left is taken from such an art school. (Vosler)

Below is some information about the new Academy. Feel free to pass on this information to anyone who has a teenage daughter or son with a hunger to advance in their drawing. 

How important is learning to draw?
Drawing is a necessary fundamental basis for all art forms including animation and concept design, graphic design, architecture, sculpture, industrial design, and representational painting. Animation and movie studios value artists trained in the classic tradition. Even Walt Disney encouraged his animators to regularly go out and sketch outdoors from life. 

For the very first time, a unique opportunity for creative teenagers interested in learning and developing drawing skills in realism are offered at the Brisbane Street Art School. This school, founded by Leoni Duff Tasmania’s master pastel artist and painter, is situated in the oldest historic building in Launceston and is a highly regarded and established centre for studying the visual arts with an emphasis on learning from great artist past and present. 
 
The Drawing Academy for Young Artists is a weekly class for aspiring young artist with a desire to train and further improve in the style of realism. This new endeavour is equally ideal for teenagers who have a passion for art and wish to advance in their skills in the visual arts.

Who should apply:
Any young artist 11-21 year old. No previous experience in classical drawing is required but applicants that can demonstrate an existing commitment and passion for drawing and will enjoy a thorough yet exciting drawing programme are encouraged to contact Manuela or Leoni at the details below. For more information go to The Drawing Academy for Young Artists page in the weekly classes. Click here

 Manuela Pilz at [email protected]or Leoni Duff at [email protected] to arrange a time to meet or to ask about any more information.
Mobile: 0466662712

 Times are a changing and for those of you who are either in lockdown or just love studying from the convenience of your home, please check out my courses on my weekly online classes page. This snapshot above is from The FACE 8 week Zoom classes in which we draw all the features of the face but with different drawing materials such as colour pencils, graphite and charcoal. It has been so good to keep in touch with our NSW students who haven't been able to cross the border.

Next year there are four new Zoom courses coming in term 1 2022: The BODY, Drawing your plants at home, Absolute Beginners Drawing and a repeat of The FACE course but during the day. 

https://www.manuelapilzart.com/store/c3/Online-Classes

If you are looking for Absolute Beginner painting courses, there is a 1-day workshops in November 2021 and two in April 2022, doing a grisaille or a Zorn colour workshop. More are being scheduled in July and September 2022 which will build on the skills from the previous workshops. I would like to build up to painting an eye with pick our and then finishing it with colour. Check my events page for updates

 https://www.manuelapilzart.com/events.html

For workshops at Artable, Shore Studio or the Art on the Barron retreat, stay posted as these dates are being confirmed for the Easter, Winter and September breaks.

So much happening as usual. Looking forward to sharing 2022 with you virtually or at a workshop. Stay well and safe. Manuela

I don't know about you but I had so much fun on this day. I would like to say a big thank you to all of you joining me on this day of painting. I was sooo nervous in the morning as I thought it was going to rain, but the Gods were looking down on us favourably all day. The cloud cover was perfect and created a more constant light. Below I will post some photos to show what amazing stuff was being created. It was really interesting having to strategize and paint into the lighting conditions that you thought you would be seeing later in the day. Rebecca was an amazing model as usual and managed to sit in that position for nearly 6 hours which is extraordinary. The paintings below are by Elliot Brown, Monica Batiste, Richard Washbourn, Annelie Dahlen and myself. It was great to sit along with painting friends and some brave students and work together. It is strange that it has taken Covid and social distancing for me to finally sit down in my parents garden and paint there.  I have also included some information about the next few dates for the Drawing in the Wild tutored session and the Painting in the Wild untutored session below.

A few dates and events coming up.

​Content for tutored session 25th July
I will be looking at a lying down pose for Sylvia under the canopy of trees. We will look at measuring half way, blocking in and enveloping again and measuring by comparing shapes and angles. There will be folds and material to work with too.

Content for tutored session 8 August
This depends on the model but I'm thinking of making facial features the focus of this session. I have a model in mind but I will confirm at a later date. 

Next untutored Painting in the Wild Sunday 23rd August.
A semi-clothed model: the wonderful Kathy Toka.

Sorry no newsletter at the moment but here are some events.
At present I am a little under the gun with starting my classes, so the newsletter may not be sent out until next week. But if you are looking for more events that may interest you, there is The Sculpting Jam starting 19th July in a new venue in Brisbane, Dust Temple's life drawing sessions starting in August, the Dean Cogle Portrait Prize in August, Learn to Draw on Aug 9 with Artable as well as the 5 day Tyalgum Art retreat at the end of August. I really recommend Hobie Porter and Lyn Diefenbach's classes as they are amazing teachers. I will be helping Cherry Hood's watercolor session in September so I might see you there and Andrew Bonneau is doing a Plein Air workshop in Brisbane.
Really looking forward to another lovely day outside with the sounds of nature. Go to the life drawing page on my website for bookings.

 Newsletter June and July 2020
Hey life drawing friends,
Well, I was so pleased with the wonderful weather we had at our last life drawing out “in the wild” and I have been overwhelmed with the amount of interest there is in continuing this outdoor event, (or at least until the weather gets too hot).
So, due to there being shade in this area for the next 2 months, we are going to do ‘Drawing in the Wild Sessions’ once a fortnight.
There has also been an increasing number of people who would like to draw or paint on this lovely property untutored, so I have arranged a special one-off untutored all-day session next month too. Have a look at the dates and details below.
 
 
Session 1 Drawing in the Wild (Tutored)
27 June 2020 9am to 1pm. $45
(There is the possibility to stay on to 3.30 untutored $70) When booking please make clear what date you are booking and the time period)
As usual we will start with instruction, demo and practice before working with the model. I will be focusing on quick easy ways to measure and get proportion and how to block in by enveloping and thinking about positive and negative space.
Working outdoors will present new challenges for all of us but it will be fun. You will need to be well equipped and appropriately dressed to protect yourself from the elements. 
If it rains, we will just have to go back to the old classroom (depending on indoor restrictions) or I will cancel or postpone the event. It is essential that you give me your mobile contact if you choose to participate, so that I can contact you if we have rain.
Each easel(6) has a huge umbrella, but it may not protect us from wild rain. There are four seated spaces and we have now found 2 large umbrellas to cover them too.
First come first serve.
What should you bring?  For this day, bring your graphite pencils or charcoal pencils. Some of you may want to experiment with pastels as the model will be surrounded by palm leaves and flowers. What is important is that you bring clips to help you keep your paper from flying around in case of a breeze.
Sadly, due to Covid 19 restrictions, I will be unable to cater for food or drinks. For this reason, I recommend packing your food and snacks, a nice big thermos of your favourite hot beveridge (hot toddy?) and a bottle of water. Put sun cream and Aeroguard on your list too.
 
Pre-class study for tutored session. I have posted here a couple of images (above) for thinking about how to start a figure drawing with enveloping and I will attach them to the email for you to copy and work from, in your own time. I found these exercises on an interesting website called “The Drawing Source”. I have attached the link with an introductory exercise you can do.https://www.thedrawingsource.com/step-by-step-figure-drawing.html
 
Session 2: Drawing in the Wild (Untutored)
July 11, 2020
9am till 3.30pm (45 min lunch break) $55 (includes cost of 6hrs with the model, easels, umbrellas and some seated places.)
 
I have had several emails from you enquiring to join in the session untutored. For this reason, I have arranged this one-off untutored session. This also coincides with the border opening to NSW, so some of you who couldn’t participate can now come up hooray!!!
 
 If you are wanting to paint or draw with us, please write to me or phone me and I will gladly supply you with more information regarding materials, facilities, how to get there etc. I have space in the shade for only 10 participants (taking social distancing restrictions into consideration) and I have already 3 reserved, so please let me know as soon as possible.
 
We do have a Bed and Breakfast on the property for anyone wishing to stay on the property for the weekend for those of you travelling far. Go to http//www.garasulodge.com.au for more information or email [email protected]
 
What’s On
Portrait Artist of the Week:  Already quite a few of you are joining us on Sunday nights on Sky TV’s Facebook page for a live streaming draw or paint along session at 7pm. Its great fun. You get to watch and/or listen to an interview that is going on between a past winner of Sky Portrait Artist of the Year and well-known British celebrity. My favourite so far was with Noel Fielding a comedian and artist and you can see my interpretation on my Instagram. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=249803216233359&ref=watch_permalink
Hope I see you there and if not ….. keep drawing 😊
Kindest Regards,                                                                                                                           
Manuela

​
​Henri Rosseau     
Newsletter June 2020

Hey life drawing friends,
What a year hey? Well, I think we deserve a bit of a treat, don’t you?. Now that the restrictions for events outdoors are relaxing, I think it’s time to get out and draw outside. As of 1st June, up to 20 people can gather at a public event and my parents very kindly have agreed to let us use their huge garden to have Bobby pose for us in the wild in Mudgeeraba. What’s more, for the next 2 months there is shade in this area, so it’s now or never. I can fit 10 people in easily keeping to social distancing guidelines. So lets do it!

Drawing in the Wild
13th June 2020 9am to 1pm.
As usual we will start with instruction, demo and practice dealing with composition before working with the model. Working outdoors will present new challenges for all of us but it will be fun. You will need to be well equipped and appropriately dressed to protect yourself from the elements. (Refer to photo) If it rains, we will just have to go back to the old classroom (depending on indoor restrictions) or I will cancel or postpone the event. It is essential that you give me your mobile contact if you choose to participate, so that I can contact you if we have rain. Each easel has a huge Bunnings umbrella, but it may not protect us from wild rain.

Materials
For this day, bring your graphite pencils or charcoal pencils. Some of you may want to experiment with pastels as Bobby will be surrounded by palm leaves and flowers. What is important is that you bring clips to help you keep your paper from flying around in case of a breeze. Sadly, due to Covid 19 restrictions, I will be unable to cater for food or drinks. For this reason, I recommend packing your food and snacks, a nice big thermos of your favourite hot Beveridge(hot toddy?) and a bottle of water.
Put sun cream and aeroguard on your list too.

Timetable options for the Long Pose
We will have:
1. $45 for the half day (tutored) starting 9am and finishing at 1pm.
2. As being outdoors for more that 4 hours may be difficult for the model (and us), we won’t be able to do the extended untutored session this time.

Pre-class study
As composition will be an important part of dealing with the figure and her surroundings I have found a Youtube video that will remind you of some strategies that could help you deal with this workshop. The first video is quite basic and cute and gives you a taster of some strategies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwUZ3PivD6I.

 If you are looking for a higher level of study of composition have a look at Andrew Tischler’s video on the Golden Mean. It’s quite technical, so it’s not for the faint of heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wntIMD9wbR0

What’s On
As you know nearly everything has been cancelled and artists have had to resort to working online to help them get through these difficult times. Atelier Art classes Brisbane are doing online life drawing classes on Wednesday and Thursday evenings [email protected]. Sylvia Beck is also doing untutored life drawing sessions from her home online. [email protected]
 
Podcasts: John Dalton Gently does it….
If you are doing art work at home and you like chitter chat in the background while drawing, I really recommend John Dalton’s interviews of well-known Irish, British, American and some Aussie painters. It’s always interesting hearing about the painting routines, inspiration, the hardships, their techniques that some of these full-time practising artists have. https://www.johndalton.me  Savvy Painter is another artist’s podcast and for an Australian one I recommend Talking with Painters.

Life Drawing Sessions
Don’t forget that there will be some great quick pose life drawing opportunities on the first, second and third Thursday at Rebecca Cunningham’s Life Drawing sessions at Dust Temple and HOTA https://www.lifedrawingsessions.com.au/ . Check out her website to see when she will commence. I think she will be starting again pretty soon.

I hope to be at as many of those venues as possible to keep practising. Hope I see you there and if not ….. keep drawing 😊 
Kindest Regards,   
​Manuela                                                                                                                         

It is with absolute delight to welcome you to my new Website and welcome comments as a lively art based discussion and communication.

Manuela