Acrylic Painting Foundations - a one day workshop for beginners with Paulus Kooij

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This one-day foundation course is built for total beginners and for anyone who's dabbled in acrylics but never had the fundamentals properly explained. 

MEMBER: $90

NON-MEMBER: $110

In a single focused day you'll learn how acrylic actually behaves — its fast dry time, its opacity, its layering power — and how to use those properties deliberately instead of fighting them. No prior painting experience is needed. By the end of the day you'll have a completed piece in hand and the technical grounding to keep going.

All abilities are welcome.

Workshop Plan

• Materials, palette setup, and how acrylic behaves differently from watercolour or oil

• Core techniques: blending, layering, opacity control, and colour mixing

• Building a finished piece using the day's techniques

Materials List

You will need to bring the basic brushes, paints, canvas board and a stay wet palette.

Brushes

• A set of 4 brushes, 2 round (size 6,12) and 2 flat (10mm,16mm)— synthetic bristle is fine and inexpensive

• A palette knife (small, for mixing).

Paints

• Titanium White

• Primary Yellow (e.g. Cadmium Yellow or Hansa Yellow)

• Primary Red or Magenta (e.g. Naphthol Red or Quinacridone Magenta)

• Ultramarine Blue

• Phthalo Blue

• Burnt Sienna

• Yellow Ochre

• A basic student-grade set covering these colours is entirely sufficient for this course.

Surface

• A canvas board or canvas pad, 30 x 30 cm or 30 x 40 cm — at least 2 sheets/boards for practice and the final piece.

Other Basics

• An old towel or rag, a water container, and an apron or old shirt — acrylic does not wash out once dry

• A spray bottle if you have one (keeps paint workable on the palette)

• A stay wet palette, a simple flat plastic kitchen box with a flat rag or thin sponge and covered with baking paper will suffice or buy one on line. 

About Paulus

Paulus Kooij is a Sunshine Coast-based visual artist working across watercolour, oil, acrylic, pastel, pencil, and plaster sculpture. A retired industrial chemist and project manager, Paulus brings a precise, technically grounded approach to teaching — breaking painting down into principles that genuinely explain why a technique works, not just how to copy it. He teaches watercolour and other media through local groups and gallery-based courses, and is known for hands-on, demonstration-led classes where questions are always welcome.

Tea and coffee will be provided. Please BYO lunch.

create@noosaartsandcrafts.org.au

(07) 5474 1211