Gestural Figure: Drawing and Painting with Catriona Platten

Join nine playful weeks of gestural figure drawing and painting from a live model. Explore movement, gesture, and expressive mark-making as you experiment with graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolour, gouache, and acrylic. Through quick poses, intuitive exercises, and layered studies, you’ll build confidence and develop bold, dynamic, and expressive responses to the human form.

Participants of all levels, from beginner to advanced, are welcome. However, some prior experience in figure drawing or painting would be beneficial to feel comfortable working from the human form.

This nine-week series of workshops offers an immersive exploration of gestural figure drawing and painting. Working each week from a live nude model, you’ll focus on capturing the energy, movement, and expressive qualities of the human form.

The sessions emphasise observing and expressing physical action, speed, and movement, prioritising process, energy, and spontaneity in mark-making. Rooted in observation, instinct, and the physicality of drawing, the workshops encourage expressive approaches using gesture, colour, distortion, and tonal contrast to convey emotion and rhythm.

You’ll begin with intuitive charcoal exercises, including blind and semi-blind contour drawing, alongside large-scale expressive studies. Through a combination of quick poses and varied techniques, you’ll develop fluidity, confidence, and a responsive approach to line and tone.

As the workshops progress, you’ll explore layering, sequential figure studies, and semi-abstract compositions, experimenting with rhythm, transparency, and abstraction. Media such as ink, watercolour, and acrylic will be introduced alongside tonal approaches, including chiaroscuro and reductive methods, to build depth, volume, and atmosphere.

A wide range of mark-making tools will be encouraged, with materials provided and the option to bring your own. You’ll also be invited to create tools from organic materials to further explore gesture and movement. Work will be produced on a variety of papers and scales, (up to A1 size) offering space to experiment and develop expressive, dynamic responses to the figure.

Info: Workshop Schedule: Wednesdays, 18:30 – 21:00 (2.5 hours)
Duration: 16/09/2026 – 25/11/2026 (9-week block)
Note: No workshops on 14/10/2026 or 21/10/2026 due to public holidays.
Workshop Dates
Week 1: 16/09/2026
Week 2: 23/09/2026
Week 3: 30/09/2026
Week 4: 07/10/2026
No Workshop: 14/10/2026
No Workshop: 21/10/2026
Week 5: 28/10/2026
Week 6: 04/11/2026
Week 7: 11/11/2026
Week 8: 18/11/2026
Week 9: 25/11/2026

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