June 19, 2014
Twelve happy artists took part in a four-day pastel workshop at the Nanango Cultural Centre recently under the watchful eye of international artist Maxine Thompson.
Maxine had been brought to Nanango courtesy of a Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) grant.
RADF is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the South Burnett Regional Council to support local arts and culture.
Maxine is one of the few professional artists who travel throughout rural and remote Queensland to teach painting.
“My forte is portraiture,” she said.
“I teach and motivate students to achieve an accurate likeness and capture the character of their subjects.”
Students from all parts of the South Burnett learned how to paint a portrait with pastels for the first two days, followed by two days of painting animals.
Their skills ranged from complete beginners through to those new to pastels, along with some experienced pastellists.
But this diverse range of abilities and age groups worked well together to make an enjoyable and successful workshop.
Maxine encouraged the students as she demonstrated every aspect of portrait painting.
In one of her demonstrations, she even made someone cry as a demonstration portrait of their beloved pet dog came to life on the paper – but it was a cry of happiness.
Two lucky families from the Nanango community also benefitted from the portrait workshop in a totally unexpected way.
Each family had its pet dog painted as a 10 minute demonstration by Maxine.
These “fluffy dog” portraits were both a demonstration for the students and a fundraiser for “Our Rainbow House”, a children’s orphanage and school run by Queenslanders in Africa.
The Nanango workshop raised $210 in donations for the African children.
Members of the wider community and other art groups also came to visit the workshop over the four days to see the artists in action and the amazing portraits they were producing.
Maxine has now been invited back to the South Burnett to conduct more workshops for other art groups.
[Photos: Karol Oakley]
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