Intuitive Composition:

Painting from process

A lesson plan that is adaptable to both primary and secondary
level students centred upon the methods that artist Kirsty Budge
uses to generate paintings, inspired by her work Always late to
the party 2015 in Painting. More Painting. This activity is modelled
to correspond to the Victorian Curriculum and to be adaptable to
students of all year levels.

THE ARTIST

Kirsty Budge is a New Zealand born, Melbourne based artist.

Budge’s paintings connect personal experiences, thought patterns,
observations and environments through intuitive processes. Real and
imagined forms are combined on the same picture plane, and through
the process of mark-making each is given equal value in the space
of the painting. The structure of each painting emerges through a
lengthy process of excavation and application by the artist, resulting in
an image that is both a response to and a construction of a personal
narrative.

- Sarah Scout Presents 2016

Image: Kirsty Budge, Always late to the party 2016, oil on canvas. Courtesy the artist
and Daine Singer, Melbourne

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ACTIVITY OUTLINE ACTIVITY TIMELINE

In response to the artwork of Kirsty Budge students This is an adaptive unit that could be completed over
will embark upon creating a painting through an either two single or double sessions, or alternatively
intuitive, open-ended process. This activity is intended extended over several weeks through elaboration with
to both combat the ‘block’ that some students can the incorporation extension suggestions.
encounter when trying to begin an artwork, and to
show more confident students a way of generating
a picture that draws upon process and open-ended MATERIALS & EQUIPMENT:
exploration of materials and techniques, rather than
preconceived composition. • Ink - any colour
• A2 watercolour paper
• Water pots
LEARNING OUTCOMES • Rags/paper towel
• Acrylic paints - black and white
Students will: • Palette knives
• Use a range of strategies to explore the artwork of • Paint palettes
Kirsty Budge. • Brushes for acrylic paint
• Make artworks inspired by methods and ideas • Brushes for ink
explored in Kirsty Budge’s practice. • Natural willow charcoal
• Build-up an original painterly composition by using • Fixative
a step-by-step process of addition and subtraction • Images of Melbourne-based artist Kirsty Budge’s
to reach a final, fully realised composition. painting Always late to the party, taken at intervals
• Learn to work with a combination of ink, acrylic in the process of its creation.
paints and natural charcoal, building up layers in a
process of mixed media composition.
• Explore the potential of open-ended, additive and KEY VOCABULARY:
subtractive exploration in composing 2D artworks.
• Collage
• Learn new art-specific vocabulary within the
• Experimental play
process of painting.
• Composition
• View a series of photographic documentation to
• Intuitive
understand the process Kirsty Budge undertakes
• Assemblage
when creating a painting.
• Excavation
• Identify and explore ways to use different painterly
• Application
techniques in intuitive, accumulative painting
• Scraping
processes.

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ACTIVITY PROCESS

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

1. Show students the sequence of images of Kirsty 1. Each student is to be given a large A2 piece of 1. At this stage students are aiming to add definition
Budge’s painting Always late to the party (see thick watercolour paper (250-300gsm). The size is to their ink and acrylic compositions using natural
previous page). These images illustrate the gradual intended to allow the possibility of a larger area for charcoal. They will be working over the surface of
evolution of the picture from washes, to block students to work with, and to provide a challenge the composition achieved in the previous lesson.
colour, to final detailing. Explain that this process to engage an extensive surface area. They can also have some practice cartridge paper
occurred over several months with periods of to use to test on, and even perhaps collage bits
deliberation in between. 2. They should also have some ‘test’ practice onto their work or gain inspiration from marks
cartridge paper to try ink washes on before making made on that sheet.
2. Introduce words for the vocabulary list and explain marks on their main sheet.
techniques that will be involved. 2. Students to consider: hard edge vs. soft smudging;
3. Cover the surface of the paper by brushing on representations of shadow; giving definition to
varied ink washes. The ink should be premixed in emerging shapes; using hatching and stippling to
three different dilutions in cups with water, so as create texture.
to allow the creation of a varied tonal background.
The shapes that emerge out of this tonal variation 3. Students may also add torn parts of their test
will act as a starting point for either figurative or paper to add relief areas to their compositions,
abstract compositions. Students can use rags or and then draw or paint back over these.
paper towel to blot and lighten certain areas.

4. Students will have abstract forms to work with on

the page, rather than a flat blank surface. Allow
brief windows of time for the ink to dry so as to
avoid overall blurring of shapes - students should
be careful not to ‘flood’ the paper with too much
ink wash.

5. Once the ink surface is dry, students are to paint

on acrylic paint using only black, white and mid-
grey tones. Ask students to work quickly and
selectively scrape back areas of paint from the
paper surface, using either a butter or palette
knife, to begin building their composition.
Image: Kirsty Budge’s work in studio. Ask students to think about: texture; negative vs.
positive space; and tonal variation.
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EXTENSION ACTIVITIES PRIMARY
Respond & Interpret
These suggestions aim to extend the activity through Explore & Express Ideas
elaboration and deepening of focus upon areas such • Artworks often provoke speculation about the
as: increased attention to detail, incorporation of colour, • Explore and learn about Kirsty Budge’s practice artist’s ideas and motivations. Project Kirsty
and greater variety of 2D and 3D materials involved. through a range of methods, including: Visiting Budge’s painting Always Late to the Party in your
Specific extension ideas for the discussion, analysis Painting. More Painting; looking at the artist’s classroom. Have a group discussion about why
and presentation of student artworks have also been website and that of Daine Singer (her representing you think the artist painted the painting the way
explored. gallery); discussing online newspaper reviews of that she did.
past exhibitions.
• On a sheet of paper list the subject matter and
KEY LINKS • As a class have a discussion about the kind of ideas that you think you can see in the painting –
ideas that students think are in Budge’s paintings: there are no wrong guesses!
Artist website: What kind of things do you think are being
http://kirstybudge.tumblr.com/ represented – people, animals, objects? What do
you think the artist is interested in – are we looking
Daine Singer (representing gallery): into her imagination?
http://www.dainesinger.com/kirsty-budge/
Visual Arts Practices
Exhibition, Sarah Scout Presents:
http://www.sarahscoutpresents.com/web/kirsty-budge- • Create a painting that develops gradually out of
andrea-eckersley/ process but that uses 3D materials – raffia, string,
recycled materials – rather than paint to give extra
texture and dimension.

Present & Perform

• Using the artworks that you have created

assemble an exhibition. Consider why you might
hang certain works near or next to one another –
think about colour, theme, and texture. Once your
exhibition is hung have a group discussion about
the works. Does having some works near others
create an interesting dialogues or ‘conversations’?

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SECONDARY

Explore & Express Ideas Present & Perform

• Get an overview of Kirsty Budge’s art practice by • When you place works near one-another you
looking at her website and that of Daine Singer create dialogues and relationships between the
(her representing gallery). Discuss online reviews works. As a group, curate your Kirsty Budge-
of past exhibitions. inspired artworks into an exhibition using two
different strategies. Firstly, use the same
• Choose an object or artwork from another culture alphabetical order strategy as the curators of
than your own and create a painting inspired by Painting. More Painting have in the panorama
it. Don’t be afraid to choose something that you exhibition. Once this is hung, gather as a group
are not at all familiar with, Consider the colours, and discuss the logic of the exhibition. Is this the
shapes and themes represented when creating best arrangement of these works? In deciding
your reinterpretation. on a new arrangement consider features such
as: texture, shape, colour, tone, contrast, subject
matter and format (landscape vs portrait). As a
Visual Arts Practices group keep reworking the exhibition until everyone
is happy with the result.
• View Kirsty Budge’s series of process images.
The artist began Always Late to the Party with a Respond & Interpret
simple illustration of a person. However, during Image: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon 1907
the process of creating the painting this figure • There are some similarities between the
disappeared completely. Using a computer create composition of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles
an initial design for a painting that includes either a d’Avignon­and Kirsty Budge’s Always Late to the
person, animal or building. Print this out and attach Party. Picasso was inspired by African masks
it to a sturdy cardboard sheet. Using magazines when creating his artwork - you can see the
and other printed materials build-up a ‘painting’ shapes in the faces of his subjects. This particular
by collaging blocks of paper, collage images and style of artwork that draws from other ancient
3D materials – consider the art elements and cultures and times is called Primitivism. Do you
principles of text, colour, contrast, juxtaposition think Kirsty Budge was also inspired by objects or
and texture. Don’t be afraid to completely alter artworks from other cultures? Discuss as a class.
the original form during your process. you think the artist painted the painting the way
that she did.

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