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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3 Education
ACTIVITY PROCESS

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

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

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
These suggestions aim to extend the activity through
elaboration and deepening of focus upon areas such
as: increased attention to detail, incorporation of colour,
and greater variety of 2D and 3D materials involved.
Specific extension ideas for the discussion, analysis
and presentation of student artworks have also been
explored.
KEY LINKS
Artist website:
http://kirstybudge.tumblr.com/
Daine Singer (representing gallery):
http://www.dainesinger.com/kirsty-budge/
Exhibition, Sarah Scout Presents:
http://www.sarahscoutpresents.com/web/kirsty-budge-
andrea-eckersley/
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PRIMARY
Respond & Interpret
Explore & Express Ideas
• Artworks often provoke speculation about the
• Explore and learn about Kirsty Budge’s practice artist’s ideas and motivations. Project Kirsty
through a range of methods, including: Visiting Budge’s painting Always Late to the Party in your
Painting. More Painting; looking at the artist’s classroom. Have a group discussion about why
website and that of Daine Singer (her representing you think the artist painted the painting the way
gallery); discussing online newspaper reviews of that she did.
past exhibitions.
• On a sheet of paper list the subject matter and
• 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!
What kind of things do you think are being
represented – people, animals, objects? What do
you think the artist is interested in – are we looking
into her imagination?
Visual Arts Practices
• Create a painting that develops gradually out of
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’?
SECONDARY
Explore & Express Ideas
• Get an overview of Kirsty Budge’s art practice by
looking at her website and that of Daine Singer
(her representing gallery). Discuss online reviews
of past exhibitions.
• Choose an object or artwork from another culture
than your own and create a painting inspired by
it. Don’t be afraid to choose something that you
are not at all familiar with, Consider the colours,
shapes and themes represented when creating
your reinterpretation.
Visual Arts Practices
• View Kirsty Budge’s series of process images.
The artist began Always Late to the Party with a
simple illustration of a person. However, during
the process of creating the painting this figure
disappeared completely. Using a computer create
an initial design for a painting that includes either a
person, animal or building. Print this out and attach
it to a sturdy cardboard sheet. Using magazines
and other printed materials build-up a ‘painting’
by collaging blocks of paper, collage images and
3D materials – consider the art elements and
principles of text, colour, contrast, juxtaposition
and texture. Don’t be afraid to completely alter
the original form during your process.
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Present & Perform
• When you place works near one-another you
create dialogues and relationships between the
works. As a group, curate your Kirsty Budge-
inspired artworks into an exhibition using two
different strategies. Firstly, use the same
alphabetical order strategy as the curators of
Painting. More Painting have in the panorama
exhibition. Once this is hung, gather as a group
and discuss the logic of the exhibition. Is this the
best arrangement of these works? In deciding
on a new arrangement consider features such
as: texture, shape, colour, tone, contrast, subject
matter and format (landscape vs portrait). As a
group keep reworking the exhibition until everyone
is happy with the result.
Respond & Interpret
Image: Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon 1907
• There are some similarities between the
composition of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon­and Kirsty Budge’s Always Late to the
Party. Picasso was inspired by African masks
when creating his artwork - you can see the
shapes in the faces of his subjects. This particular
style of artwork that draws from other ancient
cultures and times is called Primitivism. Do you
think Kirsty Budge was also inspired by objects or
artworks from other cultures? Discuss as a class.
you think the artist painted the painting the way
that she did.