Discover the Power of Gesture, Atmosphere and Story in Figure Painting — The Robert Hagan Way.

Join us for five inspiring days on the Gold Coast where we’ll dive deep into one of the most expressive and emotionally charged areas of painting: the figure in the landscape. This workshop takes its cue from the celebrated impressionist style of Robert Hagan, loose, evocative, full of movement, narrative and light.

This is not a casual hobby class. It’s a focused, hands-on intensive designed for painters who want to lift their work beyond static poses and stiff figures, and instead create paintings that breathe, figures that feel alive in their environment.

Over the five days we’ll work from reference material, sketches, and studio demonstrations to develop a strong, confident process for painting figures with impressionist handling. You’ll learn how to suggest rather than describe, how to let atmosphere do some of the work, and how to build a painting that captures a moment in time, not just anatomy. We’ll explore composition, gesture, value structure, selective detail, edge control, brushwork, and the subtle emotional storytelling that makes Hagan’s work so compelling.

You’ll walk away not only with finished pieces, but with a repeatable, reliable approach you can use in your ongoing work, whether you’re painting beach scenes, horses, working figures, family scenes, or romantic narrative moments in nature.

This workshop is ideal for artists who already handle paint with some confidence and are now ready to let go a little, to loosen up, to paint with more feeling, and to move from “copying a reference” to expressing an experience.

By the end of the week you’ll feel your painting shift, more confident gesture, greater movement, more atmosphere, more heart. Your figures will breathe, and your landscapes will feel like real places, full of story and presence.

Join us on the Gold Coast next June and transform the way you paint figures. Spaces are limited so the guidance can remain personal and direct. Secure your place today.

Here is just some of what we’ll cover:

* Understanding narrative — painting a moment, not just a figure

* Gesture and posture — giving life to the figure from the first strokes

* Construction through shape, value and temperature (not drawing every detail)

* Integrating the figure naturally into the landscape (no “cut-out” look)

* How to create mood and atmosphere through edges and selective detail

* Using broken colour and loose impressionist brushwork with confidence

* Building depth and light into beach, bush and river settings

* Developing emotional connection and storytelling through composition

* When to refine — and when to leave it alone

* Working bold, fresh, and fluid — without fear of overworking