Anthroposophical Society in Australia

Working with colour, out of colour: a one-day painting intensive
2026-02-21 15:30 - 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A Painted Space Studio workshop

“A whole world opened and showed me colour as a living being.”
Goethe

This intensive workshop is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the role of colour in Steiner’ education and in Anthroposophy in general.
It introduces you to colour as an experience! We use the immersive wet-on-wet painting technique to help us transpose ourselves into the colour, so that we can say: “I am blue’ or ‘I am at one with golden yellow’. This is an important process for understanding how to work with colour, out of colour, selflessly.
The workshop provides you with basic watercolour painting skills and a grounding in Goethe’s Theory of Colour (which underlies the Steiner/Waldorf school curriculum for the visual arts).
Painting ‘out of colour’
But how do we paint ‘out of colour’ and not form? And how does this relate to the colours in nature, in the sky, the colours of the rainbow? To answer these questions, we start with Goethe’s colour circle as our guide. By immersing ourselves into the colour circle as it moves from warm to cool, light to dark, heaven to earth and back, we experience the full spectrum of colour – and of ourselves.

Why Goethe’s colour circle ?
Goethe proposed a revolutionary method of approaching the phenomena of colour, one which integrates the observer with the experience. Further, Goethe was concerned with the qualities of colours, which he called the ‘deeds and sufferings of the light’. By immersing our senses in each colour, one by one, we come to a deep, intuitive relationship with them. This, in turn, connects us more strongly to colour in the world around us.
Who is it for?

For Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to learn about colour to support their teaching practice (PD certificates available).

For anyone interested in learning to paint in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach.

This short intensive also provides an introduction to the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training. The Essence of Anthroposophic Art: Veiling the Colours follows on from this course, a further exploration of Goethe’s Theory of Colour but introducing the wet-on-dry watercolour painting technique.
When is it?
3.30pm-8pm AEDT, Saturday 21 February 2026
Cost
$150 AUD
$160 AUD for PD certificate
Video recordings and readings included in the fee, available for private study.
You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials after booking. The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
Bookings
Book here!

For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell

Feature image: Goethe’s symmetric colour wheel with associated symbolic qualities (1809)

A Conversation With Your Garden (Autumn): Goethean Observation and Drawing
2026-02-25 17:30 - 2026-05-06 19:00 | Online
Painted Space Studio presents

Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke 1914

Immersing ourselves in Nature as She turns inward …
Autumn is the wonderful time of year to turn our eyes to the changes Nature brings to the garden: the reds and golds of European trees, the bounty of fruits and late vegetables, all mixed in with the evergreens and native plants following their own local seasonal changes.
Whether you have your own garden or like to walk in a local park, a nature reserve or even just tend a few pot plants on your balcony, being with plants in their endless cycles of becoming and dying away is both energising and de-stressing for us. A health-giving counterblance to computer work!
Using Goethean phenomenology to guide us, these six online workshops will help you to become more ‘at home’ with nature.
The six workshops use mixed media and different drawing techniques to take us through this process. Techniques include charcoal, pencil, paint and pastel. Participants keep a visual diary to document their discoveries and observations.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops fresh, new eyes for seeing and engaging with the world around us. It brings us into a more participatory connection with both nature and ourselves.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in knowing more about Goethean phenomenology and how to practice it.
For nature lovers who would like to learn a non-confrontational way of drawing plants.
For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature

Suitable for all levels. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy these workshops. Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
When is it?
5.30-7.00pm AEDT, 25 February-6 May 2026
Cost
$230 AUD
$240 AUD PD certificate (75% participation required).
Video recordings included in the fee, available for three months.
Bookings

You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
Contact

Feature image: Autumn Pastel © Fiona Campbell 1998

The Essence of Anthroposophic Art: Veiling the Colours
2026-02-28 15:00 - 2026-04-25 17:00 | Zoom online events, Australia
A Painted Space Studio workshop

If I delve deeper into the characters of the different colours, they show me their dynamic qualities. Out my experience, I can then let the colours guide me.

Beppe Assenza

This course introduces the iconic veil painting technique so closely identified with Rudolf Steiner’s artistic approach.
We delve into the language of colour using transparent surfaces of liquid colour in free compositions inspired by Beppe Assenza’s playful but meditative approach to painting.
This is the preferred technique of any anthroposophic painting training. It is not an easy skill to develop but very satisfying to master.
Rudolf Steiner developed this technique as a way of of interfacing with the spirit through painting.
You can read more about the anthroposophic approach and why we prefer watercolour over acrylics and oils in this short article.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in learning the veiling (wet-on-dry) watercolour technique.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available).

When is it?
3.00 pm-5.00 pm AEDT, Saturdays, 28 February-25 April 2026
Five fortnightly sessions plus video recording
Cost
$240 AUD
$250 for PD certificate (75% attendance and participation required)
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
The payment options, Zoom link, and a list of materials will be sent to you after booking.

BOOK HERE

For more information
This course is a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It is preceded by the introductory workshop, Working with Colour, Out of Colour. Together, they provide a sound foundation in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Contact

Feature image: New Life Emerges © Fiona Campbell 2010

Surfaces as Interfaces to the Spirit
2026-03-07 15:00 - 2026-05-02 17:00 | Zoom online events, Australia
“…when we apply the lifeless paint to a surface,
we must get the light behind the surface. We must spiritualise
the surface and create a secret inner radiance.”
Rudolf Steiner

This course explores the nature of painting as a coming-into-being experience that has the capacity to open our souls to the life of the cosmos.
One key difference between most modern art schools and the approach offered by Rudolf Steiner is that we make a clear distinction between drawing and painting, between the qualities of the line and those of the surface.
Why is this so? What difference can it make to paint with surfaces rather than with lines? And what does this even mean?
Painting is a two-dimensional art of coloured surfaces. If we work consciously with this thought, work actively with this understanding, our whole relationship to how we paint (as opposed to what we paint) is changed and transformed.
Working with transparent surfaces creates an interface to our inner world, which in turn leads us to the threshold of our inner being – and beyond. In fact, Steiner states that artists, especially painters, are already working at the threshold of consciousness.
But care must be taken! If we open ourselves too much to the spiritual world, then we may be in danger of losing ourselves to it. Meditative verses can help us here, so we will also work with appropriate meditations during the course.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and art students seeking a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For advanced participants of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

Required: watercolour wet-on-dry or veiling skills. This is not a demonstrated course so you must feel comfortable with your painting technique.
Desirable: Working with Colour Moods or equivalent experience of working with watercolour painting.
When is it?
Saturdays 3pm-5pm AEDT
7 March – 2 May 2026
Fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$260 AUD
$270 for PD certificate
Video recordings and other resources included in the fee. The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.

Book here!

For more information
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It follows on from Working with Colour Moods.

Contact

Background reading
A Contemplation on Surfaces as Interfaces to the Spirit, a lecture by Fiona Campbell
‘The Phenomenon of Colour in Material Nature’, In Colour GA 291 by Rudolf Steiner

Feature image: Musical Improvisation © Fiona Campbell 2010
