Brian Raymond
About my arts practice as a drawer and teacher
My arts practice
I am a drawer and teacher of art. My passion for teaching probably eclipses my love of drawing. However, my life would be greatly diminished without either one of them. Each balances, informs, and enriches the other.
My motivation to draw
I fell in love with drawing at art school within the formalised routines of the life drawing studio.
I always draw from life with a live life model in the studio. Every drawing involves an intense engagement in the process of looking, seeing, learning, and visual experimentation.
I’m fascinated by the physicality of space, the physicality of the figure within that space, and the motivations, emotions, and endeavours of the human spirit. I strive to find the essence and simplicity within the figure to create images that express a hopeful, mindful vision of humanity.
Drawings use a broad and gestural visual language. With a love of line, mark-making and material, I tend to get directly involved using fingers and hands as part of the drawing process.
The expressive potential of my materials enables me to express my artistic voice. I draw with a mix of charcoal, graphite and pitt pencils, soft pastels, oils pastels, and paint-sticks on paper.
My Motivation to teach
Teaching enables me to invite people into my studio to share my passions for making art. Teaching keeps me connected to a wide range of ideas, alternate truths, and ways of understanding the world. I celebrate the exciting dynamic and diversity this brings to my studio, and the remarkable richness it adds to my life.
Teaching to me is hugely rewarding and I am grateful for every opportunity to support each student as they explore and develop their skills, techniques, and build creative confidence. Being a part of each students’ creative journey to becoming the artist they dream of being gives me motivation to further develop and improve my teaching and pedagogy skills.
I have written more about my teaching ethos, and the ambitions of the Creative Art Courses studio.