Begin to draw + paint Last weekend I taught the first course for 2018 – and thoroughly enjoyed getting back into the studio to teach. Ten enthusiastic beginners greeted me for the start of the Begin to draw + paint course. We all worked hard throughout the weekend – and enjoyed ourselves along the way. […]
The Art Elements The Art Elements course began this Wednesday evening with a lovely group of students. A nice mix of students with different interests, varying drawing styles and at different stages of art experience. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the projects unfold week by week. Week 1: Line A great introduction to […]
Tonight was the start of another Essential Drawing Foundations course. I only teach this twice a year at the moment, so I always look forward to it arriving. The course content is largely based on Heather Spears’s book ‘The Creative Eye’ which is a kind of training manual to help you change your approach to […]
Course Diary Another wonderful weekend in my studio with a group of enthusiastic students. With rain pouring outside we were happy to be in the nice warm studio focusing on learning how to draw and getting a glimpse of a wide range of drawing and painting materials on the Begin to draw and paint course […]
Begin to draw + paint: 22-23 April 2017 A wonderful weekend in Manchester. Sunshine through the 2 studio windows filling our work-space with light. It was a joy to teach the 11 students enrolled on this Begin to draw + paint course. We worked really hard – in a relaxed kind of way – learnt […]
Begin to draw + paint: 21 – 22 January 2017 Another wonderful weekend teaching the Begin to draw + paint course. A full studio once again with a wonderful group of students looking to learn the basics to enable them to begin their journey towards becoming independent artists. Read on to find out what some […]
Essential Drawing Foundations Discover what the students got up to during this course. The exercises, the experimentation, the finished drawings. This course enabled all 7 students to learn how to improve their creativity and drawing skills. The course is exciting, challenging and fun. Each week offers a different experience and teaches students practical techniques to […]
Essential Drawing Foundations: June-July 2016 Discover what the students got up to during this course. The exercises, the experimentation, the finished drawings. This course enabled students to learn how to improve their creativity and drawing skills. Each week teaches students practical techniques to help them draw more expressively, improve inventiveness, and interpretation by developing a […]
Week 4 Time to re-enforce the process of observational drawing – well the way I think is best – and I guess all teachers have ‘their way’ of doing things. But – I always tell students to take what I’m teaching and find ways to make it their own – ways to incorporate the techniques […]
Week 3 Through all the years I have taught adults life drawing one of the most common things people struggle with is how to represent the 3D human form with structure and depth on paper. So drawings often look flat and lack substance – as if there’s no skeleton or muscles. The human form is […]
Week 2: This session was all about the mainstay of good observational life drawing – how to measure. Daunting for some, hated by others and loved by the few. Whichever way you look at it it’s the only way you can check to see if proportions and angles are correct. The eyes do funny things […]
Week 1: The start of this course got off to a great start with Gesture drawing. My all time favourite drawing exercise to help students, and artists alike, learn to get a feel for the pose, feel the sense of movement inherent in all poses (even seated) and try to capture the real essence of […]
Week 5 Wow – What a way to complete the 5-session course! I’m so impressed by how my students tackled the processes during this session, held their nerve and arrived at their completed drawings. It was a tough session and everyone worked really hard – but I really believe that’s the only way to enjoy […]
Week 3 Mid way through our 5 week course with stunning results to show for it. The students worked so hard this week I felt so proud for them. I know it was a big push with a lot of risk taking – but so well worth it!! Here are some results. These head studies […]
Week 2 Everyone was excited to get started this week and we began by discussing the Formal Elements to help students identify them in the Julie Mehretu’s drawings we were using for inspiration to help develop the group drawing we are working on. We continued to develop the group drawing further before continuing with one […]
