Current offerings from The Drawing Board

These delicious groups are currently running in Totnes! Email or message me to find out more or reserve a place.

MONDAYS      1.30-3pm

Studio One, The Mansion, Totnes  (all abilities)

£45 for five sessions

Four or Five-week blocks, next one beginning 16th March (Booking advised).

These sessions are designed to blend formal drawing techniques with experimentation and exploration of your own mark and style. The emphasis is on gaining confidence and dissolving inhibition in order to understand your own process and develop that into a comfortable practice. We look at the wider benefits of drawing and the philosophy of how drawing helps us think, move, feel, function and be.

THURSDAYS 10-12am Pop-up ‘Drawing Surgery’

The People's Cafe, The Mansion, Totnes (all abilities)

This is a regular weekly informal meet-up to get some guidance and input for your drawing whilst enjoying a cuppa and having a sketch with fellow drawers. Bring along something to draw with and maybe a bit of coin for a cake!

It's free or pay what you feel/contribution

FRIDAYS 12-2pm (drawing-drop-in) (all abilities)

Birdwood House, Totnes

£8 per session

These are 2 hours of experimental mark-making.   Our emphasis will be on the process and the experience of drawing, freeing up the hand, the eye and the mind to immerse in our creative expression and play with materials. 

Life drawing at The Angel Gallery, Totnes

7th, 14th and 21st April - 7.30-9.30pm £35 for all three sessions

(Booking recommended)

Guided sessions, tutoring if needed, bring materials and sketchbook with hardback as there are no easels. 

One to one sessions also available (either via Zoom or face to face)

Whether you are an artist estranged from your practice looking for ways back, a terrified beginner who needs to get some practice before joining a group or you would like some support with a portfolio, project or keeping your drawing habits alive give me a shout.  

The Drawing Board

There are currently three sessions per week running in Totnes now. Monday afternoons, Thursday Mornings and Friday afternoons. There will also be a life drawing group on Tuesday evenings in April.

Under the banner of The Drawing Board I'm slowly trying to grow

a community drawing centre (albeit one that moves from place to

place!)  It's always been a dream to have a place that offers access to

drawing for all different needs and creeds. I'm testing the Friday afternoon ground with a group that

hopefully will expand but for now

I just wanted it to be space for safe and non-judgemental experimentation and exploration. To allow that creative flow to happen and see what we come up with. Maybe extending it further into projects or maybe using the time to

continue exercising our muscle memory and building our vocabulary of marks. It's drop-in but don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

In the past I have had a great response with one-to-one drawing mentoring. Either in person or via Zoom. This works really well for artists who have been frozen for a while or have had to abandon their practice and now want to reconnect to it. It also works well for people who want a bit of individual coaching and tuition before they join a bigger group. It can be inhibiting in a large group and drawing is a delicate thing to do when you are starting out.  I have found even an hour a week has an effect on a person's confidence and wellbeing and, of course,  their drawing.....

Contact me for more information and a chat if you're interested.

If you are stuck in the mud with your drawing just take this little tip that I give to all my students:

Keep a sketchbook handy wherever you find yourself sitting regularly. I keep one on the kitchen table (its a wad of scrap paper held together with a bulldog clip).  The idea is to draw your cup of tea everyday, sitting in this regular spot that you would be sitting in anyway. So it's no extra effort, it's no big deal and it's convenient.  If you do it everyday (more or less) you'll find the drawing will flow you will be less precious, less bothered about the outcome, you will begin to teach yourself by noticing new effects and techniques. It will develop in your own time. You will set yourself up for the day with a sense of achievement and a clear thinking mind. I guarantee. 

Give it a go.

Thanks for reading

Beth

(Chairman of The Drawing Board) always wanted to say that!