Drawing for Beginners

Everyone can learn to draw. Anyone who has learned to control a pencil well enough to write their name already has the skills!

The trick is to see the way an artist sees, and to do that you need to shift into the correct mode of thinking. You may believe you are seeing things just fine, but the chances are your visual and perceptual mode of thinking isn't fully engaged.

As Henri Matisse said: "...when I eat a tomato, I look at it the way anyone else would. But when I paint a tomato, then I see it differently."

This course is based on the teaching methods of Betty Edwards, author of "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". Developed from discoveries about brain function by Nobel Prize-winner Roger Sperry in the 1960's, it includes a series of techniques and exercises that train you to see like an artist.

You can start this course anytime and take it at your own pace. Just come along to any of the open studio times. The course usually takes about twelve 3-hour sessions, and you'll draw self-portraits, architecture, still life, the human figure and finally explore imaginative drawing. In addition to pencil we use pen and ink, charcoal, conté crayons, pastels and coloured pencils. In the very first class you'll begin to draw using the right side of your brain, and you'll experience an "Aha!" moment. In the final class you will be introduced to the wealth of colour drawing media, including pastels, coloured pencils, graphic markers and oil pastels.

By the end of the course you'll have an extensive portfolio of drawings, and the improvement in your drawing skill will be clear to see. Once you've learned to draw this way you'll find your visual sense is sharpened and your creativity is enhanced. Your drawing skill will stay with you for life.

clairebefore claireafter

Claire Lewis self portrait before and after instruction (graphite and pencil)

The cost is CHF70 per 3-hour session, (or CHF650 for 10 lessons paid in advance), plus CHF70 for a boxed set of drawing tools and portfolio that's yours to keep.

Please contact me if you would be interested in this course.

Drawings above by Claire Lewis, Line Desautels, Janice Starkey, Samantha Anson & Martine De Vriese