The secrets to painting architecture

Architecture in the Landscape with David Sawyer RBA

St Martin’s in the Fields – David Sawyer

Thursday Mornings 10.00am-1.00pm

Learn how to paint the built landscape with one of Great Britain’s finest exponents

Architecture is an important element in David Sawyer’s work. Known primarily as a landscape painter many of his paintings feature buildings either as the subject or as compositional devices. He has a way with buildings, he can conjure them from a few strokes of his brush. He conveys the complexity of their structures with a breathtaking deftness and economy and yet fully communicates the spirit, weight and presence of these pervasive masses of stone and steel.

Over six weeks David will be sharing the secrets of how he works and helping you to paint buildings and architecture with confidence. He will help you put in place the ideas, perceptions and tools you will need to bring architecture to life in your paintings and drawings.

This course takes place in our Covid safe studio but you can also attend through Zoom if you prefer.

Read more here

Next week is half term

Next week is half term, we’ll be taking a rest and getting things ready for the second half of term. It’s one of the great ironies of this time that the world is divided into those who are stuck at home on nearly full pay whilst the rest of us are running around like decapitated fowl having had our income streams decisively severed! If you’re in the first group, the activities of the second may have made your confinement more tolerable and I know that everyone in the creative community is deeply grateful for your support.

We, however, are in the second group and golly have we been busy trying to build up our business. We are now offering hybrid sessions so that most of what we offer can be had either in the studio or digitally using Zoom. Both ways have their advantages. Clare Haward and Alex Tzavaras have adapted their teaching so that it is delivered via Zoom. Because the students are working in their own spaces it genuinely brings the teaching home and supports the ongoing personal practice of each artist. David Sawyer will be running a hybrid session (see above), we’ll see how that works.

We no longer have drop-ins but life drawing and painting sessions can be attended with little or no notice by booking on the website.

One benefit of the new system is that now that artists have to book we can choose how many to have in the studio, something we have yearned for before but about which there was much resistance. Artists seem to like the freedom of deciding to turn up whenever; from an administrator’s point of view that’s always been a challenge. At the moment we cannot take more than 15 in our studio so there’s no overcrowding and you know what you’re going to get – so that’s progress of a kind.

Next week we’ll all be restoring the tissues and bracing ourselves for whatever happens next, another lockdown maybe? No matter, we are prepared!

Monday Evening Bad Drawing Group 7.00pm-8.30pm on Zoom

Valeria

What with one thing and another Monday came and went. We had antipodean circus performer Jem posing for us, giving us some nice extended stretches and shapes. We practiced memory drawing, only briefly but enough to discover that actually all of our drawing with the exception of blind drawing, is actually done from memory. With the ready access we now have to images and models we can forget that many artists had to work partly or entirely from their visual memory. Rather like a pianist reading sheet music, where the manuscript leads but much of the nuance is informed by memory, when we draw the figure our memory and understanding of the form can be just as important.

Next week is, of course, half term so here is a picture of Valeria who will be our model for Bad Drawing on the 26th October

You can join us then on Zoom from 6.45pm and get to know us and any other drawers before work commences at 7.00pm.

If you want to come to our Covid safe studio you may but please email us to make the booking – it’s not on the website yet!

The cost is £8 but if you can convince us you’re a student we’ll give you a code to get the session for £5: drop us an email
Studio attendance is £10 – please email us to book.

Click here to book

Tuesday Evening Life Drawing with Freya 7.00pm-8.30pm on Zoom

Rodin’s gesture drawing

Adrian gesturing

Freya will be looking in to the use of gesture with particular reference to Rodin. That does not mean we’ll be doing the Thinker or the Kiss, lovely though they are but rather becoming excited with the way in which he explored his subject in two dimensions. Rodin drew a lot. His drawings have a freedom and fluidity that we can learn from. Unlike some sculptors who think out their three dimensional statements on the two dimensions of paper, he tended to draw directly with clay, possibly referencing drawings of his model from different angles. His more sculptural drawings tended to be illustrations of his completed works.

Our model is Adrian.

You can join us on Zoom from 6.45pm and get to know us and any other drawers before work commences at 7.00pm.

The cost is £8 but if you can convince us you’re a student we’ll give you a code to get the session for £5: drop us an email

Click here to book

Wednesday Drop-in Portraiture 2.00pm-5.00pm on Zoom

Bela

We had Bela sit for a figure painting session a few weeks back and whilst we all enjoyed painting her it was the power of her face that captivated a lot of us. So we’ve invited her back to sit for a portrait for this week and next.

This is a two camera setup with a portrait camera and a wide camera to get the figure in should you need it.

Please note that it is now possible to paint from life in the studio. Zoom fee is £15, in-studio fee varies.

Please book here

The session fee will be reduced to £12 if you use the discount code PESTE2 at final checkout.

Saturday Drop-in Long Pose Life Drawing 10.00am-1.00pm on Zoom

Valeria

Valeria will be our model for this Saturday and the one following the half term on the 31st October. Valeria has a gamine figure and will probably be a bit sun-kissed having returned recently from Greece, her homeland.

Please note that it is now possible to paint from life in the studio. Zoom fee is £15, in-studio fee varies.

Please book here

The Zoom session fee will be reduced to £12 if you use the discount code PESTE2 at final checkout.