Mindful Drawing

Mindful Drawing is a form of practice where we apply the principles of mindfulness – deliberately paying attention with kindly awareness and without judging – to mark making. We draw what we see as we see it.

We also explore our experience with all our senses – not just our eyes. So through touching and other sensory explorations we explore our subject in many different ways.

In a Mindful Drawing workshop you will not be learning how to draw but rather how to pay attention and let go of pre-conceived ideas.

When we practice drawing mindfully we are interested in the process of drawing without worrying about the outcome.  This liberation from creating a piece of ‘art’ or something recognisable means we can rest in the beauty of seeing what is in front of us and as we see our pencil moves following the same path as our eyes. Thus we draw what we see and also our experience of what we see and feel.

"Anna's course was revolutionary for me as an artist and art teacher. Teaching art after an already long career as a fine art practitioner forces one to address tricky questions - what actually goes on in the brain and heart when we draw, paint or create? How can we teach this to those who want to learn? What's the important stuff to teach? Anna's course felt at the same time gentle and quiet and also ground-breaking. The course allows a space of contemplation and inquiry to open up allowing intuition to take centre stage; and the answers find you. All one’s senses and whole body are engaged in the acts of drawing and not drawing. The course wordlessly answered all the questions that I had dragged along in a great bigmetaphorical bag."
Daniel McDermott, artist and teacher

 

'The experiment is successful if you succeed in feeling that you have become that leaf or that daisy regardless of what appears on the paper.'
Frederick Franck

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Mindful Drawing Workshops

Mindful Drawing workshops range from a short taster session to a 1- or 2-day workshop. The sessions draw on the work of Frederick Franck (The Zen of Seeing) and others, and my own practice, and are an exploration of drawing as meditation. Sessions also include short periods of guided meditation but no prior meditation or drawing experience is needed. This is not a how-to-meditate or how-to-draw workshop but an experience of drawing as meditation.

MINDFUL DRAWING 2-DAY WORKSHOP, HAWKWOOD COLLEGE, STROUD, GLOS 

When? Friday 29th October (evening) to Sunday 31st October 2021

Where? Hawkwood College, Stroud Glos

Attendance on a residential or non-residential basis

How to book? Please contact the venue directly

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Participant comments

“Thank you for a great workshop. I found it helpful and enjoyable – and am so intrigued by the different exercises you organised for us to do, and the way they helped clear obstacles to drawing out of the way. We’ll have to see what way the seeds grow for me now!”

“I believe that I will appreciate the benefit of the course more as each day passes. One of the problems with subjects of this nature is that we cannot put into words how it has affected us, and so our feedback is vague, not just to others but also to ourselves. But I feel an imperceptible mental shift. Not in my thinking exactly but more in my general state, a sort of lightness.”

"Helped me move on with my drawing which is what I hoped."

"Helped me back into finding value in drawing. Was respectful, thoughtful and professional teaching."

"Wonderful. I didn't know what to expect when I enrolled but I thoroughly enjoyed the course and the outcome was better than I could have imagined."

"The course was an amazing experience for me. I definitely feel a shift in the way that I see, draw and feel about drawing. Before drawing was difficult and took a lot of energy, now it feels effortless, peaceful and relaxing - like meditation."

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