YOUR GUIDE TO AN EVENING OF FIGURE DRAWING

So you've decided to try figure drawing, but you never went to art school - you're in the right place. More then half of the people that attend The Painted Peach figure drawing events are completely new to the practice, so you'll be in very good company! We've included everything you need to know below 😊

The Painted Peach figure drawing experience is designed to be a playful indulgence. It's about you gifting yourself ~2 hours to relax and explore your creativity so take the pressure off. Two hours of no screens, no work, no expectations, no notifications. Just a beautiful space, great music, good smells, and a room full of creative energy. Besides some wine or beverages of your liking, you don't need to bring anything with you or even know how to draw a stick figure to reap the rewards of spending time in a flow state. Many people describe the figure drawing experience at The Painted Peach as a "brain massage" and, in the medical sense, it kind of is. When you make things with your hands, as you will do at this event, new connections, new pathways, are formed in your brain. Your brain literally rewires itself when you make things with your hands. You can take this new and improved brain structure into every other area of your life. Logistically, when you arrive, you'll find our painted door and walk down the pathway to our back studio - (doors open at 6:45pm). When you walk into the studio, come say hi inside and we'll get you checked in. You'll also receive your figure drawing kit: willow charcoal, sketchbook, and a studio cloth. There's no assigned seating - you're free to sit wherever you'd like. Every seat was created to provide an excellent view. If you're meeting someone, you are welcome to save a seat for them. Drawing will begin promptly at 7:15pm. There is no talking permitted while we're drawing. Charcoal is simple to use - the harder you press, the darker the line. You'll notice that the sticks are different sizes - the only difference is the size of the mark each piece will create and how easy it is to break. You can blend and smudge charcoal with your fingers to create shadows and soft shapes. There's no eraser but you can rub out any mistakes with your studio cloth or draw over them to create a layered effect. Your hands will get dirty, but that's part of the experience. Feel free to bring any other art supplies you'd like to use as well! We'll start with some 1 minute poses to get your hand, eyes, and mind warmed up. One minute will feel extremely fast - it's supposed to. To successfully induce a flow state, you have to be shocked into a new frame of mind. There's no better way than a few creative wind sprints. Don't worry about capturing specifics of the body, but instead try to capture the motion.

After the warm up, we will go into a series of longer poses (3,5,8, and ending with 12 minutes) for the rest of our time with a short break in the middle. During the longer poses, we like to challenge ourselves to try to draw exactly what we see. The secret to drawing is to be an honest observer - we often draw things the way we think they *should* look, instead of how they actually look. Longer poses are ideal for slowing down, studying the shadows and forms of the body, and then translating what you see (and feel) onto the page. Sometimes we'll pick one part of the body, other times we'll try to capture the whole pose and the rest of the room for that matter. Just depends on what we're feeling in the moment. At the end, you might be surprised at what you've made. Or maybe you'll really love something. Or you might want to just toss it all into the recycling and that's cool too because the output isn't important! The benefit comes from the act of creating, not from the output. We'll end with our manifesto - it's our take on the creative process and we hope it inspires you to come boldly into your first figure drawing session!

Before we begin, there are some things to know. Not everyone is a Frida, Pablo or Yayoi. But everyone is creative. And to go into oneself, one must be prepared to get over oneself. There is a good chance your art may be—at first—not great. But not great is perfect. It's a sign of doing. And this is exactly the point. Making art is about relinquishing all notions of good, bad, or ugly, Marching hands-first towards the liberation that self-expression holds. On the other side, you may find emotions such as: Joy/satisfaction/calm/comfort/elation et al. And one nice byproduct of being a beginner at anything. Humility. So bravo, you. For getting on that hobby horse. For starting a new habit. For simply doing.