Lord Leighton, P.R.A. (1830-1896), Study of a draped arm

Short course

Drawing Texture

Two-day Practical Workshop

8 October 2016 10.30am - 5.30pm9 October 2016 10.30am - 5.30pm

The Life Room, Royal Academy Schools

£240 per day. Includes all materials, lunch and wine reception at the end of each day.

Terms and conditions

Artist Tanya Wood will lead an exclusive workshop inspired and informed by traditional drawing skills, works in the Royal Academy collection, contemporary artists and her own practice of meticulous realist pencil drawing. Participants will work from the close observation and scrutiny of a variety of textured surfaces within the Academy’s historic Life Room.

Enjoy the total absorption of careful looking and rendering using traditional drawing techniques. Throughout this two-day course, participants will focus on creases and folds in a variety of man made and organic textured surfaces. Day one will be paper and fabric, Day two moving on to working from photographs of hands and feet, both days exploring surface texture and the play of light and tone. Day one will also include an exclusive tour of the Flowing Lines of Grace display in the RA Library Print Room with curator Maria Alambritis.

Practising artist Tanya Wood will guide and encourage participants individually and as a group with short exercises, demonstrations and direct life observation, working from black and white photographs using graphite pencils and paper through to methods and techniques for precise and detailed pencil drawings.

This intensive practical workshop is inspired by works in the Royal Academy collection and Tanya’s own particular drawing practice. The course will reference and make use of expertly selected items from the Academy’s own Archives and Collection – a unique and exceptional scholarly reference and teaching tool which has informed artists and their practice since the Academy’s foundation in 1768. As well as learning from carefully chosen archival material, participants will be introduced to the properties of a range of graphite pencils, the nuances of paper, helpful tools and equipment. Additionally participants will develop skills in acute observation, mark making, tonal representation and techniques to assist faithful rendition along with approaches to composition and aesthetics. Tanya will share her influences and ideas with you as well as her personal methodology derived and developed from traditional drawing skills.

Day one of this course is fully booked. Tickets are still available for day two.

£240 per day. Includes all materials, lunch and wine reception at the end of each day.

Terms and conditions

About the course

Who can take this course?

This course is suitable for all levels, preferably with some prior experience of drawing, painting or creative practice in general.

This course is for you if:

• You have prior knowledge of drawing and would like to extend your skills in the discipline of observation, accuracy and detail, and/or the properties and uses of paper and graphite

• You would like a new perspective in your approach to subject matter

• You are interested in traditional/classical methods and techniques

• You would like the opportunity to develop your skills and ideas in a small group setting and in the historical setting of the Royal Academy’s Life Room

• You have little or no experience of accurate realist drawing but enjoy detail, slow methodical work and have a desire to learn

Minimum age 18

The number of participants is strictly limited to enable detailed feedback from the course tutor.

What's included?

Price per day: £240
Price for both days: £420 sold out
10.30am – 5.30pm on both days

Includes:

• An introduction to the Academy with particular reference to relevant works in the Collection

•An exclusive tour of the Flowing Lines of Grace display in the RA Library Print Room with curator Maria Alambritis on day one.

• All practical materials

• Lunch and refreshments

• A drinks reception at the end of each day.

• A certificate of participation upon course completion

Book day two

About the Tutor - Tanya Wood

Tanya Wood received a Distinction for her MA Fine Art studies at the University of Chichester, following a First Class BA (Hons) Degree at the same University in 2012. Tanya recently returned to the University as an Associate Lecturer in the Fine Art BA. Her work has been selected for the John Ruskin Prize 2015, Perfectionism at the Griffin Gallery, London 2014, Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 and the National Open Art Competition 2012. Tanya is passionate about drawing, its extraordinary ability to communicate and its humbleness, being just pencil, paper and mark. Having specialised in textiles for some twenty years as a practising artist and lecturer, her mature study has shifted her focus to drawing as an end product. Tanya's work is found in private collections in the UK, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, America and Australia. She is represented by Moncrieff Bray Gallery, Petworth and works from her studio at Art Space, Portsmouth.

Tanya Wood, 'toms, peppers.....' — Pencil on paper.

About the space

The Life Room

Set in the Academy’s historic Life Room, nestled deep in the heart of the RA Schools, this unique and significant space was designed in the 1860s when the galleries and schools were first constructed, purpose built to accommodate the study of the human form in art.

The semi-circular seating arrangement is based on an ancient design and can trace its British history back to the 1730s and Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane. The directional light is also of ancient design and is used (then as now) to provide directional light to aid the delineation of the figure’s musculature – significantly enhance the use and study of colour and light in art.