Description
Drawing for People who think they can’t Draw (or would like to improve their Drawing)
Drawing is about looking and seeing clearly. When you learn to see what is really in front of you (and not what you think is there) you can draw it, with ease. Anyone can draw if they are willing to spend time learning to see clearly and trusting how to put what they see down onto paper.
This Drawing Course will be taught over two consecutive days, and we will cover all the basics of representational drawing : Line, Negative and Positive Space, Proportion, Light and Shade. This will be a process based drawing course in which we will explore each of these elements individually, through a series of fun, sometimes experimental exercises that will enable you to silence your inner critic and let your inherent creativity shine forth. We will then put all the individual parts together into a finished drawing, at the end of the second day.
This course is open to everybody, no previous drawing experience needed. I particularly like teaching people who think they can’t draw as I was that person once. I gave up art at school when I was 13 years old, because I thought I couldn’t draw. Then got in to Art College with no qualifications in Art, when I was 24 and graduated with a First class degree in Drawing and Painting when I was 28.
There are a lot of on-line drawing courses popping up these days where you will be given pre-prepared material with no opportunity to ask questions or have your own individual issues addressed. You will learn a limited a mount in this context, but I still strongly believe in the power of in-person teaching with small groups. This provides an opportunity for in the moment, embodied learning. An on-line drawing course may be a lot cheaper, but in my opinion, you will not learn as much, or as effectively, as you will by showing up in person and giving your full attention to learning in a small, supportive group of like-minded people. After this two-day course, your attitude towards, and ability to draw will be transformed beyond what you may think is possible in this amount of time.
All Materials, tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided. Please bring your own lunch.
Dates: Fri 27 & Sat 28 February 2026
Time: 10 am – 4.30pm Place: Grinneabhat, North Bragar, Isle of Lewis
Maximum 10 places available
Cost: £145 for the two days including all materials and refreshments.
Notes on making an on-line booking here. You can book here on my website by secure Debit or Credit Card payment, BACS or PayPal, by clicking: Add to Basket/View Basket/Proceed to Checkout (choose Credit Card/Bank Transfer/PayPal) then click Place Order.
You don’t have to click on the very visible PayPal box, unless you are choosing to pay by PayPal. By a funny quirk of Woo Commerce, it may default to the method used by the last person who booked, so please take a moment to tick your chosen method and let me know if any problems.
If you would like to BACS a £45 deposit to secure your place and the balance a month beforehand, please email me
Jenny Smith is a practicing artist who has a 1st Class degree in Drawing and Painting from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee and has won a number of awards for her work including the Royal Scottish Academy Award for Painting. She exhibits nationally and internationally and has work held in public private and collections around the world, including the Tate Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland. She has taught this course for many years to adults, children and as CPD for Primary School Teachers and is teaching it in Lewis this year, as a one off. Jenny takes great pleasure in turning around people’s self-critical ideas about their drawing abilities, having been there herself and having initially given up art at school because she thought she ” couldn’t draw”,
‘I did Jenny’s Drawing for people who think they can’t Draw course several years ago. Before that, I regarded myself as hopeless at art. By the end of the course I was amazed at being able to draw things in a life-like way, including faces. This ignited an ongoing interest in drawing and art, and I have gone on to take further courses and draw on a daily basis’. Neil 2021 (previous course participant)
