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, using a variety of subject matter. This is not a ” How to Draw a Tree/Person/Landscape” workshop. This is a workshop that will increase your confidence in drawing whatever subject matter you are interested in. This 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 1st class degree in Drawing and Painting.
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 questions addressed. You will learn a limited amount in this context, but I strongly believe in the power of in-person teaching with small groups, and embodied learning.
An on-line drawing course may be a lot cheaper, but 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. I am confident that after this two-day course, your attitude towards, drawing and your ability to draw will be transformed beyond what you may think is possible in two days.
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 8 places available to allow for individual attention
All materials and refreshments provided
Gift Vouchers available
Cost: £145 (Early Bird if paid in full by 27 January) £155 thereafter.
If you would like to BACS a £45 deposit to secure your place and the balance a month before the course starts on 27 January please email me. Any questions, just drop me an email
Grinneabhat are offering 10% discount on accommodation to course participants, if you are travelling any distance for the course and would like to stay the night. Please contact the office to book.
Notes on making an on-line booking here. You can book here on my website by my very secure Debit or Credit Card payment (Square) , 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 pay by Pay Pal, unless you chose to.
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 delivered it as CPD for Primary School Teachers for the National Galleries of Scotland. Education Department in Edinburgh Jenny is teaching it in Lewis, as a one-off. She 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)
