How a Drawing Workshop works

I thought you all might like to see how I set up my pastel pencil workshops and in the case above the rather cramped conditions I had to endure at times.This workshop shown above was at a small art gallery in Weston Super Mare about 10 years ago and we managed to cram 11 students into this one. What you can’t appreciate from this photo is the photographer was standing with his back close to the wall behind him.I was tucked up in an alcove at the top of the picture and worked with a television positioned so that all the students could have a decent view, this explains the rather odd angle the work tables are set at. I had a video camera trained on my drawing and a angle poised lamp lighting up the painting - see yellow arrow.You can just make our my hand working on a section of the Butterfly we were painting - see white arrow. The Butterfly is one of the subjects featured in our Two Butterflies Advanced Workshop Pack. How it worked is that I would show them a section of the painting and they would complete that section before moving on to another area. From time to time I would visit each student and help them should they need it, this way I could keep them all on track. I sometimes worked with a projector for larger workshops and demonstrations.This was one of my 1-day workshops and were very popular but I also ran weekend workshops at places like Flatford Mill and many other venues including my own gallery in Broadstairs. From time to time I even ran 5 day workshops but I must admit I found them a strain.