DrawBrighton

Dec '24 - Feb '25 / WINTER TERM: OIL PAINT

Added 2024-12-15 09:00:07 +0000 UTC

Hello friends and patrons,

Our Graphite term has come to an end and we're launching headlong into a winter of oil painting! Appropriately, Sena Adjovi recently talked about her own transition from drawing in graphite to painting in oils, in an interview that marked the last of our Graphite-themed Etc. Artist Talks & Experimental Life Drawing sessions. This needn't influence your work of course, but if you've been looking for an excuse to start or return to oil painting, then this is it. On the theme of painting, UK-based supporters might have noticed our very own Sara Reeve teaching oil painting on Sky Arts this month, using photos from the Draw reference library, so if you saw it, I hope that got you in the right state of mind for our term!

If you're new to the Patreon or haven't signed up to a paid tier and want to know what you'd get access to, have a look at our 'Start here' page, or get in touch on info@draw-brighton.co.uk. Here's what you can expect to see coming up over the next few months...

Painting by Anastasia Pollard

OIL PAINT TERM

Each of our academic years is split into four medium-themed terms to help you explore different materials and discover new artists. This winter (Dec/Jan/Feb) we’re going to focus on oil paint as our chosen medium, with online and in-person events themed around the material. Here are all of the special events we're putting on that follow the theme, in addition to our normal programme (plus our 'Cutouts & Collage' Experimental Life Drawing session - a good use of excess wrapping paper!). As a reminder, Emma Prothero's Experimental Life Drawing sessions are free for anybody on the Life Drawing & Student tier.

ONLINE
Sun 1st Dec / Experimental life drawing: Subtractive painting with oil paint
Sun 5th Jan / 3-6pm (UK time) / Experimental Life Drawing: Cutouts & Collage
Fri 17th Jan / 7-8pm (UK time) / Etc. Art Talk: Alvin Kofi
Fri 31st Jan / 7-8pm (UK time) / Etc. Art Talk: Wendy Barratt
Sun 2nd Feb / 3-6pm (UK time) / Drawing with Oil Paint
Fri 28th Jan / 7-8pm (UK time) / Etc. Art Talk: Laura Smith

IN-PERSON
Sun 5th Jan / 10am-5pm / Introduction to painting with Sara Reeve
Sat 18th & Sun 19th Jan / 10am-5pm / Painting self portraits with Sara Reeve
Sat 1st & Sun 2nd Feb / 10am-5pm / Painting clothed figures with Morag Caister
Sat 15th & Sun 16th Feb / 10am-5pm / Figurative painting & drawing with Alvin Kofi
Sat 1st & Sun 2nd Mar / 10am-5pm / Portrait painting in oils with Anastasia Pollard

Painting by Sara Reeve

GIFTS

Whether you're looking for Christmas gifts, or you're giving presents throughout the year, Patreon has now introduced the option to gift subscriptions for set amounts of time. If you wanted to gift somebody a subscription to the Draw Patreon (or wanted to ask for a subscription for yourself!) you can gift anything from 1 month on our Supporter Tier (£3+VAT), up to a year with full access to another person. The person receiving the gift would have access to all the usual reference photos, tutorials and access to classes on the tier you chose and you'd know that the money was going directly to support all of the artists & models who benefit from this Patreon. You can find details via THIS LINK. If you're looking for an affordable present for an aspiring printmaker, or are keen to learn yourself, you might also want to look at Scarlett Rebecca's giftable printmaking Patreon HERE.

PHOTO-SETS

We're always open to new ideas for photosets, so please do let us know in the comments bellow if you'd like to see something specific in future. Our Winter Teaser has now been released for all supporters, including previews of our playful Elf-themed photo-sets as an accompaniment to last years Santa Claus portraits and full body poses. Here's our plan for the year ahead:

Spring 2025 - A domestic photoset series of group tableau, requested by you and photographed by Justyna Neryng.
Summer 2025 - New photo-sets from Hannah Jay, Shardae-Rose, Andrea & Mariana, plus guest models photographed by Justyna Neryng.
Autumn 2025 - A Pre-Raphaelite inspired photo-set series shot by Justyna Neryng.

CHRISTMAS PROGRAMME

We aim to run as reliable a programme as possible for you all so the only day we're not running sessions this year will be Christmas day itself. All of our online programme will run uninterrupted throughout the festive season and into the new year, with all of our photosets released as normal and sessions running at the usual times. Portrait club will be running as normal on Boxing Day (26th Dec) and life drawing will be running as normal on New Years Day. You can always check HERE for extra details.

WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY GO?

We are a non-profit making organisation and all of the money we make here on Patreon is re-invested into our community of models, artists & tutors. I volunteer for Draw three days a week while all of the rest of the team are paid freelancers: Sara & Megan take care of the background admin, Lance looks after the physical studio in Brighton and our team of tutors & models keep the classes ticking over (my income comes from writing instructional drawing books and teaching for art galleries). 25% of our Patreon income is distributed in a monthly royalty to our 65 core models, 60% of the Patreon income goes into running our online sessions & commissioning new photosets and 10% goes into the activities below. At the moment Draw still doesn't break even, so we don't make a profit; if we do get to a point of making a profit, that money will be re-invested into our community.

Model hardship fund – we give grants to life models in financial need to cover unexpected travel costs, bills and funding investments in new work equipment.
Sick pay – Patreon allows us to pay sick pay to models & tutors at Draw for in-person and online classes, helping to set a more compassionate precedent for freelancers and ensure that all of our crew have time to recover when they’re ill.
Sponsorship – we sponsor other drawing groups and initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in life drawing communities.
Portrait & Urban Sketching clubs – Patreon funds our free in-person portrait drawing sessions in Brighton, offering an accessible opportunity for people to draw for free in a welcoming environment.

That's it for now! Thank you all so much for your support keeping Draw running and helping us keep our community of models and tutors fairly paid. I'll look forward to seeing you all online soon.

Warmest wishes,

Jake

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Ps. if you wanted to keep up to date on our regular comings & goings, you can find us here: