The first in a series of Occasional One Day Workshops was held on Saturday 13th April

We looked for the magic in the marginal space beyond the residential in Woodingdean’s Happy Valley. We followed the desire paths through the hawthorns and, despite a light drizzle, drew the sturdy little bushes we sat amongst. The privileged view which was offered from the side of The Downs, at Woodingdean’s mid-century fringes, was a flat, goal-posted playing field. We sat on our tarpaulin near the darting rabbits and a myriad of birds flew about the telegraph poles; all to the soundtrack of skylarks. As the weather – unpredicted by the forecast – became more changeable, we took refuge in Rachael’s studio near by, and drew the rookery in the Spinney she overlooks. The day was punctuated with fantastic meandering discussions of different artists’ practice, what inspires, trusting the hand to find it’s ‘voice’ and of reading emotion in mark-making.

We worked with charcoal and pastel, experimenting with drawing-without-looking-at-the-paper in an attempt to express weather, mood, memory and to convey a sense of place.