Introduction
Painting and Drawing - A Series of Classes
Drawing Classes
Painting Classes
Icon Painting
The Alchemy of Colour
General Details
INTRODUCTION
Present day Western Culture has a tremendous collective prejudice against the imagination. So often we hear in conversation: "You are only imagining things," or,"That is only your fantasy, not reality." These are profoundly foolish denigrations because in fact, no-one "makes up" anything in the imagination. The material that appears in the imagination has to originate in the unconscious. Imagination, properly understood, is a channel through which symbolic images flow from the unconscious to the conscious mind. To be even more accurate, imagination is a transformer that converts the invisible material into images the conscious mind can perceive. It is this very quality which is shared with dreaming, for only through these two channels do we have access to the invisible realms of the inner universe.
From the worlds of the Ancients and at least until medieval times, the imaginative faculty was the legitimate path of religious inspiration, revelation and experience. The reality of the inner world was fundamental to the existence of those who lived then, expressing itself as ideal forms or universal qualities that clothed themselves in the divine images of their gods. Without this capacity of the human imagination to produce images and symbols, we would have no poetic imagery, literature, painting, sculpture, or indeed any artistic, philosophical, and religious functioning. Neither would there be any capacity to develop the abstract intelligence, science, mathematics, logical reasoning, or even language.
To work with our imagination soon confirms that it is possible for us today to create a dialogue with genuine interior parts of our own selves. It is possible to confront the powerful personalities who live inside us at the unconscious level and who are so often in conflict with our conscious ideas and behaviour. We actually enter into the dynamics of the unconscious, and travel to regions the conscious mind had no way of knowing how to enter. It will be a symbolic experience, for the images with which we interact are symbols, and we encounter them on a symbolic plane of existence. However, magically, when we experience the images,we also directly experience the inner parts of ourselves that are clothed in these images - a profoundly powerful experience,bringing with it the potential to realign our attitudes, teach us and change us at the deepest levels of our existence. When we experience the symbol consciously, we simultaneously experience the complex, the archetype, the inner psychic entity that is represented by the symbol.
Artistic activity can be seen as a fundamental route into these mysteries, wonders and treasures of the inner universe. It is one way of confronting the unbearable tensions and disharmony in our lives, enabling us to transcend the world of contradictions. Art, as a practical experience, shows us that we can embrace the conflict, embrace the duality, bravely place ourselves in the very midst of the warring voices, and find our way through them to the unity that they ultimately express. In fact, artistic activity can be seen as an inner necessity,a journey of transformation through which new life forms can emerge.
Life forms and shapes us, drawing us into experiences which reflect our unconscious patterning, a patterning impressed from the earliest reaches of our existence. Each one of us can find that by looking at these complex patterns of our conditioning and responses, and the endless facets and aspects of our being, we can reach towards a reality so pure and unencumbered that the mind cannot perceive it.
To lose oneself in the act of drawing and painting can facilitate this unconscious reflection, carrying one through experiences which may have been long forgotten, producing responses which might be quite unexpected and with each transition moving closer to reality. Through line, form and colour we can explore these mysterious, hidden parts within us, and travel ever closer to the still, silent centre of our being.
All Classes will be run in 5-week sequences; each weekly session running for three hours.
Prices are variable according to numbers attending, but aim at £5 per person, per hour.
A rigid heavily opinionated mind does not move lightly and, therefore, lacks the agility to take quantum leaps towards spontaneously drawing from one's real inner centre.
The fast drawings utilised in some of these classes bring one into the domain of the creative in that they draw out spontaneity and reflect the true mood of the moment. As mechanical drawing is destroyed by very fast speed, the art forms are vital and alive with a true expression of inner feeling. The techniques employed in these classes aim to produce drawings which are enriched with vitality, magnetised by the power of one's inner self, not springing from empty outer impulse, but driving towards one's real self.The secret of Creativity is inner attention, without desire or expectation. It requires one to go into the silence and darkness within, and draw out what one finds there. It is to be one's real self, without thinking what one should or could be. Most of the classes, couched in the methods initiated and developed by the late Cecil Collins, aim to enable the participant to enter his or her inner world, and draw from previously unknown reaches of the mind. In addition, there will be some sessions where, through anatomical drawing and a study of the masterly drawings of the Italian Renaissance, the capacity for visual accuracy and ease of proportion will be explored and developed.
A study of the self, as expressed through the creative processof drawing, can help towards achieving greater self-expression and greater self-awareness. The images which emerge can be seen as the individual's personal unconscious symbols which can illuminate, guide and instruct him in his journey towards wholeness, as well as impulses drawn from a wider, collective reservoir, which resonate with the archetypes of human experience.
Prices are variable according to numbers attending, but aim at £5 per person, per hour. As the dynamic created by a group focus is necessary in these Classes, individual tuition is not offered. No previous experience of Drawing is necessary in order to take part in the classes, and all groups will be small. Tutors are established artists with over 25 years' experience in the teaching of Drawing.
Within the heart of modern man lives a memory of perfection,an echo of truth which resonates from the primordial depths of his existence.
Some individuals are driven to make this perfect truth whole within themselves, and to realise their highest potential as a human being.
The Ancients, connected as they were with these ultimate principles, evolved systems of knowledge which contained the aspirant in his or her course of evolution.
The techniques of painting which grew out of these systems provide a timeless container for absorption and experience,whilst providing the skills through which individual expression can take place.
Prices are variable according to numbers attending, but aim at £5 per person, per hour.
THE TECHNIQUE OF ICON PAINTING: EGG TEMPERA PAINTING AND GILDING.
From the worlds of the Ancients and at least until medieval times, the imaginative faculty was the legitimate path of religious inspiration, revelation and experience. The reality of the inner world was fundamental to the existence of those who lived then, sometimes expressing itself through the vehicle of religious painting, where both the process and the finished work became outer manifestations of contemplation and prayer. Through the Technique of Icon Painting, participants can develop images taken from external visual reference, the imagination, or from masterly images from the past.The techniques of Gilding, as well as painting with Egg Tempera according to the ancient method, are part of this process.
Prices are variable according to numbers attending, but aim at £5 per person, per hour.We know from science that everything is energy. The seers of old envisioned this energy crisscrossing the whole universe as seven rays moving at different rates of vibration, creating a virtual tapestry of the gods. They marvelled at the entire vault of the heavens, filled with these forces, energies, impulses, rhythms and cycles. According to the ancients, we are all part of this constant circulation of energies and forces which make up the seven colours of the rainbow. In fact every atom in the universe is under the influence of one or more of these seven colour rays.
We are all part of the universal palette, involved in the creation of life’s greatest tapestry, entwined together in the ever-changing kaleidoscope of life. We are all rays of light born to carry a particular ray of colour, a particular vibration, a particular note to bring to the all-encompassing symphony of life. For colour is vibration, and each one of us has a vibration centre of energy particular to our soul, leading us along our unique path. We all sing a different song. We all present a different note. We all reflect a different colour. We all vibrate in union with one of the seven rays envisioned by the ancients, and are coloured by a particular ray.
Just as a rainbow emblazons a dark sky, so the light of the inner heart of every being secretly glows as a star of hope, even in an era of almost unsurpassed spiritual darkness. In a world lost to the insatiable appetite of the all important “I” and its god almightiness there is always that divine spark of light within the soul of each man, coloured by one of the seven rays, radiating from behind the clouds of dust created by the evils of materialism. But who will pierce this veil of dust and sweep before us a clear, open path which leads directly to that light? When all around deny the very existence of the inner heart, blinded by a thousand veils, how will we ever discover a guide to lead us to that light?
The alchemy of colour classes aim to help the participants understand the vibration of light, hidden beneath the simple curtain of human life. By truly entering the world of colour vibration, we can begin to appreciate the power of colours. For it has been found that colour can exert enormous influence over the body as a physical organism, and indeed it is a power which directly influences the soul. Our etheric body, the web of interconnected energies which conditions our physical body, is highly sensitive to light and colour, and typically we move about in this medium of subtle ethers much as a fish moves in water unaware of it.
Through a practical study of colour and its context in the realms of aesthetics, psychology, astrology and alchemy, profound understandings of its potential for transformation can be reached. Through the medium of Watercolour, the participant will create a series of paintings through which the qualities and effects of colour can be experienced.
Prices are variable according to numbers attending, but aim at £5 per person, per hour.
No previous experience of Painting or Drawing is necessary in order to take part in any of the classes.
The tutor is an established artist with over 25 years' experience in the teaching of Painting.