A new and exciting offering to Newquay, these weekly drawing session run by Liz Jones will offer the chance to draw, create and get inspired

by Victoria Jones in Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom

We are a mother and daughter duo behind this project. My name is Vicki and I am the founder and designer of sustainable swimwear brand sand&palm, and my mother is Liz Jones who is a highly qualified artist, designer and educator. 

Over the past few years, Newquay has really started to bloom. We have seen a huge rise in creative people, entrepreneurs, and the like, moving to Newquay to work remotely and experience the benefits of living on such a beautiful coastline. This has resulted in many exciting new business, cafes, art galleries and more. Despite this, we still feel there is a distinct lack of opportunities in Newquay to make art work, draw or get messy. Having graduated from art education backgrounds, both of us know the importance of drawing as a fundamental bases for any creative discipline and we realise the importance of having a regular space within a community to make the commitment easier.  

Getting together in a drawing sessions is also a wonderful social experience, and by offering regular weekly sessions, we hope to create a community that grows and supports each other, offering a safe space to freely create and where people can also meet likeminded folks and make new friends! 

And so, we have come up with the idea to start a weekly (or twice weekly if there is enough demand) drawing sessions. Our vision is to offer drawing sessions which will include a variety of drawing subjects, ranging from nude and clothed life drawing models, both held and dynamic poses to still life set-ups, and much more in between. 

Who will the drawing sessions be for?

The sessions will be open to anyone, of any ability, people who would like to support their creative career with regular drawing, or for those who simply want to draw for drawing's sake, for people who would like to meet like minded people or just be in a creative, supportive community, or to try something different. 

Life Drawing by Liz Jones.

Who will be leading the sessions? 

The sessions will be lead by artist and designer Liz Jones. After graduating with a distinction in Fashion and Textiles MA at Winchester Collage of Art in the 2000's Liz then went on to design cutting edge textiles for couture fashion, with Givenchy opening their catwalk show with Liz's work. Liz subsequently moved into education and ran the Textiles A-Level course at Southdowns College for 10 years as course leader. Liz now works on her own fashion and art work, predominately her clothing brand '+1' - one-off garments made from natural fabrics. 

I (Vicki) will also help to run the sessions. My background is in Illustration and graphic art for fashion and textiles. I graduated from BA (Hons) Illustration from University College Falmouth and then went on to work in the fashion industry for 8 years designing prints and graphics for clothing and activewear. In 2017 I studied a postgraduate in swimwear design in Barcelona during which my brand sand&palm was born. 

Where will the life drawing take place? 

The sessions will be held in a first floor space in a building steeped in history (it's former life was as a surfboard shapers bay for 30 years) located in the sand&palm courtyard behind the shop. The room has high ceiling, wooden floors, lots of character and plenty of light. This ambience offers the perfect space to get creative in. It has the capacity for 10-15 participants comfortably and so will be a lovely intimate setting, we may even put some relaxing music on to get the creative juices flowing and will open the bar in the break and will be serving teas, local coffee and healthy treats.

OK how does it work then? 

The sessions will be from £15 for a 2 hour lead drawing sessions. There will be an option to drop in for one session at a time or to buy an autumn/winter season ticket for which a discount will be applied. In this case, one will be lead through the sessions on a creative journey, with the option to exhibit some of your artwork in the sand&palm store at the end of the year.

Sound good? So what do we need the crowdfunding money for? 

We have the space and the skills, we're just lacking a few materials to get going. The money we raise from this Crowdfunding campaign will be used to purchase drawing boards, easels and art materials such as pencils, pastels, charcoal etc. Once we have these we're good to go! 

Life Drawing by Liz Jones.

Will you help make Newquay creative?? 

We both feel Newquay would really benefit from regular drawing sessions to help elevate and develop the local art scene which is lacking at the moment. We has the distinct benefit of being located on Wesley Yard, which in the last year or 2 has seen a revival and we welcomed Wedge Studio to the area which is an amazing addition. 

Both my mum Liz, and I are very excited about the project! It has been a long time coming and we can't wait to make it a reality with your help.

This project offers rewards in return for your donation

© 2011-2022 Crowdfunder LTD is registered in England and Wales no. 07831511.