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Learn to love the blank page!
"I haven't drawn anything since I was at school."
"I bought a lovely sketchbook and now I'm too scared to ruin it."
"I'm okay at my art class but freeze up at home."
"If I'm not copying something, I don't know where to begin."
If any of this sounds familiar, you're in the right place.
A richly informative, playful, inspiring and heartfelt seven week journey returning you to the curiosity, courage and creativity of childhood
I'm Ali...
... and I’ve taught art to hundreds of children and adults for over a decade. The 7:7 Sketchbook Journey grew directly out of something I’ve noticed again and again during those years.
The children who come to my classes are there because they love art, and because someone at home is supporting them. They tend to dive into a project without worrying too much about the outcome. If something does not work, they shrug and move on.
My adults are generally much less self-assured. And yet, in one important sense, they are still children too: they are often picking up exactly where they left off long ago, with no more hours of art-making behind them than the children I teach.
But instead of the shrug-and-carry-on approach, adults often judge their own work quickly and harshly. Far more harshly than they would ever judge a child’s.
Over time, I’ve come to believe that the barriers adults run into are not about ability. More often, they are about the messages they absorbed early on, often unconsciously: messages about mess or waste, or what it means to be 'good at art.' Sometimes - unlike the kids I teach - there simply was not a supportive adult behind them, giving them permission. That observation led to a simple but powerful idea.
What if we started again from the beginning, but with a different set of messages?
What if - instead of pushing forward - we went back?'
SEVEN WEEKS, SEVEN STAGES, ONE SKETCHBOOK
All humans move through seven recognisable stages of art development. These stages trace a natural arc from early scribbles through to the formation of our unique artistic voice.
Over seven weeks, we return to the beginning and move step by step through that sequence together.
The aim is not to draw like a child, exactly, but - at times - to think like one; to remember what art was for before it became complicated. At other moments, you will step in as an adult and become a mentor to the child artist you once were, offering the encouragement and support that may have been missing the first time round.
Along the way, we explore how great artists from history have drawn from these same developmental modes, and we experiment with borrowing from them too, in ways that clarify our natural artistic leanings and open up new creative possibilities.
And every day, a different story
Every activity we do is tied to a story: funny or fascinating, technical or touching,
playful or personal. Stories from art history, developmental theory, psychology,
art education, applied art, or my own experience:
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The drunk monk from 8th Century Tang Dynasty who accidentally started an internet art craze
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Why children from Nairobi to Norwich all draw the sun the same way
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Can you hear colour? Meet Kandinsky, who could
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Why Louise Bourgeois built a thirty-foot spider and called it "Maman"
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Why I never realised a dove is just a pigeon everyone had decided to be nice about
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How a simple scribble can untangle your unconscious
"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when we grow up'
Pablo Picasso
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