Simon Austin 14/03/2026 Simon Austin 14/03/2026

Welcome to my blog: The Drawing Gym

Good Afternoon and welcome to the first entry of my Blog: The Drawing Gym .

The title “The Drawing Gym” came from a group of like minded individuals who meet on a Sunday Morning to draw, talk about past, current and future art projects and, in between all that, the exhibitions we have seen or want to see. Stephen Palmer, who organises this life drawing group, coined the term “Drawing Gym”. So the idea of calling my blog, The Drawing Gym, is a natural one, as I want to make a similar space. A space that is nonjudgemental, positive and safe for me and anyone else who might be interested in anything art.

I am hoping that my blog: The Drawing Gym will be a “… small pocket of resistance…” like the ones that are discussed in Berger’s Hold Everything Dear. What I mean by that is, I am hoping that the very act of writing the blog for it’s own sake regardless if any one actually takes it seriously, let alone if anyone reads it. Basically I plan it to be a process of noting my thoughts and feelings down as I develop an art practice for it’s own sake. I am not planning any particular goal in mind other than to record my journey.

When I say “journey”, I mean all the things I have been learning, doing, reading and watching, not only about painting and drawing but all the other stuff, like, the different processes and practices when using materials (which will mainly be oil paint, pastel, charcoal, watercolour); I want to discuss my influences (there are loads! From painters, print makers, sculptors etc… but also comics, films, directors, actors, plays, playwrights, poets/poetry, philosophers, psychologists/psychological theory, physics, biology and books… you’ve got to love a book!). All these things weave in and out throughout my drawing and painting, as I think about them when designing a composition. I hope that one day all these things authentically coalesce, like an Andrew Martins’ series of paintings… I think he was a great painter!!

So basically my blog will be a bit of a journal/soap box/study aid. I am going to try to be as honest as possible. This means I am probably going to make mistakes; my opinions may change; my understanding of “art stuff” will develop and grow.

Yet throughout it all I hope you may find my small and clumsy efforts in learning the “business of art” thought provoking and useful in your own practise.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Simon

Simon Austin 14/03/2026 Simon Austin 14/03/2026

My First Entry

This is my first entry, Art Cats. It’s quite hard to talk about my own efforts. Especially because I see myself as a painter more than an artist (the definition between the two deserves another blog entry). So, I want to tell you blog about what I have been posting about on my Instagram page #ABPainting&Drawing. I have currently been participating in a #100 Heads Challenge… and yes, my lovely Art Cats, it has been a challenge and yet it has been a very steep learning curve in my art practice.

I am about 79 portraits into the project. It has taken a lot longer than I thought it would have taken. Yet on reflection, I thought I was more competent at drawing, but I realized I had “holes” in my understanding and skill.

From the start of the challenge, I had to revisit and learn the fundamentals of portraiture. I was lucky as this has been easy as I had easy access to some great resources, like Love Life Drawing, Proko, Loomis, and Bamms (see the bottom of this post). What I quickly realized is I know nothing about portraiture and I have a lot to learn if I wanted to paint/draw to a standard that I feel happy with. Whilst working through the challenge I started to reevaluate my fundamental relationship with the act of painting and drawing. I was reading Robert Pritzieg’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which encouraged me to strip back my practice and ask myself why I started drawing and painting and who am I drawing and painting for through the lens of practicing drawing every day.

Consequently, the process of reevaluation is still painful. But as they say, “no pain, no gain!” However, I almost stopped and gave up and thought what was the point but then I recalled John Berger’s book, In the Shape of a Pocket and how he describes a new type of rebellion as being quintessentially act of human connection, with each other, towards our different environments or towards objects that have a meaning that is pocket of resistance.

I can’t think of anything more human than drawing a line. In my opinion a line is the first step in exploration and growth. A line is also mental construct that can define and records interactions within an environment; with each other; with an object(s). We all have wondered what is on the other side of the horizon line. If we are moved to do so we will chart the best course, which will be a line of prediction, problem solving and record of travelling to go beyond a horizon line. A horizon line can be the line that defines the shoulder and neck of a life model also. When drawing we sometimes want to leave a tantalizing clue what is behind the model, their other side through drawing the line disappearing giving us an appearance of three dimensions. No! a drawing describes four dimensions: The model drawn through time and space. A recording of the passage of time between two people: The model and the person drawing the model. This can then get wider as we consider the viewer of the drawing. The drawing puts the person in a specific time and space as they give drawing their attention.

These portraits are a chosen few. The ones I like. I hope you like them too: