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Art Groups

Summer drawings from the courtyard

Summer drawings from the courtyard

It was a bright day in the Maryhill Hub, and beautiful looking out the large windows to the garden courtyard and plants and vegetables growing there. We started with some doodly drawings based on the shapes in the courtyard, such as the raised beds, organic… Read More »Summer drawings from the courtyard

Sea urchins and shells turning into skulls and robots!

Sea urchins and shells turning into skulls and robots!

At the Ruchill after school primary group the children worked on their sketchbooks, drawing mainly with pencils this session. They began looking directly at some small natural objects like shells and a fragile pale green green sea urchin shell. After sketching in peace for a… Read More »Sea urchins and shells turning into skulls and robots!

Having fun with metal and diamond!

Having fun with the shodo calligraphy characters we will work with on Monday! Kin metal, gold, one of the Chinese 5 elements, kongo diamond, as well as tamashii, spirit. The meanings and variety of visuals in each of these is fascinating ?

Shodo calligraphy - In the middle of a dream

Shodo calligraphy – in the middle of a dream

We had fun with trying out both the curved older Tensho style as well as the more stylized Kaisho style at the last session. First we worked with with Ki 木 – tree, experimenting with the branch like strokes, and then Yume – dream/ illusion,… Read More »Shodo calligraphy – in the middle of a dream

Colours of heather, hill and forest

Colours of heather, hill and forest

At the last Maryhill art group we used pastels to develop some landscapy pieces and textures, inspired by images of the Highlands and a wee book of poetry and art by Hamish Fulton ‘Wild Life – Walks in the Cairngorms’.

Mountain caves and nesting mythical birds

Mountain caves and nesting mythical birds

At Ruchill community centre we worked on the A4 sketchbooks with the children on some imaginative drawings and doodles. It’s really nice to see their engagement with markmaking, and freedom to express themselves through art!

Drawing Trees day at Lenzie

Drawing Trees day at Lenzie

It was a peaceful yet creative day led by Margaret and Blair, with a super group of folk who enjoyed getting to know the trees and forest. We began small in the morning with some relaxed doodly pieces followed by a mindful visual exploration of… Read More »Drawing Trees day at Lenzie

Laying out materials for the drawing trees day

Laying out materials for the drawing trees day

We set out packs for each person joining the group, with different textures of papers suitable for rubbings and drawing, and a small bag with graphite stick and oil pastels, and a mix of pens too. For the larger and joint pieces we have a… Read More »Laying out materials for the drawing trees day

Life force and lightning Shodo calligraphy

Life force and lightning Shodo calligraphy

At Zen Brush Heart we worked from some inspiring characters related to life and the elements, such as tsuchi 土 – earth /soil, mei 命 – core, destiny, life, and jinzu 神通 – spiritual/ soul power. To get a fuller understanding and feel about these… Read More »Life force and lightning Shodo calligraphy

Tracing the Sutras – Shakyo Peaceful practice following the Heart Sutra

Relaxing and meditative tracing of the Heart Sutra

In the Garden room at KSD a small group of us began Shakyo – copying sutras – by chatting about the history and styles and looking at some examples of the characters such as mu – dream and ku – space. Then we slowly and… Read More »Relaxing and meditative tracing of the Heart Sutra