OCA Big Draw on London’s South Bank.

The first Big Draw event for OCA students took place at London South Bank.
As the early morning sun arose over the River Thames, the students assembled at the Royal Festival Hall before moving on to the first of 5 specially chosen areas that provided views of special interest. The theme of this years Big Draw is ‘Every picture tells a story” and the story for the OCA students was the contextual link to the paintings done at the same sites by Monet and Derain at the turn of the last century.
Monet famously painted the view of Waterloo Bridge from his suite at the Savoy Hotel, but sadly the budget for the day would not stretch that far and so the OCA students had to contend themselves with the view from the balcony of the National Theatre. Lunch was taken at the theatre’s café and here information was exchanged on drawing techniques and assessment and advice was dispensed on courses and related matters, with the most common being on how to complete an assignment on time, given the stresses and strains of everyday life.
Of course many contemporary artists have used the river for their inspiration. The most recent and most famous was John Virtue who’s black and white drawings and painting were shown at the National Gallery when he was artist in residence. Our students however used a variety of media that included pencil, pastel, charcoal and watercolour as well as photographs, which could be used later as reference material.
A visit had also been arranged to see the work of former OCA tutor James Willis who was having an exhibition of his London Paintings at the gallery@oxo an exhibition space conveniently situated at the end of our route.
The work on show, which had taken James two and half years to complete, coincidentally featured many of the same views that the students had been drawing. James was only to pleased to give a conducted tour of his work and to share with the students skilled advice on painting techniques and colour palettes which was closely listened to and greatly appreciated.
It is an invaluable experience to meet up with fellow students and tutors to share information and opinions and meet with like-minded people. With more Big Draw students events planned for the month of October, the opportunity is still there to join in with others for this enjoyable and social event.
You can find out more and book a place by visiting the Study Visit diary here.