Drawing As Attention: Thursday Morning

Thursday, 10am-12pm

Drawing as Attention is an eight-week series for adults who want to draw with more care and curiosity. It is not a skills class. It is a practice of looking — learning to be present with the world by drawing it slowly and attentively.

Explore the garden and skies as autumn turns towards winter. Through close looking, drawing and experimentation, we’ll notice bare trees, frost, the ground beneath our feet, clouds, weathered surfaces and the changing light of winter.

Each week brings a different way of looking and making, from expressive pencil and charcoal marks to atmospheric watercolour and night skies. Studio sessions and observations between classs include a small accordion sketchbook of winter skies and weather.

The emphasis is on curiosity and observation rather than getting things ‘right’.

No drawing experience is needed.

What to bring

All materials will be provided and will consist of:

• Sketchbook (A4 or A5, cartridge paper)
• Pencils: HB, 2B, 4B
• Willow charcoal sticks
• Compressed charcoal or conté crayon
• Small watercolour set or a few autumn colours (burnt sienna, yellow ochre, sap green)
• Wax resist candle or white crayon
• Soft eraser and putty rubber

About the Tutor

Alison Philp is a Scottish visual artist and nature writer based in North Fife. She holds a BA (Hons) in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art and an MFA in Art and Humanities from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. She completed the Turps Correspondence Course in 2024 with Creative Scotland bursary support. 

Her practice is rooted in direct observational drawing from living subjects, working outdoors rather than from photographs. Her most recent solo exhibition, Cura, was held at Dundee Botanic Garden (Jan 2026), supported by a Visual Artists and Craft Makers Award from Fife Contemporary. She writes about art, landscape and the natural world on Substack, and has published criticism in The Skinny and the Dundee University Review of the Arts. 

She has worked as a community art educator for over twenty years, with organisations including the National Theatre of Scotland, Perth and Kinross Council, the Byre Theatre Memory Makers Dementia Group, Haydays Art and Leisure Club, and ArtMoves Fife. In 2020 she completed the Drawing Ecologies module with Tania Kovats at DJCAD, which has been a continuing influence on how she brings observational drawing into community settings. 

She teaches drawing as she draws: with close attention, genuine curiosity, and a belief that learning to look carefully at the world is one of the most sustaining things a person can do. 

We offer a 10% discount on weekly classes for students, unpaid carers, people with disabilities, unemployed people and arts workers. Use code FAC175 at check out.