Drawing and Painting, One Session, Gaya

Details

Ninety minutes at the Gaya academy in a studio with north light, real easels and still life props, eight students to a teacher. Drawing is taught before painting, because painting without drawing underneath it is decoration. The fee here includes the materials, which is the point worth reading twice. An art class advertised at a low per session rate and then followed by a shopping list on day one is the ordinary cheat of this trade, and the list is usually longer than the first month of fees. Paper, pencils, erasers, brushes and paint for the session are in the Rs 400. The other thing not done here is copying: nobody is handed a printed picture to reproduce. Students draw from objects, from the street outside, and eventually from a live sitter, which is slower and is the only thing that works.

• 90 minutes, group of 8, north lit studio with easels and drawing boards
• Rs 400 a session with materials for that session included, and no shopping list on day one
• Drawing from observation only. No printed picture is ever set to be copied
• Watercolour and acrylic introduced once line and proportion hold, not before
• Nobody is graded. Work is discussed, never scored
• Eight sessions Rs 3,000 and twenty four Rs 8,400, against Rs 3,200 and Rs 9,600 paid singly
• Bring an A3 sketchbook of your own if you want to keep everything together. Nothing else is needed
• Progress here is slow and visible rather than fast and flattering, and an art school portfolio usually takes 8 to 12 months