One of the benefits of travelling has been the opportunity to read and digest Ways of Drawing, the Royal Drawing School’s recently published bible, containing the thoughts and ideas of its teaching staff and ex-students, including a brilliant description of what it feels like to be an artist’s model by Isley Lynn (but no pictures of what she looks like), a description of the pleasures and experience of drawing in the countryside by Daniel Chatto and of drawing items of natural history close-up by Clara Drummond. Cumulatively, the essays convey the intensity of the experience of drawing and of how it gets one to think as well as look. They’ve printed 10,000 copies, which shows how popular it is expected to be.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Invaluable, specially when read in conjunction with Martin Gayford’s book on sitting for Lucien Freud. Both artist and sitter have to concentrate!
Couldn’t resist googling Isley Lynn. Just from photos online she looks like such an open, engaging, fun person. I can imagine that she would be a joy to spend time with and to try to capture on paper. I’ll have to get hold of the book to read her piece.
I didn’t think of that! Charles